Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Rodrigo - Fantasia para un gentilhombre - Espanoleta y Fanfare

I'm playing a different Rodrigo piece right now and thought listening to more music by the Spanish composer would give me more insight into how to play this sort of music. This piece is extremely different from the Aria Antigua. It begins with a little intro section, mostly with an oboe. Then the main theme is brought in by the strings. They play the entire theme and then the flute soloist enters with the same motive. Next it gets mixed up a little with a sort of echo going on in the orchestra of the flute's part, which is a development of the motive but using staccatos and a varied rhythm. There is a very smooth transition from this style into its exact opposite, a smooth legato line. This lasts only a few bars because it is transitional into the return of the theme that was first introduced by the orchestra. This time, both the orchestra and soloist play sections of the motive.

The piece progresses into a B section, which is a really interesting change in style from the A section. This fanfare is very Spanish dance-like, but is followed by an arpeggiated motive. These two elements make up the motive of B. A little way along, the flute has a cadenza with material from A. When the cadenza is over and the orchestra has returned, we have a return of the A section that sounds almost exactly like the initial A, only there are slight variations that keep the material sounding interesting. The piece is rounded out with a terminative section similar to the intro in the beginning except the flute has it now instead of the oboe.

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