April 6, 2025

Given its advantageous geographical placement, the Iberian Peninsula has been a crossroads for European, Mediterranean and African peoples for thousands of years. Aside from highways and byways, the natural resources and environmental beauty further enhanced the appeal of this land for travelers, nomads and merchants throughout history.
 
This confluence of humanity moving through the region left a deep cultural imprint, creating a distinctive, intriguing and rich heritage that set Spain and its people apart from the rest of Europe. To this day, the place continues to capture the world’s imagination.
 
The LSO celebrated Spanish culture in our program Friday night. Given that theme, it may seem odd that it was a concert dominated by French composers, but such is the orchestral canon. We did have two real Spaniards (Manuel Da Falla and Marc Migó) on the program. The French connection included Eduard Lalo and Maurice Ravel. Lalo was of Spanish heritage, so that counts for something, right?  Ravel was born kind of close to Spain… Mr. Migó is actually Catalan also, so some nuance here, but you get the idea.
 
Cultural appropriation is a hallmark of classical music. Composers were on that before it was cool and then later uncool. Spanish culture was, and remains, irresistible for creative types.
In the hands of composers, Spanish cultural appropriation has mostly fallen into “the most sincere form of flattery” category.
 
Flattery was certainly the impetus for Maurice Ravel who penned the opening and closing works on Friday’s concert (Alborada del Gracioso and Bolero). He admired the flavors, colors and passions of Spain. For many Romantic era composers, celebrating the exotic was one of the most-used tools in their creative toolbox, and for the Europeans of the 19th and early 20th Centuries, it didn’t get much more exotic than things Iberian.
 
We, as music lovers, benefit from all that. Today we have a wealth of musical postcards and travelogues from Spain….think Bizet’s Carmen, Rimsky-Korskakov's Capriccio Espagnol, Chabrier’s España Rhapsody. The list goes on and on.
 
Manuel Da Falla was Spain’s greatest composer of the late-Romantic era and possibly of all time. He and Ravel were born just a year apart. Falla got to know Ravel and his music when he moved to Paris. He was greatly influenced by him, especially Ravel’s masterful use of orchestral color and ambience.
 
Falla was quick to learn and adopt Ravel’s palatte into his own musical language. Add to that the infectious Spanish musical idioms as raw material, and you have a potent combination. When comparing side by side Ravel’s “Spanish” music, to that of Falla’s, the listener can feel immediately that Falla is the real deal, the real Spanish music. That’s not meant as a slight to Ravel, just a nod to the difference and how Falla’s authentic roots are made manifest in his music. The two composers sound similar but still different. I think we are most fortunate to have them both!
 
The renowned violinist Chee-Yun joined us for Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnol. Her recording of this work on Denon has become a reference recording for the piece among violinists and violin enthusiasts. Hearing it live is even better. She leaves no stone of expressive possibility unturned and finds the nuance and detail that turns the Lalo from simply a show piece into a truly moving experience. It was a joy to have her with us.
 
Another remarkable gift of the evening was having composer Marc Migó actually in the house. I had programmed his work The Ecstacy of St. Teresa to bring both another actual Spanish composer into the mix, and also to bring a sense of today’s Spanish music to the concert. Given that Mr.  Migó lives in Barcelona, I certainly didn’t expect to see him at the Wharton Center! About two weeks ago, I got an e-mail from Marc saying he would be at the concert…quite a wonderful surprise for all of us.
 
A shout out to the orchestra is definitely in order as well. This was a demanding program. Each work stretches an orchestra in different ways, and stretch they did. I wish we could do the whole thing again.
 
Up Next:
 
May 9, 2025
7:30 P.M.
 
Lansing Symphony Orchestra
Benjamin Grosvenor, piano
 
Wharton Center for the Performing Arts
East Lansing, Michigan
 
Jared MILLER  Under Sea Above Sky
BEETHOVEN   Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor”
DVORAK           Symphony No. 8
 
#chee-yun #marcmigo #lansingsymphony