Carlos Chaves's Meditacion

[aragonaise]

Hi all.

Am preparing this piece for one of Trinity Grade 8's 3 pieces. Please feel free to comment and rate it out of 20!

As required, I also need to give a short presentation of my piece. As I have never done any musical analysis before, this is what I've come up with (after some research).

•   Carlos Chavez was a 20th century composer . He was born in a time when a wave of nationalistic fervour was sweeping across the whole world. His childhood years were were influenced by the turbulence of the 1910 Revolution in Mexico. Naturally, his musical influence took on a very nationalistic flavour. There was an especially strong Aztec flavour to his music.

   Written in F# minor at an Adagio pace of 58, the piece Meditacion calls for a very meditative and somewhat melancholic mood. The RH plays out a very beautiful motif which repeats itself in various forms while the LH beats out mournful sounds that seems to ring in from the distance.  The Aztec influence is striking. In Aztec music, there is a flute called the 'pito' which is played in one hand, while playing a small drum with the other.

   There are lots of modulations in the piece. But the piece keeps to a harmonic minor core. Towards the middle, the minor chords which give rise to lots of tensions resolve themselves in 2 bars of fortessimo Piu Mosso passage. After which, the sombre mood begins to clear and for the first time, the piece modulates to a major key: F#  Major.
   
   At the end of the song, the original motif of the piece comes back and haunts the melody before dying out in a morendo. Indeed a meditative trip to the land of the Aztecs.

[arensky]

A lovely piece, played by you with great feeling and sensitivity. You phrase beautifully, and your tone is perfect for this sort of 20th century lyrical style, percussive yet colorful, not harsh. The only thing I would have liked more of is dynamic contrast; you seemed to be stuck around the same dynamic level a lot, which makes it souns somewhat monochromatic. But this is quibbling, thank you for posting this; I may learn it myself sometime, I enjoy this style and period of piano music.

[aragonaise]

Thanks for the comments. I think the highest praise you can afford anyone here is to thank them for posting their music here.

Any other pieces by Chavez which you would recommend?

If you need the score for this piece, just PM me.

[arensky]

Any other pieces by Chavez which you would recommend?

If you need the score for this piece, just PM me.

This is the best piece by him I have heard. I have a score "Wlatzes and Other Dances for Piano" which contains "Valses Intimos" "Vals Elegia" "Valses Moderato" "Cake-Walk" and "A Fox-Trot". On the back is a list of other pieces by Chavez from the publisher, Carlanita Music Co. sole selling agent G. Schirmer. Other pieces listed are "Four New Etudes" "Early Pieces" "Estudio a Rubinstein" "10 Preludes" (these are probably his best known pieces) "Five Caprichos" and "Third Sonata" (where are the others?) . Chavez' music isn't played a lot, maybe it should be played  more...and yes I would love to have the score for "Meditacion"!

[I Love Xenakis]

Fabulous