Jorge Álvaro Sarmientos

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Jorge Álvaro Sarmientos (born February 19, 1931 in San Antonio Suchitepéquez , † September 26, 2012 in Guatemala City ) was a Guatemalan composer, conductor and drummer. His u. a. Music influenced by French impressionism clearly shows indigenous features. One of his most popular works was the Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra , which was premiered as a soloist in 1958 with Vida Chenoweth , who had suggested it.

Life

Sarmientos comes from popular and jazz music. As the son of a poor farm laborer, he grew up playing the marimba and met many well-known players as a boy. He also had the gift of perfect pitch . From 1947 to 1953/54 he studied piano, clarinet and saxophone at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Guatemala City . a. with Franz Ippisch . He won several awards and formed a big band . From 1955 to 1971 he lived as a solo timpanist and first percussionist in the national symphony orchestra. He completed his training at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris (1955/56) and finally at the Latin American center of the Instituto Torcuato di Tella in Buenos Aires (1965/66). Here he dealt with twelve-tone music for the first time . Sarmiento's teachers included, in various places, Ricardo Castillo , José Arévalo Guerra , Alberto Ginastera , Nadia Boulanger and Darius Milhaud , and he also took courses in orchestral conducting with Pierre Boulez (1969) and Sergiu Celibidache (1972).

From 1972 to 1991, Sarmientos served as the musical and artistic director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of Guatemala , alongside the chief conductor Ricardo del Carmen . There were also engagements in Mexico (1980/81), various teaching assignments and numerous guest appearances as a conductor overseas, including Japan, where he wrote a symphonic poem about Hiroshima . He won the office in the national symphony orchestra after an "understanding" with the ruling generals, who had persecuted him in parts and imprisoned him for three months in 1962. Sarmientos is socially critical by default, which is also reflected in some of his librettis. In addition to the marimba concert, he mentions the symphonic poem El Destello de Hiroshima from 1994 as his most successful and internationally popular works . He has always “played the role of a composing fighter for human rights, against social injustice and against open racism in Guatemala, in the role of a reminder of human dignity, ”writes Ponader. Sarmiento's “favorite composer”, by whom he also often performed works, was Maurice Ravel .

Sarmientos was a founding member of the Colegio de Compositores Latinoamericanos and from 2000 a member of the Spanish Sociedad General de Autores y Editores . In 1999, together with his colleagues Enrique Anleu Díaz , Dieter Lehnhoff , Igor Sarmientos and Manuel de Jesús Toribio, he organized the X Foro de compositores del Caribe (10th Forum of Caribbean Composers).

Sarmientos had two marriages in his life, the last one in 1960 with Matilde. In 2001 he took his 70th birthday as an opportunity to withdraw from concert life. Until 2004 he lived in Guatemala City, since then outside the capital in his own house. He was always active in jazz throughout his life, including in 1958 as a pianist in a trio with electric guitar and bass. In 2005 he conducted the Mosaico Jazz Big Band at a festival in the capital.

Sarmientos never felt that he belonged to a “school” or was even committed to “compositional guidelines”. He once said in an interview that he takes what he can use for his idea of ​​music. In Destello , for example, he used tonales, bitonal, polytonal and chromatic sound blocks, regardless of conventions or current fashions. Sarmientos has received numerous awards, including the orders of Andrés Bello (Venezuela, 1990), Soberana del Congreso Nacional (Guatemala, 1998) and Quetzal de Jade Maya (Guatemala, 1999).

Works

  • Tres preludios for piano, 1949
  • Funeral y romance for piano, 1950
  • Tres bocetos, Homenaje a Debussy for piano, 1952
  • Tocatta for piano, 1952
  • Suite for violin and piano, 1952
  • Cinco Estampas Cakchiqueles Descriptivas for orchestra, 1953
  • Doce preludios for piano, 1953–54
  • Concierto for viola and orchestra, 1954–55
  • David y Betzabé Los Salmos , symphonic poem, 1954–55
  • Tres melodías en un recuerdo for piano, 1955
  • Música para el ballet - drama El vendedor de máscaras , 1955
  • Seis cantos de esperanza for soprano voice and piano, 1955
  • Sexteto No. 1 for piano, flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon, 1955
  • Sonatina for piano, 1955–56
  • Cinco expresiones for piano, 1955–56
  • Primer concierto for piano and orchestra, 1956
  • Cuatro estados de ánimo for piano, 1956–57
  • El pájaro blanco , ballet for orchestra, 1957
  • Concierto , for marimba and orchestra, 1957
  • Tres estampas de Popol Vuh , ballet-drama for theater, dance, choirs and symphony orchestra, 1958
  • Música para la película El canto del barro , 1957-58
  • Homenaje a Rabil Achi for soprano, mixed eight-part choir and instrumental ensemble, 1959
  • Plegaria tuneca for eight-part choir, 1959
  • Segundo concierto for piano and orchestra, 1960
  • Homenaje a Georgette Contoux de Castillo on three themes by Ricardo Castillo for orchestra and piano, 1960
  • Homenaje a Fauré , Nocturno for piano, 1960
  • Concierto for oboe and orchestra, 1960
  • Oda a la libertad for orchestra, 1961
  • Concierto for five timpani and orchestra, 1962
  • Obertura popular for orchestra, 1962
  • La conquista , ballet-drama for choir, theater, dance and orchestra, 1962–63
  • Tres cuadros corales sinfónicos for choir, reciter and orchestra, 1964
  • Sinfonía Coreográfica for orchestra, 1965
  • Sexteto No. 2 for piano, flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon, 1965
  • Preludio y danza orgiástica for orchestra, 1965
  • Cuarteto de cuerdas , 1966
  • Diferencias , Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, 1967
  • Tercer concierto for piano and orchestra, 1968–79
  • Homage, In memoriam Emilio Arenales Catalán for orchestra, 1969
  • Planetarium for orchestra, 1969
  • La muerte de un personaje for orchestra, 1970
  • Concierto for violin and orchestra, 1971
  • Ofrenda y gratitud for orchestra, 1976
  • Responso Hommage II, In memoriam Mario López Larrave for orchestra, 1977
  • Improvisaciones for five timpani and eight percussionists, 1978
  • Concertante for clarinet and orchestra, 1981
  • Nocturno for piano and string quartet, 1981
  • Preludio y danza rítmica for four guitars, 1981
  • Bragarfonías for mixed eight-part choir, piano, timpani and percussion 1981
  • Coropoema sinfónico Bolívar for choir, reciter and orchestra, 1982
  • Trío for violin, viola and cello, 1984
  • Trío for violin, cello and piano, 1987
  • Homenaje a Ricardo Castillo for orchestra, 1991
  • El Destello de Hiroshima , 1994

literature

  • Scores and Recordings at the Indiana University Latin America Music Center , 1995
  • Steven S. Gillick: Sarmientos de León, Jorge Álvaro , in: Latin American Lives , 1998

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jorge Sarmientos, compositor, pianista y director de orquesta fallece a los 81 años ( Memento from September 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Vida Chenoweth (English WP), accessed on May 16, 2012
  3. ↑ mostlymarimba , accessed on May 16, 2012
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Wolfgang Ponader, 2007 ( Memento from September 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 16, 2012
  5. ↑ A recording of this work with Vida Chenoweth as soloist is available on a CD produced in the USA. Music videos are also circulating on the Internet. All available recordings leave a lot to be desired in terms of sound technology.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Sarmientos, Jorge Álvaro
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Guatemalan composer
DATE OF BIRTH February 19, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH San Antonio Suchitepéquez
DATE OF DEATH September 26, 2012
Place of death Guatemala City