Concert Notes - 2011-2012 Season
February 2012 Notes
Concerto No. 3 for Guitar “Elegiaco”
by Leo Brouwer
Born in Havana, Cuba, March 1, 1939
About The Composer … Leo Brouwer is among the most significant living Cuban composers and an influential guitarist and teacher. He began his guitar studies at the age of 13 and two years later made his public debut. Brower studied with some of the greatest Cuban guitar teachers of the time, which influenced his early style as both a performer and composer in the Afro-Cuban tradition. In the late 1950s he attended school (Juilliard) in the U.S.
Bouwer’s early, traditional style evolved later in his career. In the 1960s and 1970s, Bouwer explored more experimental techniques including some atonal and 12-tone works. In the 1980s, he began to work in a third style he calls “new simplicity.” It is a fascinating combination and culmination of Afro-Cuban and modern music styles.
Bouwer is also a composer of film music (60 films) and a major figure in modern music in Cuba.
About This Piece… Bouwer’s Concerto for Guitar No. 3 was composed in 1986 and was dedicated to the legendary guitarist Julian Bream, who also performed the premiere and later recorded the piece with the composer conducting. The concerto opens with the solo guitar and presents a lovely, contemplative statement, later varied and repeated in the first section (or movement). The strings follow and offer a new theme, which is then combined with the initial guitar statement. A brief second movement offers a beautiful solo by the guitar supported by low strings. The final section is rich in rhythmic complexity and wonderfully dramatic.