[text written by alcides lanza for the CGIP concert in Washington, DC Hall of the Americas, March 29, 1967]
Program Notes
As José Antonio Alcaráz, music critic of El Heraldo, stated on the occasion of a recent concert of new music works held in Mexico, "there is a new generation of composers of the Americas that is truly new, not only chronologically, but also from the standpoint of a youthful mentality." That statement has our endorsement, and we would add that the young composers of our Continent have ceased looking in the direction of Europe and, assimilating the music languages of the Old Continent and incorporating them into the idiosyncrasy peculiar to their native countries, they have formed a musical idiom of their own that is even richer in its personal characteristics. The restless young men of the 1930 generation, in addition to study in their native countries, sought to broaden their creative horizons by attending schools of other American countries: some enrolled at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York; others at Juilliard School of Music in New York City; while others still assimilated the new electronic techniques of the Electronic Music Centre at Columbia University in New York City. However, in most cases they received earlier basic support and training at the Music Workshop in Mexico, under the direction of Carlos Chávez, and at the Latin American Center for Advanced Musical Studies of the "Di Tella" Institute in Buenos Aires, directed by Alberto Ginastera.
The fact of the existence of an important generation of young composers of the Americas is indisputable and undeniable. They are shouting this truth to the world, and the world should listen. The music is young, vital, and to some, perhaps disagreeable, but capable of enduring on its own. The panorama presented in this concert is meant to be broad, but it can not pretend to be complete. As the audience will note, it ranges from the almost hidden telluric evocation to aleatory and electronic works. Hence, it contains all that conforms and affects present-day experiences of the contemporary man in his musical creation. In other words, young artists attempting to reflect the complexity of these phenomena that constitute life in the Americas, the electrical vertigo of communications in a century whose characteristics are precisely that: electricity and communication. Let us remember that centuries ago the greatness of the Incan empire was due in part to the efficiency of their system of communication, based on the pedestrian agility of their "chasquis" [foot messengers]. Now, in this program we shall listen to the message brought to us from Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Perú, Puerto Rico, the United States, Ecuador and Uruguay, by these composers of the 1930 generation.
alcides lanza
Note: in the program, works by Mesias Maiguashca [Ecuador], William Hellermann [USA], Gerardo Gandini [Argentina], Enrique Rivera [Chile], Manuel Enriquez [Mexico], Gitta Steiner [USA], Edgar Valcárcel [Perú], Walter Ross [USA], César Bolaños [Perú], Rafael Aponte-Ledée [P. Rico], Alcides Lanza [Argentina], Blas Emilio Atehortúa [Colombia] and Sergio Cervetti [Uruguay].
Compositor argentino-canadiense nacido en Rosario, Argentina, en 1929. En Buenos Aires estudió en el Instituto DiTella, con Alberto Ginastera, Bruno Maderna, Olivier Messiaen, Luigi Dallapiccola y Francesco Malipiero , entre otros. Gracias a una beca de la Fundación Guggenheim se trasladó a Nueva York, viviendo allí desde 1965 hasta 1971.