Artist Guide » Classical » Orchestral » SAN JUAN POPS: Imagenes
IMÁGENES The personality, spirit, culture, roots, history and traditions that differentiate a people from others are reflected in their musical expression. Imágenes (Images) represents the essence of Puerto Rico, a mixture of races such as the Taíno, European and African, conjoined in the burning, humid Caribbean climate. Old and modern influences; melodious and rhythmically complex music presented in a varied format by exponents of the different cultures. Music both lyrical and intense, reflecting the character and richness of Puerto Rican culture and the personality of its people. Music that not only represents a people but that describes the charming beauty of Puerto Rico. SAN JUAN POPS ORCHESTRA San Juan Pops is a private, sixty-piece, professional Symphony Orchestra under its Music Director, Maestro Roselín Pabón. It is nonprofit and is based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Dedicated to developing a taste for good symphonic music worldwide, the Orchestra plays in a wide range of styles and many types of music, from classical to folkloric, including good popular music. It is also a source of employment for Puerto Rican composers, arrangers, musicians and young instrumentalists, allowing them to show off their talents. San Juan Pops had its very successful debut concert at the Performing Arts Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico in July 1991. Since then its presentations have been consistently acclaimed by the public and also by music critics in the local media. The following are some highlights in the history of the Orchestra: In 1992, it commissioned and premiered various works from Puerto Rican composers. Two of these works, Fantasía Caribeña by Raymond Torres Santos and Obertura de Verano by José Pujals Castellar, are included in this recording. In 1998, the Orchestra released its first CD titled Tres Conciertos del Caribe composed by Ernesto Cordero; two of these concerts are for guitar and orchestra with guitarists Iván Rijos and Leonardo Egúrbida as soloists and the third is for "cuatro" and orchestra with Edwin Colón Zayas as soloist. This recording has received excellent reviews worldwide and it marks a very important event, it is the first all-symphonic recording ever processed and recorded entirely in Puerto Rico. The Orchestra has appeared in many locations in Puerto Rico in both public and privately sponsored presentations, and has appeared on television in several occasions. This is its second CD recording. NOTES ABOUT THE ARTISTS MAESTRO ROSELIN PABON, San Juan Pops Musical Director, conductor, pianist and teacher Maestro Pabón is the most experienced, native born, Symphony Orchestra Conductor of Puerto Rico. Currently he is the Associate Conductor of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra. He is also one of the founders of the San Juan Pops Orchestra and is its Music Director. Roselín Pabón, a native of Mayagüez, has played an important role in the musical life of Puerto Rico for more than 20 years. He has conducted operas, ballets, and special concerts as well as regular season concerts, many of them in the company of some of the world's greatest singers and instrumentalists. He has conducted the Puerto Rico Symphony in dozens of concerts in plazas and stadiums throughout the Island. He has done CD recordings and appeared in TV and radio broadcasts. He has acted as Guest Conductor overseas in Spain, Italy, Mexico, Guatemala, Uruguay, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic. He has also conducted several important orchestras in the United States of America. Recently released in VHS format is Ernesto Cordero's Concierto Antillano, with renowned guitarist Ángel Romero as soloist and the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra conducted by Roselín Pabón. Maestro Pabón has been instrumental in promoting local young composers and Puerto Rican music. He has taught at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music for many years and is in charge of the Conservatory Orchestra. For several years he was Music Director of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of the Americas, associated with the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico. EMILIO "MILLITO" CRUZ, guitarist and "cuatro" virtuoso "Millito" as he is universally known, was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1940. He studied guitar and "cuatro" with private teachers before entering the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music. He is considered one of Puerto Rico's best guitarists and has participated in numerous worldwide musical tours that has taken him throughout the United States, Europe and even Asia. He has been a soloist with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra on several occasions including Puerto Rico's premier of Paisajes, which he plays in this CD. He has shared his musical knowledge with many young Puerto Rican students, encouraging them to continue playing the "cuatro", keeping Puerto Rico's tradition alive. HENRY HUTCHINSON NEGRON, violin