Old Warhorses to Newly Composers

Author

Stefany Jaybeth Sarmiento, Bard CollegeFollow

Date of Submission

Spring 2014

Academic Programs and Concentrations

Music

Project Advisor 1

Erica Kiesewetter

Project Advisor 2

Kyle Gann

Abstract/Artist's Statement

Artist Statement

For my degree recital I chose four pieces that show different musical periods. The pieces are very different from each other and express different feelings. The sonata for violin and Piano in A major written in 1886 by composer Cesar Franck was a wedding gift for the famous violinist Esaye. It is a piece structured with four movements. The first movement “Allegretto ben moderato”, second movement “Allegro,” third movement “Ben moderato: Recitative-Fantasia” and the fourth movement “Allegretto poco mosso.” The piece as a whole is very nostalgic and sad.

“Symphonie Spagnole” in D minor is a violin concerto by Edouard Lalo, French composer, written in 1874 for Spanish violinist Pablo de Sarasate. The concert is structured in five movements, from which I will play the first one “Allegro non troppo.” This movement is a combination of technic, musicality and has a Spanish spirit to it.

Grand Duo for violin and piano by American composer Lou Harrison is a contemporary piece written in 1988 and it is structured in five movements, from which I will play the last one. “Polka” is a special dance with a particular American folk music inside.

As a last piece “La muerte del Chepe” was originally written for violin and piano in 2010 by Venezuelan composer Jose Agustin Sanchez Paez. This piece was a work dedicated to the memory of “Chepe” who was one of Jose’s best friend, and died in a car accident.

Since I came to Bard as an international student I had an incredible dream involved with Music. I started to play violin when I was 8 years old and since then, I had been playing in orchestras, with really good professors that are the ones who change my way of playing and had given me opportunities to travel. For eleven years inside “El Sistema” in Venezuela, my concentration most of the time was playing with big ensembles and working in groups. In my first semester at Bard, I tried to go to as many concerts as I could, and by doing this I learn from the way musicians played. I became with the desire of concentrate growing the technic for being a soloist.

Thanks to the knowledge of the entire music faculty at Bard I feel that my music has developed in a sense that I can express what the composer wrote and what the music makes me feel. One of the things that I started at Bard was my knowledge expansion in contemporary music. This period of music is something new in my music career. It is really interesting how new composers try to expand the different technics of composition, opening the way of transmitting what they want. At the same time, this makes musicians explore new ways of expressions. In a way, this opens the rules in the moment that, as a musician, we can play and we can express.

With my final recital and the commencement concert ends a chapter in my life, but open more opportunities and experiences thanks to all the people that was involved in my career development. Special thanks to maestro Leon Botstein, all the faculty at Bard, friends and my family.

Open Access Agreement

On-Campus only

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Sarmiento, Stefany Jaybeth, "Old Warhorses to Newly Composers" (2014). Senior Projects Spring 2014. 364.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2014/364