REVIEW: Springfield Symphony Orchestra, "Echoes of the Americas"

Symphony Hall, Springfield, MA

www.springfieldsymphony.org

November 16, 2024

by Michael J. Moran

With this program of five works by different Hispanic composers, led by Puerto Rican-born conductor-violinist Guillermo Figueroa and featuring Uruguayan-born composer-pianist Miguel del Aguila, the SSO presented a virtual mini-festival of Latin American music in 90 minutes.

Guillermo Figuero

It opened with Puerto Rican composer Ernesto Cordero’s “Insula Tropical” (“Tropical Island”), a concerto for violin and string orchestra written in 2007 for Figueroa, Music Director of the Santa Fe (NM) Symphony Orchestra. Its four short movements depict lively and quiet scenes of Puerto Rican life in music of lush romanticism. Figueroa led the SSO strings in a sensitive account, while also playing the solo violin. It was highlighted by a whirlwind minute-long finale, with a virtuosic violin solo depicting the flight of a golden hummingbird. 

Next came the evening’s major showpiece: the 2004 “Three Latin American Dances,” by multiethnic American composer Gabriela Lena Frank. The first dance, “Jungle Jaunt,” exudes the highly charged energy of Amazonian dance forms. The second, “
Highland Harawi,” is an intoxicating brew of nocturnal sounds, mysterious and slow. The third, “Mestizo Waltz,” evokes popular Indian, African, and mariachi band rhythms. Figueroa drew a sensational performance from an enlarged SSO, especially the brass section and a massive array of percussion instruments.

The best-known work on the program was the second suite from Spanish composer Manuel de Falla’s popular 1919 comic ballet “The Three-Cornered Hat,” portraying folk life in 19th-century Spain. Incorporating Spanish dances, the suite consists of a fandango (“Dance of the Miller’s Wife”), a seguidilla (“Neighbors’ Dance”), flamenco (“Miller’s Dance”), and a frantic closing “Jota.” Figueroa and the SSO delivered a colorful reading.

The concert closed with two brilliant dances. Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla’s 1974 “Libertango” transformed his country’s national dance, the tango, into what became known as “nuevo tango,” introducing elements of jazz and modern classical music. Ending the program was Miguel del Aguila’s infectious 1994 “Conga,” with the composer playing the dazzling solo piano part. Transforming the familiar Caribbean dance rhythm into a luxuriant Viennese waltz and back again, the brass and percussion created many hallucinatory effects. Conductor and ensemble were electrifying partners, and the enthusiastic audience loved it.

The SSO’s next concert, “Heralding the Holidays,” will feature conductor William Waldrop and the Springfield Symphony Chorus, on December 14th.