Canciones Latinas - Eliot Fisk & Paula Robison (Liner Notes)

CANCIONES LATINAS

ELIOT FISK, guitar

PAULA ROBISON, flute

1.Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5: I. Aria - Cantilena Heitor Villa-Lobos (Brazil)

2.Quirpa Guatirena (We'll dance until dawn) Traditional - Venezuela

3.Pues, ya saben Ustedes, Señores (You Already Know, Gentleman) Traditional (Venezuela)

4.Rumba - Manuel Ponce (Mexico)

5.Ogguere (Lullaby from the Suite Cantos del caribe) Tulio Peramo (Cuba)

6.La Comparsa Tulio Peramo (Cuba)

7.El Coqui (The Little Tree-Frog) Jose Quinton (Puerto Rico)

8.Cant des ocells (Song of the Birds) Pablo Casals (Puerto Rico)

9.Tus ojos son mi encanto (Your Eyes are my Delight) Traditional - Venezuela

10.Estrellita (Little Star) Manuel Ponce (Mexico)

11. Canto do cisne negro (Song of the Black Swan) Heitor Villa-Lobos (Brazil)

12. Nightclub 1960 (from L' Histoire du Tango) Astor Piazzolla (Argentina)

13. Bordel 1900 (from L' Histoire du Tango} Astor Piazzolla (Argentina)

14. Nagzdaganu (While the Toucan sleeps, we sing in the moonlight) Traditional (Nicaragua)

15. Azulao (Bluebird) Jayme Ovalle (Brazil)

16. Cancion a la luna lunanca (Moonstruck) Alberto Ginastera (Argentina)

17. Cancion a arbol del olvido (The Tree of Forgetfulness) Alberto Ginastera (Argentina)

18. En la cuna blanca (The White Cradle) Alberto Ginastera (Argentina)

Paula Robison and I have long wanted to

issue a sequel to our CD entitled

“Mountain Songs” featuring the music of

Robert Beaser and other composers of

North America. Now on the eve of the

new millenium we have, turned our

attention to music from Latin America,

that region dominated by cultures of

Iberian extraction, which, mixed freely

with indigenous elements and, of course,

the ever powerful African motherland,

produced the exotic colors, catchy

rhythms and haunting melodies that so

captivate our imagination.

Much of this music was originally sung-

sung to words of heartbreak (La cancion

del arbol del olvido, "The Song at the

Tree of Forgetfulness") or incipient

heartbreak (Ya saben ustedes, senores,

"You already know, Gentlemen"), to

words of longing (Estrellita, "Little Star")

(Azulao, "Bluebird"), or of passion (Tus

ojos son mi encanto, "Your Eyes are my

Delight"). Many of the works heard here

are inspired by the glories of Mother

Nature as in the justly famous and

haunting Bachianas brasileiras no. 5, or

the darkly metaphorical Canto do cisne

negro, the song of the black swan) that

according to legend sings only once just

before its own death.

Of course, no recording devoted to the

music of Latin America can escape /f the

infectious rhythms of its dance music,

represented here by the indio influenced

Rumba of Mexican composer Manuel

Ponce and, traveling down the coastline

to Argentina, by the pungent Tangos of

the famous bandoneon master Astor

Piazzolla. In between there is unbridled

joy as in the pithy cross rhythms of the

Quirpa guatirefia and a kind of veiled

mystery as in the indio inflected

Nagzdaganu, which seems to emanate

from a procession through the

Nicaraguan rain forest.

As in a novel by Garcia Marquez, exotic

tropical birds occasionally appear-

Paula's improvisations in Azulao, the

humorous imitation of the Puerto Rican

tree frog in 'El Coqui' , or the fluttering of

of wings in Pau Casals' setting of the

Catalan folk song Cant des ocells

("Song of the Birds"), which during

years of self-imposed exile in Puerto

Rico became synonymous with his

defiance of the regime of the Spanish

dictator Franco.

On this recording you frequently hear

improvised passages melding into more

literally notated sections. However, the

lullaby Ogguere and the famous tune La

Comparsa were drawn from the suite

Cantos del caribe, a suite of AfroCuban

tunes set for us by Cuban composer

Tulio Peramo. The Comparsa refers to

the old practice during slavery of giving

the slaves one day a year off, obviously

a welcome opportunity for celebration

and for recalling the African musical

heritage that continues to this day to

nourish Cuban music.

In addition to such fascinating bits of

history, Paula and I were also inspired

by the words of the numerous songs

that we transformed into pieces for flute

and guitar. Some of our favorites are

those of the middle section of the

Bachianas (Brazilian Villa-Lobos's

tribute to J.S. Bach) which following a

long vocalise on the syllable "Ah" speak

of the voluptuousness of the moon

rising through slowly passing "midnight

clouds" , those of Azulao, in which the

protagonist asks a bluebird to carry his

love to an unreciprocating beloved and

the Arbol def olvido''I went to the tree

of forgetfulness to forget you ... but the

only problem with that is that at the tree

of forgetfulness I forgot to forget you" .

As a benediction on the house we close

with the delicate lullaby, En la cuna

blanca "In the White Cradle" . In this

children's song by the great Argentinian

composer Alberto Ginastera, it is the

silvery light of the moon, symbol of the

child's deceased mother that bathes the

cradle white. It is the boy's older sister,

too poor even to be able to give him a

few sweets, who sings to him, her

peacefully sleeping "hermanito" in this

final, haunting song.

-Eliot Fisk

Eliot and I would like to thank those

many dear friends and students who

have given gifts of their heritage to us

as we've made our Latin journey: Mario

from Costa Rica, Javier from Venezuela,

Joaquin, Marieta, and Marcos from

Cuba; Orlando, Anthony, Nestor, Aldo and Patricia, Gaspar, Dr. Ramirez of

Mayaguez who gave us "El Coqui" , Luz

for Salsa. To Julia, thanks for your

passionate research, to Scott for your

wisdom, to Elizabeth for your midnight

serenades. I give thanks to my parents

for moving our family to Southern

California when it was still filled with

orange groves, to the boy who sat

behind me in English class, caressed my

hair and sang to me in Spanish, and to

my aunt Anita of La Paz who rejoiced

every time she hung her clothes out to

dry in the Mexican sun.

-Paula, Robison,

The unique duo of Paula Robison, flute, and Eliot Fisk, guitar, was formed in

1982 when the two first performed

together in a nationally televised

Christmas concert at the Kennedy

Center in Washington, D.C. Since that

time the duo has delighted audiences

and critics alike in countless concerts in

the U.S. and Europe and in two

MusicMasters recordings, Mountain

Songs, which was nominated for a

Grammy® Award upon its release in 1988, and the present "Canciones

Latinas." In addition to their countless

arrangements of works by masters from all eras and in every imaginable style, the Fisk-Robison duo has inspired new works for the special combination of flute and guitar by Robert Beaser,

George Rochberg, Lowell Liebermann and Tulio Peramo. They have also become a point of reference for countless younger colleagues who have been inspired by Fisk-Robison to form

their own flute and guitar duos.

Produced and Engineered

by Joel Gordon

All works arranged by Fisk-Robison