El Coro de Jóvenes de la JCA se presenta bajo la dirección de María Guinand

por María Guinand.

Cómo están? Estoy en Japón esta semana dirigiendo el Coro Nacional de Jóvenes.
Esta es una actividad organizada por la Asociación Coral de Japón (JCA) y el concierto está enmarcado dentro del Cuarto Concierto del Coro de Jóvenes de la JCAy tendrá lugar el 14 de marzo de 2015 en la Hamarikyu Asashi Hall (Tokyo).

El programa del concierto será alrededor del repertorio coral español y latinoamericano. Pueden encontrar mayor información en la página de la JCA. Abajo encontrarán amplios detalles del concierto (en inglés).

un abrazo
María

**********************************************************

Programme Notes and translations

Japan 2015

Programme Notes

This concert program is designed in two parts. The first one is based on different styles of Western sacred music.

Con Emi, talentosa directora que me asiste!

The processional anthem Hanacpachap written in 'quechua', a prehispanic language, dates from the XVIth century and was composed in a Renaissance musical style. It is dedicated to the
Virgin Mary and represents the first polyphonic composition written in Latin America.

En la noche de las estrellas con estos cantores tan divertidos y talentosos.

The next composition is the motet Trahe me post te Virgo Maria, based on a text of the 'Song of Songs' by Solomon, composed by the Spanish Francisco Guerrero, one of the most important figures of the Spanish Renaissance, together with Cristóbal de Morales and Tomás Luis de Victoria. Most of
Guerrero’s music is published in the ‘Cancionero de Medinacelli’.

The other two sacred works of this first part belong to the repertoire of the XXth century. The text Ubi Caritas is a hymn of the Christian Church long used as one of the antiphons for the washing of feet on the Maundy Thursday. The Gregorian melody was composed sometime between the fourth and tenth centuries and has been used in compositions by many authors throughout history. The
American composer Morten Lauridssen created a beautiful and meditative motet using as a basis this Gregorian melody.

 

Con Emi, talentosa directora que me asiste!

In contrast to this work stands the bright and exultant Cantus Gloriosus of the Polish composer Josef Swider. His choral compositions are very virtuoso and have a very intense rhythmic drive.

To conclude this first part, we have chosen a dramatic and ritualistic work by the Catalan / Venezuelan composer Alberto Grau: Binnamma. This composition was dedicated to the victims of the terrible floods in Venezuela during 1999. The work begins with a Catalan nursery rhyme in which the sun is called to finish with rain. To the initial bars, which remember the tragedy, follow a ritual to
the sun and ends with a dance of hope which is enhanced by choreographic movements.

El 11 de Marzo con Saeko, mi amiga y hermana en la música,
conmemorando a las víctimas del Tsunami.

The second part of the programme is dedictaed to Latin American music inspired in Spanish poetry and folk traditions. In the XXth and XXIst centuries, the new languages of choral composition have not only derived from the main contemporary musical trends, but also from the impact of nationalism, which is characterized in Latin American regions by the richness and wide variety of elements that are essential to its folk music.

The original compositions Se equivocó la paloma by Carlos Guastavino, Mata del Ánima sola by Antonio Estévez and Sabia Coracao de uma viola by Aylton Escobar are based on beautiful poems, both in Spanish and Portuguese languages, and they reflect the choral style which is base on traditional melodies.

Carlos Guastavino was a prolific songwriter, and composed mainly for solo voice and choir, and this is why he was named ‘the Schubert of the pampas’. Among his broad catalogue of ‘a capella’ choral works, there are little treasures such as Se equivocó la paloma (1941) on a poem by Rafael Alberti.

Sabiá Coracao de uma viola by the well-known Brazilian composer and conductor Aylton Escobar combines different aspects of the Brazilian soul. The pieces display, on the one hand, interesting
poly-rhythmic textures using onomatopoeic sounds, imitating the percussion instruments used in the Brazilian popular music, and on the other, the lyricism of the modinha. The modinha (traditional
ballad) was popular in the second half of the 18th century and during the 19th century.

