This page contains a brief overview on the album ANGELEITA FLOYD & STEPHEN ROBINSON: Under the Influence. Learn more about the artist and explore the track lists and website. If you find any information that needs to be corrected, please let us know.

 
-Under the Influence is the first recording from the flute and guitar duo of Angeleita Floyd and Stephen Robinson. All the works included on this recording, while not all being original works for flute and guitar, hold a unifying theme, having been greatly influenced by various musical elements. Each composition is a direct result of a strong influence from a major dance form, a folk genre, or the works of another composer.

Program Notes by Angeleita S. Floyd

-Astor Piazzolla (1921 to 1992) History of the Tango “Histoire du Tango” dates from the early 1980s and offers a musical portrait of the progressively changing Argentinian tango.

-Bordel 1900 represents the tango in its earliest form found in the brothels of Buenos Aires. The music is full of rhythmic syncopation and offers a spirited and cheerful dialogue between the flute and guitar.

-Café 1930 depicts the transformation of the tango to a melancholy and seductive instrumental vocalize. This romantic tango, reflecting the life and feelings of the people, moved out of the bordellos and into the cafes and salons. Instead of dancing, the audience chose to bathe in its lyrical melodies and sensual rhythms revealing a character of passionate despair.

-Nightclub 1960 returns the gesture of the dance to the tango. Influenced by the popular Brazilian bossa-nova from the 1950s, this tango is transformed by syncopated Samba rhythms and seductive, yet somewhat unexpected, harmonic progressions. It displays Piazzolla's introspective moodiness combined with the cool jazz beat reminiscent of this period.

-Joaquin Rodrigo (b. 1902) - Fantasia para un Gentilhombre, arranged for flute and guitar by Stephen Robinson, was written for and dedicated to Andrés Segovia in 1954. Rodrigo chose to develop elements of his country's early art music in his resetting of Gaspar Sanz's original work which dates from 1674. Sanz was a guitarist, composer and priest of Spanish heritage, who published a comprehensive guitar treatises entitled, "Instrucción de musica."

-Villano y Recercare, the opening movement of the Fantasia, begins with a stately dance melody of the Villano introduced by the guitar. Built on the simple harmonic ground I-IV-I-V-I, the tune passes between guitar and flute. The colorful melody is embellished throughout by added variations in the flute and guitar. The Ricercare, an instrumental form of the 17th century which preceded the fugue, is based on a motive sketched by Sanz and thoroughly realized by Rodrigo.

-Españoleta, the opening section of the second movement, is a slow dance in triple meter built on a fixed harmonic plan with clever variations offered by the guitar and flute before the intrusion of the Fanfare de la Caballeria de Nápoles (Fanfare of the Naple's Calvary). The Fanfare provides a rhythmic dance motive in 6/8 with rapid arpeggiated flourishes in the flute. The Españoleta returns with a cadenza in the flute and ends with a seductive cadenza by the guitar.

-Danza de las Hachas (Dance of the hatchets), is a traditional folk dance which cleverly alternates the thematic material between flute and guitar.

-The final movement, Canario, is based on the same harmonic sequence as the opening Villano. Another popular dance that traces its origins to the Canary Islands, this movement makes use of strong accents and short four measure phrases. The Canario, often characterized by jumping and foot stamping, makes dramatic use of hemiola, the rhythmic device which transposes the beat from two (6/8) to three (3/4) time. After a delightful imitation of a cuckoo is heard between the flute and guitar along with several virtuosic cadenzas, the movement races to a spirited close.

-Benoît Scholsberg (1954) - Trois Esquisses pour Flûte et Guitare, written in 1984, are short sketches influenced by specific forms and well-known composer’s styles.

-Esquisses No. 1, subtitled à la folie, captures the general character of a fast and rhythmic dance of madness or insanity. It offers a contrasting lyrical section in the middle and ends with a return to the dance, punctuated by the last note marked “comme une gifle,” meaning like a slap or smack on the face.

-Esquisses No. 2, written in homage to Claude Debussy, captures the fluid and colorful impressionistic quality of his music. The flute melody floats above the gentle ostinato passages created by the guitar. Several passages marked ad libitum allow the performers to add their own special touch, as the ending fades away into an improvisatory flourish.

-Esquisses No. 3, dedicated to the Brazilian composer Egberto Gismonti, opens with a virtuosic cadenza in the guitar part. The flute joins the rhythmic groove established by the guitar at the tempo di Balião. As a traditional dance genre of northeastern Brazil the baião section becomes more animated, building to a rapid dialogue between the flute and guitar. Schlosberg chooses to end with a contrasting aria, that offers a lovely lyrical close to the final sketch.

-From "A Second Latin American Flute Album" edited by Trevor Wye

-Pasaje No. 1, a lively dance also known as revuelta, comes from the Venezuelan plains. The pasaje finds its roots in European art dance music and provided entertainment as it's a vault in the Latin American culture. The typical marisele section of this rhythmic showpiece is characterized by syncopation and cross rhythms of 3/4 and 6/8.

-El Quitapesares (The Consolation) opens with a deceptively sad introduction and then breaks into a lively syncopated Venezuelan waltz called a joropo. Influenced by the rhythmic complexities of Spanish and African social entertainment music, the joropo is known in its most traditional idiom as Venezuela's national dance. In more modern times, the name 'joropo' has been used to describe a Creole character with sprightly melodies and a syncopated beat.

Check out the artist's website:
http://www.clearnote.net/

Track List:
1. Bordel
2. Cafe
3. Night Club
4. Villano y Ricecare
5. Españoleta
6. Fanfare de la Caballería de Nápoles
7. Danza de las Hachas
8. Canario
9. Esquisse No. 1 (a la folie)
10. Esquisse No. 2 (Hommage a Claude Debussy)
11. Esquisse No. 3 (a Egberto Gismonti)
12. Pasaje No. 1
13. El Quitapesares

Suggested CDs:

• El Campo Azul
• Baroque Music for Guitar
• Classical Guitar
• Garden of Eden
• Apostolos Paraskevas

Other Genres:

• CLASSICAL: Traditional
• CLASSICAL: Contemporary
• SOLO INSTRUMENTAL