OUR COMPOSERSto “La Reina”, of all contradanzas a rhythm notwell developed in the popular music of Venezuela,its style being very similar to el danzón cubano.Amable Torres wrote other songs such as, ElMacaurel, Pan de Casabe and El Piragüero.

PORROGENTIL MONTAÑA (b. 1942)

He is a guitarist and virtuoso-composer inspired byfolklore of his native Colombia, his father playedfolk music on the violin and managed to support thefamily; in 1953 they moved from Ibagué to Bogotá.He was basically educated in classical music but hislove for his authentic roots motivated him to playColombian folk music such as, pasillos, danzas,bambucos etc. He was part of groups playing theguitar accompanied by intruments such as bandola(mandolin) and tiple (treble string instrument). Hefound inspiration in Jorge Morel but it was when hewas approaching his 30s that he played pieces byCastelnuovo Tedesco with the Bogotá Philhar-monic. At the same time he was studying orchestra-tion with Blas Atehortúa and with Gustavo Yepes.

At the age of 33 he entered the first Alirio DíazCompetition and obtained third place. As the yearspassed he came back as a member of the jury for theninth Alirio Díaz Competition. By this time hethought he needed to visit Europe where he spentsix years between Madrid, Paris and Athens. By1975 Pedro Leguizamón from Paraguay whom hemet in Paris, suggested to Gentil the recording of aLP with music of Agustín Barrios Mangoré whichwas very successful. But, by 1981 he felt compelledto come back to his beloved homeland so hereturned to Bogotá and after a while he was writingmusic again, but best of all he opened theFoundation Gentil Montaña which function as amusic school with the aim to promote Colombianheritage. The Porro is part of Suite Colombiana N°2and has been recorded by Eduardo Fernández,Sharon Isbin and Luis Quinteros.

EL SUEÑO DE ANGELITAFELIX PEREZ CARDOZO (1908-1953)

He was born in Hy’aty, Department of Guairá inParaguay and grew up in a humble rural area full ofwild life. He had been passionate about the harpsince he was a child, and learned from other per-formers the secrets of the instrument. He formed agroup with Ampelio Villalba, Diosnel Chase andPedro José Carlés (poet) in 1930 and touredParaguay and later went to Argentina. One of hismerits was the compilation of popular Paraguansongs, the most important one is Pájaro Campana,anonymous song, which thanks to him is a symbolthat identifies with Paraguay. As a composer for theharp he wrote, together with Hilario Cuadros, LosSesenta Granaderos, an epic song with zambarhythm, which means for Argentinians the same asCerro Corá does for the Paraguayans. He was affec-tionately known as Mitâ Guasu which in Guaranimeans Niño Grande, given to people with altruisticspirit. A principal street in Mendoza, Argentina isnamed after him. Among his many songs he wrote isEl Sucño de Argelita which was transcribed for gui-tar by Berta Rojas.

ANGOSTURA Valse VenezolanoNATALIA Valso Venezolano No° 3ANTONIO LAURO (1917-1986)

Antonio Lauro was born in Ciudad Bolívar,Venezuela and his father was an Italian who emi-grated to Venezuela during the First World War.When he was five years old his family moved to

Caracas where he studied violin, piano and compo-sition, but on hearing Agustín Barrios Mangoré inconcert he decided to concentrate on the guitarinstead. In 1933 he studied with Raúl Borges, whointroduced him to the traditional classical guitar.But he was influenced by Vicente Emilio Sojo in theuse of certain dissonant harmonies in the same waythat he himself did in his Misa Cromática, whereSojo respected the liturgical character and the massceremony as such, even when he used a great dealof polytonality. Other influences in Lauro’s lifewere the music of Debussy, Ravel and Mozart, fromthe latter he learnt musical forms when he listenedto his sonatas for they were written with clarity andwere easy to understand.

With regard to interpretation, Lauro insisted thatthe performer had to understand the logic behind amusical phrase without the help of markings, forinstance to play Lauro’s valses, the performer notonly has to understand the musical notations in thepartiture, but also has to pay attention to thedynamic of the piece, its tempo and accents; andbecause Lauro used a sequence of many tonalities isthat his style is polytonal. Another characteristic ofLauro’s music is the crossing of 3/4 and 6/8 which isalso typical of Venezuelan music, especially in thevalse and the joropo, both are played simultaneous-ly which is not the case with popular music in LatinAmerica where the 3/4 and 6/8 are played in alter-nation. Natalia, Valse Venezolano, No. 3, was writ-ten to honour Lauro’s daughter.

