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Dance music tonight at Madeleine Festival

Published: Friday, May 7, 2004 4:13 p.m. MDT

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Dance music is on the agenda at tonight's Madeleine Festival of the Arts and Humanities concert. Violist Joel Rosenberg from the Paradigm Trio will narrate and, together with his colleagues from the trio (violinist Kelly Parkinson and pianist Jed Moss), play music that shows the development of dance. The program will culminate in the tangos of the great Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla.

"I want to show how the dance forms from the Renaissance evolved into J.S. Bach's use of dances in his sonatas and works for solo instrument," Rosenberg explained. And from there, it's only a short step to the inclusion of dance movements in 20th century classical music, he said. "Villa Lobos admired Bach, and you can hear how he was influenced by Bach in his set of works he called the 'Bachianas Brasilieras.' "

The first half of the concert will open with three dances from the 14th and 16th centuries, transcribed for solo viola. Then Rosenberg will play two movements by Bach, the "Siciliana" from the Sonata No. 4 in C minor and the "Gigue" from the Suite in D minor. The Aria from Villa Lobos' "Bachianas Brasilieras" No. 5 rounds out this part of the program.

The rest of the concert will focus on the tango, including pieces by a somewhat unlikely pairing of composers Samuel Barber (the "Tango" from "Souvenirs") and Richard Adler ("Whatever Lola Wants Lola Gets" from "Damn Yankees").

But before concentrating on the tango, the trio will play "Candombe de la Solapa" from "Suite Argentina" by the contemporary composer Jorge Mochert. "The 'candombe' is a precursor to the tango," Rosenberg said, "which has its roots in Africa." He added that Mochert is a prolific composer whose music is popular in South America but almost unknown in the United States.

The second half of the concert will be devoted to Piazzolla. The trio will play the late composer's "Ave Maria," "Death of an Angel," "Oblivion" and "The Four Seasons."

Rosenberg said that most of the music on the program has been transcribed either for viola or for piano trio with viola instead of cello. Kelly Richardson from the Orchestra of Sandy City helped transcribe several of the works. Violist Cathryn Manning from the Utah Symphony and local violinist Brian Salisbury, who's played in several dance groups and has studied the tango, helped prepare tonight's program.

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