Estévez is considered one of the most important representatives of the Venezuelan musical nationalism, as his extraordinary work La Cantata Criolla has become a paradigm of this musical trend and one of the most important Venezuelan compositions of the XXth century. Mata del Ánima sola has two distinct sections: one slow and meditative, and the other very quick and rhythmic based on a combined 3/4 and 6/8 meter which is a characteristic of a dance called “joropo”. The music depicts the solitude and mystery of the llanos, the high plains of Venezuela, while the tenor solo represents the llanero or “man of the plains” whose songs are improvised. In the “joropo” section, the choir imitates the instruments that are traditionally used to play the dance.

The other part of the programme is centred around a selection of excellent choral arrangements and choral versions of popular melodies, in which different rhythmic/dance patterns, such as guaguancó, salsa and maracatú have been used. El Guayaboso is a choral guaguanco. This composition, written on a ‘nonsense text’ was first composed in the 1960s for a youth chorus and in 1980s, the composer conceived a version for mixed chorus in which the voices sing the percussion parts. Salseo is a vocal jazz piece, where the choir imitates the instruments of a Salsa ensemble. Verde Mar de Navegar is a popular dance, a Maracatú, that belongs to the celebrations of Carnival in the region of Bahía, in Brazil.
****************************************************************

Translations

First Part

1) Hanacpachap
Old Peruvian hymn dedicated to the Virgin Mary

Hanaq pachap kusikuynin
Waranqakta much'asqayki
Yupay ruru puquq mallki
Runakunap suyakuynin
Kallpannaqpa q'imikuynin
Waqyasqayta.
Uyariway much'asqayta
Diospa rampan Diospa maman
Yuraq tuqtu hamanq'ayman
Yupasqalla, qullpasqayta
Wawaykiman suyusqayta
Rikuchillay.

Translation:

Joy of heaven
I adore thousand times
Precious fruit fruitful tree,
Hope that animates
And supports men,
Hear my prayer,
Oh, column ivory, mother of God
Beautiful iris, yellow and white,
Get this song that we offer,
Come to our aid,
Show us the fruit of your womb.

2) Trahe me post te
Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599)

Trahe me post te, Virgo Maria: curremus in odorem unguentorum
tuorum.
Quam pulchra es et quam decora, carissima in delitiis,
Statura tua assimilata est palmae et ubera tua botris
Dixi: ascendam in palmam et apprehendam fructum eius: et erunt
ubera tua sicut botri vineae, et odor oris tui sicut odor malorum.

Translation:

Draw me after you, Virgin Mary: we will run after thee to the odour of
thy ointments.
How beautiful art thou, and how comely, my dearest, in delights!
Thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of
grapes.
I said: I will go up into the palm tree, and will take hold of the fruit
thereof: and thy breasts shall be as the clusters of the vine: and the
odour of thy mouth like apples.

3) Ubi Caritas et Amor
Morten Lauridssen (1943-)

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.
Exsultemus, et in ipso jucundemur.
Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Simul ergo cum in unum congregamur:
Ne nos mente dividamur, caveamus.
Cessent iurgia maligna, cessent lites.
Et in medio nostri sit Christus Deus.
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Simul quoque cum beatis videamus,
Glorianter vultum tuum, Christe Deus:
Gaudium quod est immensum, atque probum,
Saecula per infinita saeculorum. Amen.

Translation:

Where charity and love are, God is there.
Christ's love has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.
Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
And may we love each other with a sincere heart.
Where charity and love are, God is there.
As we are gathered into one body,
Beware, lest we be divided in mind.
Let evil impulses stop, let controversy cease,
And may Christ our God be in our midst.
Where charity and love are, God is there.
And may we with the saints also,
See Thy face in glory, O Christ our God:
The joy that is immense and good,
Unto the ages through infinite ages. Amen.

4) Cantus Gloriosus
Josef Swider (1930-)

5) Bin-nam-ma
Alberto Grau (1937-)

Sol solet vin a me veure
Que tinc fred
Translation:
Sun come to see me,
because I am cold.

Second Part.

1)Se equivocó la paloma
Poem: Rafael Alberti
Music: Carlos Guastavino (1912-2000)

Se equivocó la paloma, se equivocaba.
Por ir al norte fue al sur
creyó que el trigo era agua, se equivocaba.
Creyó que el mar era el cielo,
que la noche la mañana.
Se equivocaba.
Que las estrellas rocío,
que la calor su casa.
Se equivocaba.
Que tu falda era tu blusa,
que tu corazón su casa.
Se equivocaba.
Ella se durmió en la orilla,
en la cumbre de una rama.
Se equivocaba.

