Chuqui, Op. 12 (2018)
marimba
ca. 20:00
Program Notes - written by Dr. Brett Jones
Several years ago, I commissioned Ian Deterling to write a 3-movement work for solo marimba in honor of my father, William W. Jones. As a child, I would hear my father tell stories about growing up in a copper mining camp in Chile's Atacama desert in the 1940s and 1950s. The town of Chuquicamata, or as the local call it, 'Chuqui,' is an isolated mining community in an arid mountain desert. This piece for solo marimba depicts three scenes from my father's childhood.
I. Flack y Solito: The energetic opening movement captures the Spanish cultural influences found in this region of South America. The musical ideas in this movement depict two household pets: Flack, the family's cocker spaniel, and Solito, or the lonely one, the sole surviving chicken from a failed attempt at animal husbandry. At times, this movement demands that the performer approaches the right-hand part on the edge of the bars with one mallet above the edge and one below, striking in an alternating fashion à la a mandolin roll.
II. La Pampa: The open, treeless landscape of this desert wilderness is depicted in the second movement, where notes stack on one another to form open chords and disappear again only to be replaced by a new harmony. Care should be taken that pitches are introduced and released smoothly and almost imperceptibly. Rolls should be employed throughout this movement.
III. Caballos de los Carabineros: The final movement presents a scene where young boys from the camp ask police officers on patrol if they can have a turn riding their horses down the road. At times, the officers would oblige the boys who would regally ride around town. The playfulness of the boys can be heard in the rhythmic ideas of this movement, as well as the pomp with which they ride their steeds. Use of rubato is advised in this movement to create a musical nuance that is at times driving and at other times reflective.