FIESTA

That is the title of a marvelous CD that I was given this summer. The recording is from the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela under the leadership of their enormously talented young conductor Gustavo Dudamel.

Presented is the music of Latin American composers - spanning the last century. By and large the selections reference the local dance rhythms in a symphonic setting. Some pieces are simply exquisite; others bring the full sense of a town festival being celebrated with energy. All of the pieces deserve repeated hearings. This orchestra is ideally suited to present this material. The musicians play with a high degree of precision and clarity melded with an obvious genuine love of music.

The most famous piece on this CD (among North American listeners) is "Danzon No.2" composed by Arturo Marquez. The energy in this piece is on full display. Listening I was transfixed but yearning to stand and dance. You can find the orchestra performing this piece on the web - a video from the BBC Proms several years ago. Search it out and enjoy!

Next up was to pick up the Orchestra's recording of Beethoven's Symphonies No 5 & 7 just because I like the pieces and thought a spirited rendition would freshen them up. The performance is better than that - precise and passionate. Even though such a large orchestra never existed in the composers day, this performance sounds very authentic.

So where did this come from, that very young musicians perform with magnificent technique and elan? The liner notes tell me. Thirty years ago one man started in an underground garage to teach street kids how to play. At the height of Venezuela's oil boom, he convinced the government to support the program. Today there are 15,000 music teachers participating in a country wide music development program that can start as early as age two. One focus is to give children at risk an alternative to gangs and drugs. For example, a story from the liner notes:

"Lennar Acosta, now a tutor at the Simón
Bolívar Conservatory, had been arrested nine
times for armed robbery and drug offences
before the Sistema offered him a clarinet. “At
first, I thought they were joking,” he recalls. “I
thought nobody would trust a kid like me not to
steal an instrument like that. But then I realized
that they were not lending it to me. They
were giving it to me. And it felt much better in
my hand than a gun."

To think that at the height of the Alberta Oil Boom, our government chose the opposite direction and abandoned music in the public education system. Shame. And of course the streets of downtown Calgary, with the gang initiations and drug wars, reflect just how shortsighted that decision was.