Sonatina for Bassoon and Piano by Susana Antón (Argentina) *English Version

abril 12, 2021

Sonatina for Bassoon and Piano by Susana Antón (Argentina) *English Version

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Hi everyone! Today we arrive at the southern of our continent, and in the middle of tangos, roast meat, wine, mate, choripán, Spinetta ... now we are in Mendoza, Argentina, discovering this beautiful Sonatina for Bassoon and Piano by Susana Antón.

Today we will know this interesting sonatina, it is a piece with a modern and avant-garde language with some serialist elements, full of contrasts in its movements; the work begins with an allegro ma non troppo, a theme on the piano that will be the serial theme of the sonatina, the bassoon quickly becomes the voice that develops the harmonic idea of the piano, and it, in turn, the piano will be fed back by the melody of the bassoon, It is a calm movement, the accompaniment of the piano remains in a single line, this resource allows the bassoon to develop an overly expressive melody, all these elements make this movement so special.

After listening to this beautiful introduction to the piece, we continue with a small scherzo that is the contrasting moment of the work, the piano this time in a theme dominated by rhythm in the low register, the bassoon in imitation of this new rhythmic theme in staccato, and in contrast to the previous movement, the serialist theme will be more marked on the bassoon, and a little more development of the melody on the piano, and finally we find a movement that takes away the small tension of the scherzo with a musical environment very different from the previous two. "Processional" is a lamenting theme, as its name indicates, the piano has a ceremonial rhythm and the bassoon has an overly expressive voice, a sad voice that gradually increases its intensity in the dialogue with the piano, at the end in a heavy and nostalgic atmosphere ends the work with a funereal feeling.

In conclusion, this piece is very interesting with the way in which one movement of the other develops, we can see that there is no similarity in any of them, so no idea will be exposed or developed later, I find a small explanation about its way of composition said by the composer herself, which for me is a reflection that we can perceive in this work that was clearly written in that musical trend in which Ms. Antón specialized. "I started to compose at the time called "vanguard": it was not romantic music, not twelve-tone but the music created from these schemes but applied to the way of feeling" Susana Antón.

The sonatina was written in 1972, and it was recorded in 1997, as part of the album "Senderos", in which the composer recorded several of her soloist and chamber music works belonging to various compositional stages, for this recording the sonatina was performed by the bassoonist Andrea Merenzon and the pianist Elena Dabul.

Susana Antón

(Cover of the album "Senderos", unfortunately, I did not find any photograph of the composer)

Susana Antón was born in 1941 in the city of Mendoza, Argentina; She graduated as a professor of piano and harmony in 1968, at the National University of Cuyo, she studied different techniques as serial techniques with Miguel Francese and Eduardo Tejada, her compositional work is very broad, it includes works for chamber music, choir, band, orchestra, electroacoustic and music associated with the image, we can listen that in the compositional line of Ms. Susana Antón there is an interest in the music of her region, among them: her work "Sangre Indígena" (1975), "Vaivén para flute, quena, siku and tape"(1993), Tangoo (2002); In her professional career, she has served as a professor at the San Juan University and the Universidad Nacional of Cuyo, as well as having received various awards throughout her compositional career, and enjoys great distinction in Argentina for her great career as a composer, researcher, pedagogue and her notorious contribution to the development and dissemination of traditional Argentine music.

Andrea Merenzon

This is an honor for me to speak of this great bassoonist Andrea Merenzon, an icon in Latin America, an admirable woman who has done a great job of spreading our Latin American music to the rest of the world, she has also dedicated herself to a great job for education In the music of Argentine childhood, the work done by the Ms. Merenzon is very extensive, so I will make a brief summary; Andrea Merenzon was born in 1963 in Argentina, in her experience as a concert player she has performed as a soloist in Latin America, the United States, Canada, France, and Turkey; In Paris, she premiered the bassoon concerts of Julio Pardo, Augusto Rattenbach, Roque de Pedro, Astor Piazzola, Gabriel Senanes, and Alonso Crespo.

She founded and directed the Music Festival and the International Festival of the Youth Orchestra of Buenos Aires, and the Iguazú Symphonic Festival, she was also vice president of the International Double Reed Society (IDRS), she has also been the winner of different awards such as First Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, Konex Award 2009, she has received the distinction of "Woman of the Year" 1998 from ABI (USA), also she received the distinction "International Woman of the Year" (1999), In 2005 she received a " Latin Grammy "in classical music for the production of the album Riberas by the Buenos Aires string quartet and Paquito de Rivera. and she was chosen as "Woman of the Year" (2005), by the Clarín newspaper; she has recorded 6 solo albums.

What a great artist is Ms. Andrea Merenzon! Her work as a bassoon player has been so amazing that she is a great source of pride for all the American continent.

Elena Dabul

Elena Dabul is a pianist, teacher, and researcher, she was born in Mendoza, Argentina; She has a Master's degree in the interpretation of 20th-century Latin American music, and a Bachelor of Piano from the Faculty of Arts and Design of the University of Cuyo; She is currently a professor of Chamber and Piano music at UNCUYO and she is also dedicated to the research and dissemination of Latin American music, she recorded more of 10 albums with music for piano and chamber music by Argentine composers. She has received different awards and distinctions throughout her career, in her experience she has performed in concert halls in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Germany, Czech Republic, England, and Italy; Thanks to her great contribution to Latin American music and her extensive artistic career, today she is a recognized pianist in the Argentine musical environment and together with Ms. Susana Antón are two great musical icons from Mendoza, Argentina, we can find various books and graduate theses from the University of Cuyo based on the musical work of them.

If you liked the sonatina you can buy it at the following link.

https://www.andreamerenzon.com/product-page/sonatina-para-fagot-y-piano