Translation:

The dove erred, she was making mistakes.
by going north, she went south
she believed that the wheat was water.
She was making mistakes.
She believed that the sea was the sky
and that the night was the morning.
She was mistaken.
That the stars were the evening dew
that the heat was the snowfall.
She was mistaken.
That your skirt was your blouse
and that your heart was her house.
she was making mistakes.
She fell asleep on the shore,
you on the top of a branch.
She was mistaken.

2) Sabiá, coração de uma viola
Poem:Orlando de Brito
Music: Aylton Escobar (*1943)

Ah! coração, Ah! sabiá, minha viola.
Ah! aqui Xui, pixô não vi. Ah! colher de chá, Marajá Tudo é meu.
Cantando nas tardes plenas, somos irmãos, sabiá: o tempo levate
as penas, o tempo penas me dá.
Tudo que chorei e rí tudo é meu.
Coração tem dó de mim, ah! coração tem piedade, ah! coração tem
dó de mim, coração batendo astendo tão forte assim, coração vais
acordar Saudade,que dorme dentro de mim.
Amor que me faz penar, amor que me desconsola morre enforçado
ao luar nas cordas de uma viola.

Translation:

Ah, heart of my guitar. This is all mine. I did not see the bird, I could
not catch it. All is mine.
When we sing together in the beautiful afternoon,
we are like brothers, Sabiá. Time helps us to forget affliction, but
time also brings affliction to us.
I know that time takes away affliction, but time also brings us affliction.
I have wept and laughed so much for you, because you called me
love. My love, have pity on me. My heart is beating very strongly.
I will wake up with so much nostalgia, that sleeps within me.
Love that makes me suffer, love that provides no consolation dies
hanging on moonlight, on the strings of a guitar.

[a Sabiá is a yellow bird]

3) Mata del Ánima Sola
Poetry: Alberto Arvelo Torrealba (1905-1971)
Music: Antonio Estevez (1916-1988)

Mata del ánima sola
boquerón de banco largo
ya podrás decir ahora
aquí durmió, ‘Canta Claro’
Con el silbo y la picada
de la brisa coleadora
la tarde catira y mora
entró al corralón, callada.
La noche, yegua cansada
sobre los bancos tremolo,
la crin y la negra cola.
Y en su silencio,
se pasma,
tu corazón de fantasma.

Translation:

Tree of the lonely soul,
wide opening of the riverside,
now you will be able to say,
here slept “Cantaclaro”.
With the whistle and the sting,
of the twisting wind,
the dappled and violet dusk,
quietly entered the “corral”.
The night, tired mare,
shakes her name and black tail,
above the riverside,
and, in its silence,
your ghostly heart is filled with awe.

4) El Guayaboso
Guido López Gavilán (1948-)

Yo ví bailar un danzón En el filo de un cuchillo.
Un mosquito en calzoncillos, y una mosca en camisón.
Yo ví un cangrejo arando, un cochino tocando un pito
Y una vieja regañando, sentada en una butaca,
A una ternerita flaca, que de risa estaba muerta, al ver una chiva
tuerta, remendar una alpargata.

Translation:

I saw dance a danzon,on the edge of a knife,
A mosquito in shorts and a fly in her nightgown.
I saw a crab plowing, a pig playing a whistle
And an old scolding, sitting in an armchair.
To a skinny ternerita, that laugh intensely,
seeing a one-eyed goat mending a sandal.

4) Salseo
Oscar Galián (1958-)
No words. Onomatopoeic sounds.

5) Verde Mar de Navegar
Capiba (Lourenço da Fonseca Barbosa)(1904-1997)

Batuqueiro que baque é esse?
É o baque de vossa alteza
E nao há maisum outro baque?
Cade leao coroado
Cade cabim da brilhante
Cade cruzeiro do forte
Maracatu elefante
Olho o céu, olho para o mar
Verde mar de navegar

Translation:

Drummer where are you going?
You have only got one drumstick.
Let´s see all the brilliant colors
of this elephant Maracatu (Maracatu is a Brazilian dance)
I have only eyes to love
and to admire the sea where I can sail!!!!

Photo Credits; 一般社団法人 全日本合唱連盟, Masaaki Ogawa y María Guinand