Miguel Roig-Fracoli is an Spanish-American composer, theorist, pedagogue, musicologist, and author. He currently is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Cincinnati. His music has been performed all over the world and has received numerous awards including the American Prize in Composition as well as the Gold Medal of the Island of Ibiza, Spain. His compositional style is clear, robust, and profoundly moving. He has published various articles for several scholarly journals and has contributed a variety of music theory textbooks to the genre.
A Tale of Madness is a piece written for symphonic band in 2017. The piece starts with harp and percussion in a fast-paced rhythmic line that continues for the first third of the piece. Almost mid-sentence, the endless line of rhythmic hearkenings comes to an abrupt stop and rests in complete silence, only to pick up with similar melodic themes without the continuous percussive elements from the harp and rhythmic section. About halfway through, the piece takes another left turn to approach the softer, more soloistic elements of the themes. This section quickly morphs into a combination of the first two sections, to perfectly wrap up his story of lunacy.
A Tale of Madness
Chaconne: Of Loss and Hope is a piece written for string orchestra and this specific recording is of the Cincinnati Junior Strings playing the piece for its premier in 2015. As composers we often feel challenged and inspired to write highly virtuosic pieces that push the boundaries of our the performer’s ability. However, it is also equally important to write music that is more simplistic in nature that can be performed by students hoping to expand their repertoire and knowledge to include 21st century pieces. This is exactly what Roig-Francoli has done in this piece. The simplistic nature of the melodic lines and rhythmic executions make it easy to follow, while still inspiring the performers with modern harmonies that may be new to their musical ears and tastes. It's a beautiful piece that challenges me as a composer to write music that students can learn and be curious about more 21st century music.
Chaconne: Of Loss and Hope
The last piece we will examine is Cinco canciones con los ojos cerrados written for piano and soprano. The lyrics include poetry written in Spanish by Antonio Colinas, translated as “Five Songs with Closed Eyes.” The first piece reveals how the whole light of the world is contained within us. As more of a reflective piece, the second song recalls friendship and relationship faithfulness. The third piece is wildly energetic and talks about the different ways that silence affects the author’s life. The fourth “stately” piece continues mentioning the author's “light” while describing the mountainous region which he imagines himself admiring. The fifth and final piece gives a lengthy farewell to its listeners with beautiful sweeping lines being both outwardly engaging and inwardly introspective.
Cinco canciones con los ojos cerrados
Roig-Francisco’s music is clear and succinct encouraging excitement and admiration from his audiences. His work in the pedagogical and music theory fields is numerous and insightful exhibiting numerous articles and books. To follow his career and and listen to his music, visit his Website and subscribe to his YouTube channel.
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I do not own the video or music links in this blog post or in any other posts that you may find in this blog.
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