A Tropical Night Without the Heat
MUSIC REVIEW
Although the tropics are now in the summer solstice as of June 21, Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge was cool after a sunless day when our local marine layer stayed heavily over the entire San Gabriel Valley. Pasadena Symphony CEO, Paul Jan Zdunek called it our local “rainforest”, though fortunately almost no drizzle made it to the ground. The Saturday night performance of the Pasadena Pops Orchestra, the opening concert of their four-concert series that is to be presented on Friday and Saturday evenings throughout the summer, was offered to a comfortably full—but not sold-out house.
Pops conductor, Rachael Worby, led the orchestra through a series of 14 numbers, each with some connection to countries or areas associated with that region located between the Tropic of Cancer on the north and the Tropic of Capricorn on the south. Each number, by itself, gave an aura of the territory explored, but put together, it rather wandered about musically.
From the start, Ms. Worby used numbers that are well-known—at least by reputation if not by name, but have musical difficulties written in that would baffle any musician.
The second number on the program, “La Cumparsita” is the song most associated with the tango. Though immediately recognizable after the first four notes are played (something Worby had pianist Alan Steinberger do with the crowd immediately singing out the following notes of the famed tango song) its title and the composer remain unknown. The song was written by a complete amateur (at the time of its composition) 17 year-old Gerardo Motos Rodriguez of Montevideo, Uruguay. He wrote “La Cumparsita” in 1917, selling the piece to a publisher for about 20 pesos not realizing the almost immediate popularity of the tune. But, Rodriguez’ music was carelessly written, according to some, leading to awkward rhythms in the opening segment that also seemed to confuse the Pops musicians. Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla commented that musically, “La Cumparsita” is “the most frighteningly poor thing in the world” but goes on to conclude that when brought up to speed by a good arrangement, that it is the most compelling music. Lacking a designated beat, the music is tough at best. Invited guest dancers, Sandor and Parissa entered the stage and gave it their best with little stage room to maneuver, but ended spectacularly as Parissa threw his partner over his shoulder virtually dumping her just inches from the stage floor. The 
crowd loved it.
The musical hit of the evening was guest artist Jose Adan Perez’ singing of Augustin Lara’s 1944 tune, “Granada”. Perez captured the feeling, the warmth and the pride exhibited in Lara’s work. Perez is a native of Mazatlan, Mexico who carries a rather unusual background for a baritone who is now receiving note for his fine voice: Perez turned to singing only after establishing himself as an engineer in the automotive industry. Perez was only used for this and a Zarzuela number. More of Lara’s music as sung by Perez would have been nice. Lara composed “You Belong to My Heart” (for Disney’s Three Caballeros) and several other hits. Perez returned to sing Federico Moreno Torroba’s “Amor Vida de mi Vida” from the Zarzuela composer’s “Maravilla”.
Other guests on the program were soprano Danielle Walker and accordionist John Torcello. Walker sang La Maja y el Ruiseñor (“The 
Maiden and the Nightingale”) in a stunning version with backing only by pianist Alan Steinberger. She also offered an aria from “Bachianas (Bach-like) Brasilieras No. 5 by Heitor Villa-Lobos in 1947. Torcello joined in for Piazzolla’s “Libertango” and “Oblivion” on his chromatic free-bass accordion (buttons with bass single notes placed in a twelve note octave) adding a soothing and mellow sound.
“Andalucia” and “Malagueña” by Ernesto Lecuona, “Capriccio Espagñol” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, “Carmen” Suite No. 1 by George Bizet, the overture to the film “El Cid” by Miklos Rosza and “The Three Cornered Hat: Suite No 2″ by Manual De Falla completed the music selections. The program opened with the second movement from Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s “A Night in the Tropics”, an 1859 number by the New Orleans native widely hailed as the American composer who introduced Afro-Caribbean style music to the classical world. The orchestra performed this, and most of the program, with mixed results to an audience that remained thoughtfully attentive throughout the hour-and-a-half evening.
The Pasadena Pops Orchestra returns to Descanso Gardens on Friday, July 17, and Saturday, July 18 with a program declaring “I Love Paris”.
Text and Photos by Bill Peters
