Carlos Surinach - Acrobats of God; The Owl and the Pussycat; Embattled Garden (Gil Rose)

Information

Composer: Carlos Surinach

• Acrobats of God
• The Owl and the Pussycat
• Embattled Garden

Aliana de la Guardia, narrator

Boston Modern Orchestra Project

Gil Rose, conductor

Date: 2023

Label: BMOP/sound

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Review

Gil Rose has a special knack for finding music that has somehow slipped through the cracks. Here, he gives us three ballet scores composed for Martha Graham and her company by Carlos Surinach (1915 97). Born in Barcelona and trained in Germany (including seminars with Richard Strauss), Surinach settled in 1950 in the United States, where his flamenco-inflected style appealed to leading choreographers.

Embattled Garden (1957), a riff on the story of Adam and Eve, was his first collaboration with Graham. Surinach said that he wanted to bring some of flamenco’s ‘raw energy’ to his concert music, and this is apparent throughout his score. There’s an obsessive element, too – often conveyed by repeated ideas and phrases – that helps to create an atmosphere of erotic infatuation. There’s plenty of colour and energy, although for me the highlight is the quietly ecstatic ‘Tiento de Pena’ section.

The title Acrobats of God (1960) is a play on the medieval notion that monks were ‘athletes of God’ due to their dedication to precise rituals. Graham wrote: ‘I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practising living, the principles are the same.’ She described this ballet as ‘a light-hearted celebration of the art of dance and the discipline of the dancer’s world’. Musically, it’s delightful and definitely worthy of rediscovery. Despite the clear echoes of Falla, Stravinsky and Prokofiev (as well as a faint reminiscence of Carmen’s ‘Gypsy Song’ in the opening Fanfare), Surinach’s own voice shines through. There are some ingenious touches, too, such as the faint, hovering cloud created by the xylophone in the Interlude of scene 4.

The Owl and the Pussycat (1978), a setting of Edward Lear’s famous poem, projects a sense of childlike playfulness and wonder – or, rather, a sense of the childlike as seen through the melancholy eyes of an adult. The poem is narrated in segments that divide the score into scenes. Cuban-American soprano Alina de la Guardia, who narrates, has a slight Spanish accent that I find a charming match for the slight Spanish accent of Surinach’s score.

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project play all three scores with panache, the recorded sound is well balanced and the booklet includes an illuminating note by Clifton Ingram as well as excerpts from a 1979 Surinach interview about the collaborations.

— Andrew Farach-Colton

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Carlos Surinach (6 March 1915 – 12 November 1997) was a Spanish-born composer and conductor. Trained in Barcelona and later in Germany, he returned to Spain to lead the Barcelona Philharmonic and debut his Passacaglia-Sinfonia in 1945. After guest conducting across Europe, he moved to Paris and then settled in New York in 1951, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1959. Surinach gained prominence for his ballet scores, especially in collaborations with Martha Graham, such as Embattled Garden and Acrobats of God. His output also includes orchestral, chamber, choral, guitar and piano works, noted for their vivid rhythmic drive.

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Gil Rose is the founder and conductor of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), founder and General-Artistic Director of Odyssey Opera, Artistic Director of Monadnock Music Festival, Professor of Practice at Northeastern University, and Executive Producer of the record label BMOP/sound. Rose has also made numerous appearances as a guest conductor. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and received his Bachelor of Music from the University of Cincinnati – College Conservatory of Music. He later studied at Carnegie Mellon University, where he received his Master of Fine Arts degree and Artist Diploma.

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