The Rio Negro Philharmonic Orchestra debuted, in its eighth season, caterpillar for marimba and orchestra, by the Argentine composer Luis Naon. Written specifically for this organization, the work was presented with the participation of Oscar Albrieu Roca as a soloist and the Argentine-French director Rut Schreiner.

With a double concert, the orchestra performed this Friday and Saturday (with the same program on both days) at the Cipolletti Cultural Complex, a hall with a capacity of just over 500 people in the city center, and with many young people in the audience.

Works for marimba and orchestra are not frequent. The instrument of African origin, with its wooden plates and resonant tubes, has a relatively recent life in concert halls: the first concert was written in 1940.

The marimba and its peculiarities

It is not an easy instrument to match the orchestra, it has a similar timbre in all its registers.anchored in the temperate system, and its sonority does not have a long range.

However, Naón’s work transforms limits into something virtuous: he explores the most expressive aspects of the instrument (its warm and hypnotic sonority, particularly in the low register) and exploits all its potential in a subtle and colorful dialogue with the orchestra. In the piece, the marimba is the source from which everything emerges.

In caterpillar Many analogies and metaphors are brought into play: an invertebrate body that makes us think in a flexible, non-linear, and more material than structural way. And the potential beauty of the silkworm towards its metamorphosis into a dragonfly or butterfly.

Analogies and metaphors

Something of all this is present in the work in four movements, with the permanent centrality of the marimba, which Albreu Roca kept from one end to the other with a formidable rhythmic and expressive ability.

The energetic thuds of the low register initiated a cheerful first movement, which progressed into a continuous interaction with resonances and sequels between soloist and orchestra, passing through different registers, as regions of different interactions.

In the dreamlike atmosphere of the next movement, more lyrical and material, the flexibility and dynamic breadth of Albreu Roca’s playing (he added a tubular bell here) created a beautiful sonic illusionismtogether with the participation of solo string instruments and weak orchestral resonances.

The soloist’s virtuosity continued to shine in the three candid moments, always with orchestral accompaniment, present in the rhythmic vitality of the third movement. In the end, with some summary elements, the resonances at different speeds seemed to refer to the qualities of the movement of the dragonfliesand the conclusion of a sonorous metamorphosis.

To begin with, Sibelius

The night opened with Rakastavaa beautiful work by Sibelius, and ends with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Third Symphony. Under the expert direction of Rut Schreiner, the orchestra has shown its great potential with a very different work schedule.

From concentrated and contained lyricism The work of Sibelius bows (originally composed for a cappella voices in 1894 and later reworked for strings and tympani in 1911) to the colorful extroverted orchestral of Rimsky-Korsakov (with outstanding solo wind performance) …

Going through the tonal subtleties of Naon, Schreiner kept the balance and clear textures in each opera and offered an intensely expressive interpretation of Rakastava.. Although the orchestra must continue to develop, its potential is a promise that appears as beauty in the caterpillar’s cocoon.

FILE

Very good

Rio Negro Philharmonic Orchestra Rut Schneider, guest conductor Oscar Akbrieu Roca (marimba). Friday 26 and Saturday 27 August, at the Cipolletti Río Negro Cultural Complex.

box

An orchestral dream that came true in 2014

The Río Negro Philharmonic Orchestra was created in 2014, its current artistic and musical director is Martin Fra Milstein. It has 80 members who reside in seven different locations in the Río Negro.

Thanks to a decentralized system, unique in the country, the model allows the orchestra to be present both in large and small cities and in semi-rural places and areas.

From the philharmonic they emerge eleven regional chamber ensembles that carry out dissemination activities through educational programs (concerts in schools, masterclasses and internships for young musicians to experience professional life in the orchestra).

In its eight years of existence, the Orchestra has premiered works by Argentine and foreign composers.

CJL