What is (MK) Rodrigo's cto de aranjuez all about | Golden Skate

What is (MK) Rodrigo's cto de aranjuez all about

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eltamina

Guest
What is (MK) Rodrigo's cto de aranjuez all about

There has been some discussion about Michelle’s choice of music for her free skate from the very beginning. Some think it is an over use piece of music. (I agree). Some think that the version she chose (violin and orchestra) does not represent the spirit of the piece. Some people thought that her choice of costume color is not relevant to a Spanish theme. I sort of agree and disagree.

Here is a poll about Michelle’s interpretation of concerto Aranjuez

Here is a very good article on Rodrigo and concerto Aranjuez

www.wsws.org/articles/199...-j13.shtml

Joaquin Rodrigo, famed Spanish composer dies
By John Martinez
13 July 1999

Joaquin Rodrigo, acclaimed Spanish composer and the man most responsible for popularising the guitar as a classical concert instrument, died on July 6 in Madrid at the age of 97.
Rodrigo is best remembered for his 1939 Concierto de Aranjuez, the first orchestral work composed specifically for guitar. This ground-breaking composition was prompted by a meeting between Rodrigo and Spanish guitarist Regino Sainz de la Maza, in Paris. De la Maza performed the Aranjuez for the first time in 1940 with the Barcelona Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then, the work has been recorded innumerable times and is the most well-known and influential piece of 20th century Spanish music. Among the many thousands of musicians and composers inspired by its evocative and haunting qualities was jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, who recorded a version of it almost 40 years ago, on his "Sketches of Spain" album.
Aranjuez, the work's location, points to the end of the 18th century and the Spanish courts of Carlos IV and Fernando VII. As Rodrigo explained in 1974: “It is named after the famous royal site on the shore of the River Tagus, not far from Madrid, along the road to Andalucia, and some perceive Goya's shadow in the notes of its music, full of melancholy emotion. Its music seems to bring to life the essence of an 18th century court, where aristocratic distinction blends with popular culture. In its melody the perfume of magnolias linger, the song of birds and the whisper of fountains ... Concierto de Aranjuez, a synthesis of classical and popular in both form and emotion, lies dreaming beneath the foliage of the park that surrounds the Baroque palace, and only wishes to be as agile as a butterfly and as precise as a matador's cape pass.”
Rodrigo's compositions developed from his blending of Baroque compositions for the vihuela (a lute-like instrument that pre-dates the guitar) with the folk traditions of flamenco music and his own classical training. Before he began producing compositions for guitar the only classical work available to master guitarists, such as Andres Segovia and others, were piano transcriptions of Bach and other classical composers.
Born in Sagunto, Valencia on November 22, 1901, Rodrigo's achievement was all the more remarkable in that he was seriously blinded by diptheria when he was three years old. Medical treatment and surgery did little to improve his condition and then glaucoma blinded him completely. Rodrigo later commented, very objectively and without regret, that his blindness led him to music.
His parents enrolled him in a school for blind children in Valencia and by the age of eight he was studying solfa, piano and the violin in Braille under some of Spain's best musicians. Rodrigo's professor of harmony and composition was Francisco Antich and he later studied with the musicians Enrique Gomá and Eduardo López Chavarri. Rafael Ibañez, employed by Rodrigo's family as a tutor and later as Rodrigo's companion, secretary and copyist, cultivated the child's interest in literature.
By the 1920s Rodrigo had become a first-class pianist, was familiar with the most important compositions of that time and capable of performing the most difficult work of Ravel, Stravinski and others. His first serious compositions for piano, cello and violin date back to 1923. Juglares, his first orchestral work, premiered in 1924. These early works are characterised by a delicate lyricism, a daring orchestral colourism and a harmonic vocabulary reminiscent of another famous 20th century Spanish composer, Enrique Granados.
In 1927, Rodrigo decided to follow the footsteps of other great Spanish composers, Manuel de Falla, Isaac Albeniz and Joaquin Turina, and travel to Paris. In Paris he studied with Paul Dukas and was soon befriended by de Falla, composer of the ballet The Three Cornered Hat. He also met and fell in love with Victoria Kamhi, a young Turkish music student, and married her in 1933. From then, until her death in 1997, Kamhi collaborated in every aspect of Rodrigo's work.
Few who have enjoyed the optimism and poetic beauty of Aranjuez realise that it was written under the most difficult conditions. As Kamhi explained in a later biography, the young couple faced tremendous poverty, she was pregnant and at one point Rodrigo fell seriously ill after developing an abscess in his eye.
The concerto earned him almost instant fame in Spain—after its premiere in Madrid he was borne shoulder-high around the old city—and resolved many of the financial difficulties facing the young couple. Rodrigos was offered a post in the Radio Madrid's Department of Music and appointed manager of Arte y Propaganda de la ONCE (National Spanish Organization of the Blind).
 
