Vivid cultural allusions abound within the music of Michael Daugherty (b. 1954), an American composer well-known for his five-movement Metropolis Symphony, impressed by the Superman comics.
Daugherty’s Desi is an exuberant romp for symphonic band, composed in 1991. Its conversing instrumental “characters,” without delay spirited, comedian, and menacing, sweep us right into a harmful and exhilarating occasion. It’s straightforward to think about ghosts from the viewers of Desi Arnaz’ Hollywood big band reawakening and forming a wild conga line.
Right here is an excerpt from the composer’s program be aware:
This work is a tribute to the persona of Desi Arnaz (1917-87), who performed the Cuban bandleader Ricky Ricardo alongside his spouse Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy, extensively thought to be one of the vital revolutionary tv comedy reveals of the Nineteen Fifties.
The opening rhythmic motive is derived from the conga dance made well-known by Arnaz when he sang and performed bongos in Hollywood movie musicals within the Forties. In Desi the bongo soloist and percussion part present a energetic counterpoint to intricately structured musical canons and four-note cluster chords, creating polyrhythmic layers that intensify and construct to a scorching conclusion. Desi evokes a Latin sound punctuated by huge band trumpets, trombone glissandi, and dazzling woodwind runs.
Recordings
- Daugherty: Desi, Eugene Migliaro Corporon, North Texas Wind Symphony Amazon