Premieres Across History Experience
On Thursday, April 29, 2021, I witnessed the historic premiere of Edwin Guevara Gutiérrez’s Ibero-American Landscapes. Throughout the semester, I had the opportunity to learn about several historic premieres and study what has been recorded about the events. Several documents have made the opportunity to preserve the history of these premieres possible, and it has been very interesting and exciting to learn how the composers and artists felt throughout the period of their premieres and how their different audiences impacted them. Having the knowledge of past premieres made me have a different outlook of some of the classics, not a negative perspective, but a more personal one. I guess that I sometimes fail to think past my lifetime and forget the process and journey that many musicians have gone through. Not all of them were recognized during their lifetime, and others struggled immensely with their critics and feedback. Regardless, access to past performances opens a window to the past and allows room for a lot of growth and improvement.
The premiere by Edwin Guevara Gutiérrez was very anticipated by our class; we got to meet them and see them rehearse; and, finally, be part of their historical performance. From my part, everything was remotely, and the way that I witnessed the premiere was via YouTube. It perhaps was not the same as for the ones that watched it in person, but I was also able to enjoy it and be part of it.
On the day of the performance, I opened the YouTube link to watch the premiere, and at around 11 AM, Dr. Matthew Mugmon, welcomed us, the students, and referred to this premiere as “the culminating moment of the class, the one that everybody’s been preparing for.” He proudly presented Edwin Guevara Gutiérrez, a widely recognized guitarist and composer, as well as the other performers, Diana Schaible on flute, Misael Barraza-Diaz and Edwin Guevara Gutiérrez (composer) on guitar, and Edwin’s wife, Cecilia Palma on cello. After that brief introduction, Dr. Mugmon allowed Edwin to take time to talk about his composition. (Min. 10:57 – 13:13).
This premiere is all about Edwin Guevara’s composition, Ibero-American Landscapes.
When composing a piece, many factors are taken into consideration. A composer has complete freedom to choose the musical rules to follow and where to have every idea placed. A composer can incorporate a melody with several harmonies to create either a tonal or atonal piece of music.
Edwin Guevara Gutiérrez was the composer in charge of putting everything from his imagination into paper to bring the music to life. He included something wonderful in his program that really allowed me to come to this performance prepared.
“The melodic and harmonic elements in Ibero-American Landscapes are based on a specific series derived from the name of each of the performers of the world premiere… In other words, each letter of their first and last names has a corresponding sound in the chromatic scale, and similarly, the harmonies come from the same serial system, balanced with traditional harmony.”
Throughout the piece, you hear many extended techniques from the musicians to fit the Latin-like sound they wanted. You also hear percussion in the background. During the dress rehearsal, the composer made a few changes to fit his overall image of the composition even better. He and his wife used their hands and their instruments to create those different percussion sounds. Something that fascinated me was the several duets you see between the flute and the cello. These two instruments are completely different, yet they sound so beautiful together. The harmonies that the guitar can make while playing in the background of the flute allowed the performers to have more control of what kind of sound the audience was hearing.
There were several aspects of this premiere that I considered unique and that really caught my attention. As I reflected on premieres that we had studied, I thought about how this particular performance had some things that many others did not. The audience – myself included – for the dress rehearsal was the same audience that got to see the premiere and witnessed how they were interacting amongst each other minutes before their presentation. I wonder whether they might have felt more comfortable having some sort of engagement with the crowd at that moment or if any of them might have found that a little bit awkward. Either way, it was exciting to see them and see them get ready and touch upon some final details. They would pause now and then and give some observations in English and Spanish. They had a lot of chemistry as a team and showed it how they communicated in words and music.
I thought about the Stravinsky’s Premiere of The Rite of Spring, and thought how much they were different in style and in their first performances.
As we studied, The Rite of Spring created a lot of controversies but also innovation and inspiration. One of the most relevant circumstances about this first event was the way that the audience responded during Stravinsky’s work. Some of them favored it, and others did not. Some of them made their opinion well-known, loud, and clear, and others saved that for later. During the remote performance of Ibero-American Landscapes, the audience was not shown in the video, so I wonder how they behaved and how their reactions were. I could envision that they were eager but respectful, and as I was reading some of the comments from the Live Chat on YouTube, I saw that the comments showed a lot of enthusiasm and positivity. The comments helped me feel so engaged and excited for the premiere. One clear distinction between the two is that Ibero-American Landscapes was premiered during a pandemic – not an ordinary experience, but rather a memorable one. It was also visually simple but very coordinated and organized. There was no dancing or costumes, but there was a live presentation of a man’s talent, passion, and interpretation of music and culture.
Witnessing a premiere by such a talented group was an unforgettable experience. This was a culminating moment in our class, and the event brought a lot more meaning because of the preparation and studies that we had throughout the semester. There is indeed a lot of work in the process of composition, and it must be an honor to share and present that composition with others and play or conduct that piece.