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MoonliteSonata

Guest
Re: What is (MK) Rodrigo's cto de aranjuez all about

As long as she skates beautifully and skates with heart...it's good enough for me...:)
 
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BronzeisGolden02

Guest
Re: What is (MK) Rodrigo's cto de aranjuez all about

I agree with MoonliteSonata, as long as a skater puts true emotion and heart with some great skill and choreography, I could care less. Just move me! Give me chills! I think so many skaters get caught up in cheesy moves that are immediately associated with certain styles and pieces of music, and Spanish music is certainly one of those types. Personally, I thought her dress for the free skate was beautiful. That choice of blue was different for her and I applaud that. Also, I'm very tired of seeing the traditional red/black/gold worn with almost all of the Spanish music! Sure the music has a theme, but that doesn't mean you have to wear a certain costume or skate with certain theme-styled moves. Thanks for the story on "Aranjuez" Eltamina, very interesting. I've been taking a music class and that is the most interesting part, learning the stories behind the music and operas. "La Traviata" was such a sad story. And, LOL, I always thought "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun" was about a small deer jumping in meadows or something! Who knew?
 
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Ladskater

Guest
Re: What is (MK) Rodrigo's cto de aranjuez all about

I still love the guitar concerto version best. I find the version Michelle uses gets a little murky. I almost don't recognize the music in places. I would love to see her skate to the guitar rendition. Okay call me a "purist!" It's such rich music. One of my favorite concertos.


Ladskater
 
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BronzeisGolden02

Guest
Re: What is (MK) Rodrigo's cto de aranjuez all about

Ladskater,

I agree completely, the guitar version is beautiful. Anything played by the violin I usually prefer, and I did like Michelle's version, but the guitar gives that piece so much excitement and flavor.
 
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mathman444

Guest
Re: What is (MK) Rodrigo's cto de aranjuez all about

Would I be an irredeemable Philistine if I confessed that I thought the main thing that Michelle was saying was, "Look at me doing a triple Salchow!!!!" ?

MM
 
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THIZfiyaVIETgrl

Guest
Re: What is (MK) Rodrigo's cto de aranjuez all about

I'm just going to comment on the costume. I'm tired of some people who criticized her blue and gold costume of not being Spanish at all. Spanish culture isn't just limited to black, gold, and red. There was a picture I saw of a bullfighter somewhere where the bullfighter was wearing a costume that had the same color as MK's LP costume and similar patterns.
 
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THIZfiyaVIETgrl

Guest
Re: What is (MK) Rodrigo's cto de aranjuez all about

Thanks Mathman ;)
 
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Joesitz

Guest
Re: What is (MK) Rodrigo's cto de aranjuez all about

Thanks for the bio on Rodrigo, El Tamina. I'll have to add this Concerto to my collection.

I'm not crazy about blue and gold. Reminds me of my high school days, which I hated. I like Michelle in pastel colours.

Joe
 
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