Program Notes

Sonata for Violin and Piano, Alexandro Rodríguez

A versatile Venezuelan composer and guitarist, he seamlessly merges European classical training with rich Venezuelan folk traditions, jazz, and popular music. His works—ranging from intimate solo guitar pieces to ambitious concertos and orchestral works—embody a deeply personal musical voice: expressive, complex, and emotionally resonant. His recent release So Far and So Close offers an autobiographical journey through his solo guitar oeuvre. Rodríguez’s music—marked by rhythmic vitality, modal nuance, and lyricism—cements his place among Latin America’s most captivating contemporary composers.

Today, we are presenting an exclusive performance of his first Sonata for Violin and Piano. The sonata was commissioned by the Anderson-Flores Duo for this special Hispanic Heritage Month celebration. 

History of the Tango, Astor Piazzola

Histoire du Tango is a composition by tango composer Ástor Piazzolla, originally scored for flute and guitar in 1985 and published in 1986. It is one of the most famous compositions by Piazzolla and is often played with different combinations, including violin or double bass substituted for the flute, and piano, harp or marimba substituted for the guitar. 

Café, 1930: People stopped dancing the tango as they did in 1900, preferring instead simply to listen to it. It became more musical, and more romantic. This tango has undergone total transformation: the movements are slower, with new and often melancholy harmonies. Tango orchestras come to consist of two violins, two concertinas, a piano, and a bass. The tango is sometimes sung as well.

Bordel, 1900: The tango originated in Buenos Aires in 1882. It was first played on the guitar and flute. Arrangements then came to include the piano, and later, the concertina. This music is full of grace and liveliness. It paints a picture of the good natured chatter of the French, Italian, and Spanish women who peopled those bordellos as they teased the policemen, thieves, sailors, and riffraff who came to see them. This is a high-spirited tango.

Sonata for Violin and Piano, Modesta Bor

Modesta Bor was a pioneering Venezuelan composer whose work played a vital role in shaping 20th-century Latin American classical music. A student of Vicente Emilio Sojo in Caracas and later of Hanns Eisler in East Berlin, Bor blended European modernist techniques with Venezuelan folk and nationalist influences. Her music is marked by strong rhythmic drive, expressive lyricism, and a deep commitment to social and cultural themes.

Her Sonata for Violin and Piano reflects both her rigorous compositional training and her desire to create music rooted in Latin American identity. The piece combines expressive, sometimes angular melodic writing with driving rhythms and bold harmonic language. Throughout the sonata, the violin and piano engage in a dynamic dialogue, at times lyrical and intimate, at others intense and virtuosic.

Though lesser known outside Venezuela, Bor’s chamber music—including this sonata—demonstrates her distinctive voice as a composer who bridged European and Latin American traditions with intellectual depth and emotional force.