soloist, Concertmaster of Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra and San Juan Pops Orchestra Henry Hutchinson Negrón is a distinguished scion of a notable Puerto Rican musical family. His mother is the prominent pianist and teacher, Luz Negrón Hutchinson. His father is the prestigious violinist Henry Hutchinson, Sr. His aunt, Cecilia Talavera, is also a famous pianist. Obviously, Henry began his musical studies at home before going to the Julliard School of Music, where he studied under Dorothy Delay and Nathan Milstein, among others. He has taken part in numerous Chamber Music Festivals such as those in Aspen, Colorado and Norfolk, Virginia and in Zurich, Switzerland. He has also played in Italy and France as well as playing regularly with various orchestras, such as the Metropolitan Opera House Symphony Orchestra in New York and the Florida Pops Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared as soloist in concerts with orchestras in Puerto Rico, the United States, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Chile, France and Italy. Henry and his talented mother have played "duo concerts" throughout Puerto Rico. At present, he juggles his career as soloist, Concertmaster of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra and the San Juan Pops Orchestra, violin professor at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music while presenting concerts with the Chamber Orchestra he founded and coordinating his duo appearances with his mother. GIOVANNI HIDALGO, percussionist Born in San Juan, Hidalgo was considered a precocious musician as a child. He picked up a drum when he was barely five years old. Both his father and his grandfather were celebrated "congueros" so he grew up listening to Caribbean and Latin American Rhythms at home. He began earning his reputation as a talented "conguero" in his early teens. He gained the attention of jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie and was selected as a member of the Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations All Star Orchestra, traveling with them around the world for four years. Giovanni has performed with the most important stars of the "Pop Music World" such as Tito Puente, Carlos Santana, Paul Simon, Art Blakey, Airto Moreira, Michel Camilo, Rubén Blades, Eddie Palmieri and many more. He has also made several recordings and he's had many important public performances. His experience with such a broad range of musicians and styles has made Giovanni Hidalgo one of the most important "Pops" musicians of our times. PROGRAM NOTES OBERTURA DE VERANO (OBERTURA SAN JUAN POPS) by José Pujals Castellar SUMMER OVERTURE (SAN JUAN POPS OVERTURE) This work evokes the feelings of being in the tropics at summertime with the oppressive heat; the cooling ocean breeze; the languor of a tropical sunset; an idle afternoon at the beach; in fact, all those fabulous things that everybody yearns for all year long. Announcing the Summer Orchestra, a brilliant "fanfarria" ends this work. It evokes the open air concerts and the Caribbean "fiestas" and carnivals. This work was commissioned and premiered by the San Juan Pops Orchestra conducted by Roselín Pabón on July 23, 1992, at the Performing Arts Center in Puerto Rico. The San Juan Pops considers this work as its theme and programs it as an opening to their concerts. PAISAJES for "cuatro" and orchestra, by Sonia Morales Matos LANDSCAPES This is a single movement concerto for Puerto Rican "cuatro" and orchestra. The "cuatro" is a native and unique folkloric string instrument from Puerto Rico, similar in shape and tuning to the old Spanish "vihuela." The "cuatro" stands today as a symbol of Puerto Ricans' values and heritage. It has been used in a wide range of ways by popular and classical composers alike. In Paisajes the composer, with her array of musical expressions, takes us through different Puerto Rican landscapes. Amazingly for such a small island, the variety of natural panoramas and exciting views that you can find in Puerto Rico is incredible. The three most obvious landscapes: the coast, the mountains and the towns and cities, are clearly linked to Puerto Ricans' racial heritage. Puerto Rico's heritage comes from the "Taino" Indians in the mountains and valleys, with their traditions and primitive music; the blacks in the coast, with their strong African roots; and the Spanish influences present in towns and cities throughout the Island. There are distinct musical sounds related to each landscape, some are historic, others are purely folkloric, but all of them are still alive. The composer manages to bring all these elements together. EL COQUÍ by José Ignacio Quintón NATIVE TREE FROG The "danza" is a native romantic adaptation of a 19th Century European aristocratic dance called "contradance" in France. In the hands of inspired Puerto Rican composers, it has become as elegant and evocative as a Chopin waltz. The romantic flavor of the traditional "danza" was captured splendidly in all of José Ignacio Quintón's "danzas". The "danza" El Coquí was written originally for piano only. The beautiful arrangement for