Mother Earth Program Notes
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Seule dans la forêt by Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983)
Vöglein by Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) Forest Bird by Katherine Hoover (1937-2018) A Hermit Thrush at Morn by Amy Beach (1867-1944) Visions of Dunbar by Robert Schultz (b. 1948) Children of Light, No. 5 by Karen Tanaka (b. 1961) Northern Lights Galapagos Land Iguana Marsupial Mole Florida Panther Polar Bear Tides of Manaunaun by Henry Cowell (1897-1965) Water Dance III by Karen Tanaka (b. 1961) Meditation Prelude No. 4: Cumulus Humilus by Patrick Burke (b. 1974) Sounds of a Fjord for piano and electronics by Kaja Bjørntvedt (b. 1981) Pole Mountain Suite by Bonnie McLarty (b. 1983) I. First Light II. Old Happy Jack Trail III. Mountain Stream IV. Autumn Sky: Fog, Sunbreak, Last Light Mirage by Elisenda Fábregas (b. 1955) Rhythms of the North Country by Gwyneth Walker (b. 1947) |
The subtitle of Mirage comes from a fragment of one of Elisenda Fábregas’ own poems, setting the mood for the shimmering beginning of the piece. “…I felt myself floating in a vast and magic space among tingling and shining stars…” The poem, in this context of the Mother Earth program, conjures up imagery of our planet as seen in its entirety from space. As Sally Ride noted after her first space mission, “The view of earth is absolutely spectacular… it makes you appreciate, actually, how fragile our existence is.”
Mirage was commissioned for the San Antonio International Piano Competition in 1997. The premiere took place at the competition, performed by Silver Medalist Roger Wright. The New York premiere subsequently took place in 1998 and was performed by the competition’s Gold Medalist Mi-Jung Im. The San Antonio Express News wrote “…the piece makes equal demands on a pianist’s pyrotechnics, lyricism and sense of form…” Spanish-American composer Elisenda Fábregas has been praised for writing with an “imaginatively colored… idiom” (The New York Times) and for possessing an “individuality [which] shows through in yearning dissonances, quirky juxtapositions of thematic material and a pervasive sensuality not unlike that of her native Barcelona” (San Antonio Express News). Fabregas earned a doctor of musical arts degree from the Barcelona Conservatory in 1978. She subsequently came to the United States on a Fulbright grant to study piano at The Juilliard School with Beveridge Webster, Joseff Raieff and Samuel Sanders, and received a bachelors and masters degree in 1983. She later earned a doctorate in music from Columbia University Teachers College in 1992. In addition to performing in major concert venues throughout the world, her compositions have likewise been commissioned and performed by notable soloists and ensembles from multiple continents and have received accolades from top music publications. |
