The 20 episodes of Momentos Musicales this season are giving us opportunity to track music and musicians from throughout Pan America as they come and go, crossing borders, at times with difficulty, and other times smooth as ice. Thankfully, the music has pretty much free flowed, as was illustrated previously when we learned of La Cadéna de las Americas, an extensive network of shortwave radio signals which helped settle listeners throughout the tribulations of World War II.
Today, we mix and match conductors and musical numbers in several languages. Two of the conductors may jog memories of listeners to the San Antonio Symphony. Both Carlos Miguel Prieto and Enrique Diemencke have conducted the orchestra. To my knowledge, neither Miguel Harth-Bedoya, the Peruvian conductor who was formerly music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, nor Isaac Karabtchevsky, considered by many Brazilian musicians the dean of current orchestra conductors in Brazil.
In 1982, I played two concerts under Maestro Karabtchevsky when he guest-conducted the Mexico City Philharmonic. I was so impressed that I joined a group of other members of the orchestra for a social gathering, hoping to get a tip on getting into his Brazilian orchestra. I had no such luck, and even if so, I would be waiting in line for quite some time. Such was Karabtchevsky's reputation among the several full time orchestras in Mexico City.
Karabtchevsky has conducted in the United States only rarely, which is a pity, for he is exceptional, and time is running out. He turns 92 years old in December. Thankfully, he is well represented by recordings. Most, if not all, are recommended for listeners wanting to know more about Isaac Karabtchevsky. His cycle of Villa-Lobos symphonies is exceptional.
Also of interest in this particular symphony is that Villa-Lobos appended to the title: “On the Outline of the Mountains of Brazil.” This clues the listener that this is one of several pieces in the Villa-Lobos catalog derived from the process of transcribing outlines of physical features, in this case mountains of Brazil, into musical lines. He wrote a similar piece, much shorter that the Sixth Symphony, called “New York Skyline Melody.”
Carlos Miguel Prieto's name might resonate with some listeners. He was an assistant conductor with the San Antonio Symphony from 1998-2001. His career has flourished on both sides of the border, but of greatest importance has been his work with the Sinfónica de Mineria, a summer orchestra in Mexico City, and the Orchestra of the Americas.
The Orchestra of the Americas deserves our attention while we are on the general topic of Pan America. The players represent 25 countries in the Western hemisphere. They are admitted to the orchestra through a rigorous audition process and are limited to one-year terms in the orchestra. Talk about a Pan American model, the Orchestra of the Americas has offices in Washington D.C., is based in Mexico City, and also maintains institutional presences in Canada, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Venezuela.
Miguel Harth-Bedoya is heavily invested in the influence of pre-Colombian cultures and deserves more attention. For now, I leave you with Danza Rústica, imagining music of the Inca Trail. More on this fascinating facet of indigenous Peru tomorrow.
