"I was attending
a concert and I spoke to someone who recognized me from our concerts,"
recalls Kristina Boerger, artistic director of the vocal ensemble
Cerdorrion (pictured).
"’I’m a guitarist,’ he said, and he showed me something
he wanted to perform," Boerger says. "I asked him if
he’d want to perform it with us, and he said he’d love to."
The guitarist is Christopher McLeod, and the piece is "Seven
Poems by Federico Garcia Lorca," a 1951 setting for chorus
and guitar by composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco that includes
the Spanish poet’s most well known verses. It will be the first
piece performed at Cerdorrion’s Feb. 18 concert at St. John’s
Episcopal Church in Park Slope.
"One of Lorca’s most famous poems reads, ’The weeping of
the guitar begins,’ so, of course, it’s a natural for inclusion
in this setting," Boerger says.
Tuesday’s program is titled "Sospiros (Sighs)" and
also features the work of Einojuhani Rautavaara, Finland’s greatest
living composer. He is represented by his "Suite de Lorca"
(1976).
"Since we’re doing Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Lorca piece, I
programmed Rautavaara’s also," Boerger explains. "These
four pithy vignettes take 10 minutes to perform and center on
the more mysterious, ominous aspects of Lorca’s poetry."
The concert – which also includes folk-song arrangements by Ralph
Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst and Yumiko Matsuoka, who arranged
jazz settings of American folk tunes – ends with a 15th-century
Spanish work, "Zillancico."
"I wanted to allude to the many culture influences knocking
heads in 15th-century Spain, which came to a bloody head in 1492,
when Granada was conquered [by the Christians]," Boerger
says. "This area is the site of so much beautiful culture
and poetry."
Cerddorion performs at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 139 St. John’s
Place between Sixth and Seventh avenues in Park Slope, Feb. 18
at 8 pm. Tickets are $15 at the door, $10 students and seniors.
For more information, call (212) 774-4105.
– Kevin Filipski
