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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Zephyr Offers Latin American Chamber Music

Travis Rivers Correspondent

Hot is cool in Friday’s concert of highly spiced Latin American chamber music performed by the musicians of Zephyr.

Zephyr, led by pianist Kendall Feeney, is Spokane’s cheeky series devoted to 20th-century chamber music. Friday at The Met, Zephyr will present “Danzas and Tangos,” a concert of works from Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Feeney and New York-based cellist Darrett Adkins will be joined by Spokane-area musicians flutist Bruce Bodden and percussionists Martin Zyskowski, Paul Raymond, Rick Westrick, Brian Bogue, Robert Rees and Darin Kamstra. Adkins and Feeney will perform one of the landmark pieces of the “nuevo tango,” Argentine composer Astor Piazzola’s “Le Grand Tango.”

“For those who only know the tango as an elegant ballroom dance or from watching Rudolph Valentino movies, this ain’t it!” Feeney says. “Piazzola brings the traditional tango together with elements from jazz and classical music to make something that combines moments of pulsating frenzy with sections of deep melancholy.”

The tango and folk music from the Andes Mountains of Argentina serve as the background for the two most recent works on Friday’s program, Adriana Verdie de vas Romero’s “Jira che Tango” for solo cello and “Flute 3.2.4” for solo flute.

Like Piazzola, Verdie was born in Argentina, but she now teaches at California State University at Long Beach. “Both these pieces were written in 1995,” Feeney says. “Her flute piece was inspired by the sound of the sicus, a kind pan-pipes played by natives of the Andes. And ‘Jiri che Tango’ was written for the Czech cellist Jiri Barta and shows the range of expressive and technical possibilities of the instrument.”

The program also includes music by the “classic masters” of Latin American music, Mexico’s Carlos Chavez, Brazil’s Heitor Villa Lobos and Argentina’s Alberto Ginastera.

Percussionists from the Spokane Symphony and Eastern Washington University will play Chavez’ Toccata for Percussion, a work written at the instigation of North America’s John Cage.

“Cage had a percussion ensemble when he taught at the School of Design in Chicago in 1941 and ‘42,” Fenney says. “Cage asked Chavez for a new piece for the ensemble, but by the time Toccata was finished, Cage disbanded the ensemble and had moved back to New York.”

Spokane Symphony principal flutist Bruce Bodden will play “Assobio a Jato,” a Villa Lobos work inspired by the Brazilian slide whistle, which the composer heard as he collected folk music early in his career.

Feeney will perform Alberto Ginastera’s “Three Argentine Dances,” one of the South American master’s earliest successes.

“Especially in his early pieces, Ginastera tries to reflect the physical and aural landscape of Argentina,” Feeney says. “In the slow movement, you can sense the loneliness of the pampas, those endless miles and miles of grassy plains in the north, and in the finale, you hear the almost violent strumming of the guitar.”

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CONCERT Zephyr will perform at 8 p.m. Friday at The Met. Tickets: $12/$14, $8 for students.

This sidebar appeared with the story: CONCERT Zephyr will perform at 8 p.m. Friday at The Met. Tickets: $12/$14, $8 for students.