orchestra recorded in this CD is by Enriquillo Cerón, a well known "Pops" arranger and bass player in Puerto Rico. This "danza" includes among its beautiful cadences, the very distinctive call of the Coquí, a tiny native tree frog indigenous only to the island of Puerto Rico. The Coquí's "call", also referred to as "song", is the most defining among the many sounds that are part of the Island's environment. This tiny tree frog has the peculiarity that it can live only in Puerto Rico. The many attempts to transplant them to other habitats have proven to be consistently fruitless. ELEGÍA INDIA and POEMA both for violin and orchestra by José Enrique Pedreira INDIAN ELEGY and POEM These are two of several works by Pedreira that were originally conceived for piano and violin which have been arranged for violin and orchestra by his loyal student José Raúl Ramírez. His compositions for violin and piano were influenced by his close relationship with his brother-in-law, noted violinist Henry Hutchinson, Sr. Elegía India and Poema clearly demonstrate the profound lyricism and the romantic air that permeate the beautiful works written by this unjustly-underrated Puerto Rican composer. The Indians alluded to in the title of Elegía India are the "Tainos", not the inhabitants of India. The "Tainos of Borikén" were the native Puerto Rican Indians, the brave proud and simple people that first populated the island. The second work's title, Poema, clearly alludes to the lyric and poetic nature of the music itself. In addition, it suggests a free use of the standard musical forms in the nature of a rhapsody. CONCERTINO TROPICAL for violin and strings by Ernesto Cordero TROPICAL CONCERTINO The term "Concertino" in the title of this work refers to the brevity of the piece, not to its scope. It is inspired by three natural elements in Puerto Rico's environment. Each of the three movements refers to a different element. The first movement Yerba Bruja, "witches' herb" literally, refers to an indigenous and sturdy plant that is used, not for preparing incantations or witchcraft, but for natural or holistic healing. The second movement refers to strength of the Caobo or mahogany tree, a beautiful tree native to the Americas that is so strong that even the destructive termite cannot harm it. The third movement refers to Puerto Rico's own golden hummingbird, El Colibrí Dorado. This last movement alludes to the perpetual motion inherent to the swift flight of the tiny hummingbird, also called in Spanish "zumbador" for the zoom-like sound made by its wings in his nervous and jerky movements. The Concertino Tropical is written and dedicated to Maestro Henry Hutchinson Negrón and was premiered by him on May 1, 1998 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. VERDE LUZ by Antonio Cabán Vale "El Topo" GREEN GLOW "Verde Luz" (literally "Green Light") is a gorgeous ode to the beauty of Puerto Rico's landscapes, the clear bright skies and the magical greenish mountains bathed by sunlight on a foggy and misty morning. The sentimental nature of the Puerto Rican people is so aroused by this simple but ravishing melody that it may well deserve to be revered almost as Puerto Rico's second anthem. The words to this beautiful song were also written by the composer-poet. The magnificent arrangement played by San Juan Pops in this recording is by Lito Peña, a very prestigious Puerto Rican composer, arranger, director and instrumentalist. The San Juan Pops Orchestra had the honor of premiering one of Maestro Peña's major works at the Center for the Performing Arts in San Juan, Puerto Rico in July 1992. FANTASÍA CARIBEÑA by Raymond Torres Santos CARIBBEAN FANTASY Fantasía Caribeña, commissioned by the San Juan Pops Orchestra, is a one-movement symphonic piece composed in 1992. The work features Latin American instruments using Caribbean folk music elements within a symphonic context. There are four distinct parts, beginning with a sensuous Cuban "danzón" which evokes musically the tropical world of the Caribbean Islands. After a climax, it becomes a rhythmic "mambo" which leads into a virtuous "cadenza" featuring percussion instruments. The "cadenza" begins with a Puerto Rican "bomba" rhythm and is followed by a series of Caribbean rhythms. Slowly the instruments of the orchestra come in to play until it becomes a "Latin rhythm jam session." The work ends with a vigorous finale. Fantasía Caribeña is dedicated to Maestro Roselín Pabón, who premiered the work with the San Juan Pops on July 23, 1992, at the Performing Arts Center in Puerto Rico.

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Track List:
1. Obertura de Verano
2. Paisajes: I. Introduccion - Seis Mapeye
3. Paisajes: II. Introduccion - Bolero
4. Paisajes: III. Introduccion - Seis Chorreao
5. El Coqui
6. Elegia India
7. Concertino Tropical: Yerba Bruja - Allegro Vivace
8. Concertino Tropical: El Caobo - Adagio Melancolico
9. Concertino Tropical: El Colibri Dorado - Energico
10. Poema
11. Verde Luz
12. Fantasia Caribeña
13. Fantasia Caribeña: Descarga
14. Fantasia Caribeña: Finale

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