Concerto - OB/PN (PDF)

Concerto
for oboe and piano
by Marco Aurélio Yano (1963-1991) - American composer and educator

Arranged by Laura Arganbright

55 page piano score, 29 page oboe part

This is the PDF download.  

ABOUT THE COMPOSER

Marco Aurélio Yano was born in 1963 in São Paulo, Brazil, from a family of Japanese descent. Severely handicapped from birth, Yano was quadriplegic and endured a number of difficulties related to his condition. In spite of his physical limitations, Marco studied hard and finished his university studies with a major in conducting and composition from the State University of São Paulo (UNESP). It was at UNESP’s Planalto Arts Institute that I met him, and immediately became acquainted with his extraordinary talent as a musician and composer.

In 1988, I asked him to write an oboe concerto. The commission had numerous specific requirements. It was to be a large scale work, preferably at least 30 minutes in length. It was to be scored for a large orchestra in a slightly “concertante” style, giving the orchestra a major share of the thematic materials and their development. The concerto was to contain musical and cultural traits of the composer’s birth culture, in this case Brazil, clearly reflected in its motives, themes, harmony, and rhythms. The work would also have to develop the capabilities of the oboe in every direction possible, not only technical, improvisatory, and in the so-called “20th Century Techniques,” bus also be mindful that the oboe is, in its essence, a lyrical instrument capable of great musical and colorful feats. Regarding the technical requirements of the work, I request that Marco push the known limits of oboe technique so as to provide players with a much needed evolution of the instrument’s capabilities.

Yano finished the manuscript for all three movements in 1991, and began working on the orchestration for the second movement. Fate prevented him from completing his work, however, as Yano acquired the brain tumors that eventually took his life. He was only 27. The finished manuscript with an unfinished orchestration was then passed on to his composition teacher and mentor at the time, Edmundo Villani Cortes, who began the process of orchestrating the work according to Yano’s specifications. Eventually the score and manuscript came to my attention for further work on orchestration and preparation for performances and this recording.

The work is written for a full symphony orchestra, with a few curious additions. Special notice should be given to the presence of a synthesizer. Yano wrote many pieces of electronic music; the synthesizer awarded him the flexibility to work in a multi-color musical environment with much ease. The manuscript made little mention of the percussion instruments to be used and entire lines were often left blank, even where the composer’s notes call for an important part to be played by a specific instrument. Thus, in order to fulfill Yano’s wishes as indicated in the manuscript, I had to fill in some gaps with material found elsewhere in the piece. The solo oboe part also underwent a significant revision. Originally, Yano and I were set to meet after the completion of the work to make sure the oboe writing was appropriate for the instrument, its projection over the orchestra, and its technical capability. For obvious and unfortunate reasons, this meeting never took place. I made several adjustments to the oboe part in order to make it completely playable, while at all times striving to maintain Yano’s musical intentions.

The concerto’s second and third movements clearly follow the Brazilian influence I requested. The Seresta is a traditional nostalgic song in Brazil, simple in effect yet profound in its meaning. The way the initial solo cadenza at the beginning of the Seresta is notated in the manuscript suggests Yano added it later, perhaps only after he completed the rest of the piece. This opening solo provides a bridge between the sad events at the conclusion of the first movement (see below) and the onset of the Seresta-like mood when the orchestra eventually joins the oboe. The harmony of this Seresta is obviously and richly based on the traditional and popular music of Brazil. Yet the almost Wagnerian length of its phrases creates a much deeper feeling which runs throughout the movement.

The Frevo is an Afro-Brazilian dance common in Brazil’s northeastern states. The Frevo is normally written in 4/4 time with a strongly weighted beat at the end of each measure (not unlike its cousin, the Baião). For this work, Yano chose to give a slightly displaced 7/8 rhythm, an off-beat feeling emphasized by the apparently “lost” double basses at the beginning of the movement, trying desperately to find the original 4/4 feeling, but eventually settling into 7/8 with the rest of the strings. The Frevo is temporarily interrupted by a lovely interlude, opened by a distant sounding horn solo, followed by the oboe and strings. Upon its return, the Frevo mood now takes the soloist through Paganiniesque variations eventually leading to a coda, a cadenza, and a final orchestral statement in which the middle section theme makes a triumphant return.

While the last two movements clearly indicate a Brazilian heritage, the first movement speaks in a completely different idiom. Yano left no instructions as to its meaning; he had no time for that. He barely finished the manuscript before he could no longer hold a pencil to finish his work. Close scrutiny of its motives as well as the circumstances of its writing suggest an intended programme. The movement follows a pattern closely related to the composer’s own life, development, crisis, and untimely death. The main motive, which is repeated countless time throughout the movement (and also appears in the other movements) is the composer’s name as it is pronounced in Portuguese:

The mood of the movement is of intense difficulty, insurmountable problems, and constant struggle. This struggle changes form when, at the middle of the movement, a dramatic event in the orchestra brings us back to the opening motives, followed by even faster motives, suggesting someone enduring great stress. Suddenly, all is changed again by the oboe holding a straight high note, while the orchestra gradually dies away.

Considering the composer’s lifelong struggle with his handicap and his battle with brain cancer, one can only assume the movement reflects his personal story, from birth to development to schooling to diagnoses to symptoms and finally to death. Details such as the intense headaches he suffered, as well as nausea and fear seem obvious, as is the voice of his grandfather calling his name, played by the tuba and double basses in the slow middle section – a recollection Yano reported to his mother after a dream in which his deceased grandfather spoke to him about his symptoms and prognosis. The 45-second held high note in the oboe at the end of the movement denotes a flat line on an electrocardiogram, underneath which the orchestra plays a previously unheard theme consisting of two notes, B-flat and A-flat. This two-note motive, coming at the moment of his death, may signify his parental nickname, Quinho (pronounced Kiño), being called three times, ever softer, as his life vanishes.

It is dangerous to assign a programme to a work when there is no instruction from the composer. One always runs the risk of making a wrong guess and attaching an erroneous message to the composer’s work. Nonetheless, my ability to compare my experience as a friend and colleague of the composer with the music he wrote, combined with the comments I collected from his family, compels me to present the version of events I have put forward here. Yano left no descriptive marking for the first movement. I took the liberty of naming it “(In Memoriam)” (in parentheses) because I believe Yano gave us this movement as his personal farewell.

Program note by Alex Klein from the recording 20th Century Oboe Concertos

Cedille Records CDR 90000 079  Available at CedilleRecords.org

Reprinted by permission of Cedille Records