INTERVALGUSTAVO COLINA Cuatro solos

LLUVIA SOBRE METALGUSTAVO COLINA (b. 1972)

He was born in Punto Fijo, State of Falcon andbecame familar with the Cuatro from a very early age.He studied with Jairo Revilla, Felipe Amaya, FreddyReyna, Gerardo Soto and Santiago Hernández, wasthe leader of the group Jóvenes Cuatristas deParaguana and has an extensive career as a performerwith a huge number of excellent critics. He has par-ticipted as a special guest at the Festival AntonioLauro and Festival Internacional de Agosto inVenezuela, also the Festival Latino-americano deMúsica in Puerto Rico and has performed in Rome atthe Universidad Pontificia Salesiana, the UniversidadGregoriana and the Vatican Radio, has also touredthe Dutch and British Islands of the Caribbeanthrough Cultural Agreements between the Chanceryof Venezuela and the Consejo Nacional de la Cultura(CONAC). He specially wrote Lluvia Sobre Metal tolaunch his second compact disc, premiered in June2001, conceived as a path from Venezuela to LatinAmerica with the aim to make the Cuatro interna-tionally known as an instrument. The author’s deepthoughts are invested in this piece combined withskillful string touches to show the powerful dexterityof the performer’s hands.

CARNAVAL*Improvisation, Venezuelan folklore DEL FLAMENCO AL JOROPO

TOMAS MONTILLA

STRING DUO Guitar CuatroGOLPE AL DIABLO DE CARORA

CANCION CAROREÑAMERENGUE CRIOLLO

RODRIGO RIERA (1923-1999)

Rodrigo Riera was born in Carora, Venezuela and

begun to play the guitar as a boy, training thatallowed him to improvise at an early age. Later hewent to Caracas and was under the supervision ofRaúl Borges at the Escuela de Música yDeclamación. He perfiled as a promising guitar con-certist who belonged to the same generation ofAlírio Díaz; by 1951 he travelled to Spain where hefinished his studies at the Real Conservatorio deMadrid. He stayed in Spain for a while and decidedto gain experience in the United States where hegave his first concert in New York around 1962; tosustain himself gave guitar lessons and managed toperform in concerts. It was 1964 when he wrotesome of his most important pieces such as, PreludioCriollo, Merengue Venezolano, Choro, Elorac andCanción Caroreña. His inner wish was to cover thewhole range of Venezuelan popular rhythms.

Golpe al Diablo de Carora was inspired by a leg-end more than three centuries old within the CaroraState. Its rhythm is similar to the jarabe sapatillo ofMexico. Also, Merengue Criollo is a typical dance in5/8 rhythm, different to the Dominican RepublicMerengue in 4/4.

EL NIÑO*EL MARABINO

SEIS POR DERECHOMERENGUE CRIOLLO

ANTONIO LAURO (1917-1986)

Kindly see brief biography for Antonio Lauro in thefirst part of the programme.

The string duo have chosen for tonight’s concert toplay pieces well known in concert circles such as, elMarabino also known as el Maracuchu which refersto a native of Marcaibo, a city where Maestro Laurolived for a while and Angostura is the ancient nameof Ciudad Bolívar where he was born. Lastly, Seispor Derecho has the rhythm of Joropo, an energeticregional dance which used a great deal of a hemiolawhich consist in the alternation of the 6/8 and 3/4.Its title alludes to the plains or Llanos of Venezuelausing in its rhythm the 6/8 equal (seis), but giving itthe right (derecho) to be so named. MaestroAntonio Lauro received the Premio Nacional deMúsica in 1986 which was presented by HisExcellency Mr J. Lusinchi, President of Venezuala.Maestro Lauro died shortly after receiving his prize.

CARLOS BARBOSA-LIMA Guitar solosCOCHICHANDO

UM A ZEROALFREDO VIANNA (1897-1973)

He was better known as Pixinguinha a choro com-poser arranger, flautist and saxophonist born inRio. He was the fourteenth son of a family of musi-cians and was nine years old when he accompaniedhis father playing the cavaquinho and wrote his firstchoro Lata de Leche (tin of milk) at the age oftwelve, inspired by the habit of Bohemian musicianswho drunk the milk left at the door of houses in thestreet. When he was thirteen he took the flute as aninstrument and at seventeen recorded his first LPwith compositions like Rosa and Sofre Porque Quer.He embarked on his first tour which lasted sixmonths in 1922 with the group Os Oito Batutas andbegun to make his name. He was one of the firstarrangers paid to do a job in a difficult time formusicians in Brazil. The choro rhythm was originat-ed in the 19th century and is noted by its virtuosity,improvisation and counterpoint reflecting Afro-Brazilian traditions. He produced important choroworks of all times contributing to place choro as

h of Lambeth: persons shall not be permitted to stand or sit in any of the gangways intersecting the seating or to sit in any of the other gangways. No smoking in the auditorium. The taking of photographs is strictly prohib-e auditorium. It is illegal to record any performance, or part thereof, unless prior arrangements have been made with SBC management and the concert promoter concerned. If you do not need to use your hearing aid duringaring a digital watch? Make sure the alarm is off. Would patrons with mobile telephones ensure that they are switched off before the performance commences.