Gabriela Lena Frank is in a position to look at Latin America both from the inside and the outside.  She was born in the United States but her mother came from Peru, and when Frank visited that country, it became part of a journey of self-discovery as the composer found her main source of inspiration in her multi-cultural background.  Fully embracing her Latin American heritage but equally steeped in the European/North American tradition, Frank’s music embodies a unique synthesis of cultures.  During the early stages of her career, she was heavily influenced by Béla Bartók of Hungary and Alberto Ginastera of Argentina who both found their respective artistic paths through an exploration of their native musical traditions.  Since founding the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy in 2017, Frank has been, in her turn, a major inspiration for many young and emerging composers.

Three Latin American Dances–one of Frank’s most frequently performed works–was written in 2003 and first performed by the Utah Symphony under the direction of Keith Lockhart in the following year.  After two movements with alliterative titles, the title of the last movement puns on Franz Liszt’s famous Mephisto Waltzes.

Frank has offered the following comments on her work:

I. Introduction: Jungle Jaunt
This introductory scherzo opens in an unabashed tribute to the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein before turning to harmonies and rhythms derived from various pan-Amazonian dance forms.  These jungle references are sped through (so as to be largely hidden) while echoing the energy of the Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera who was long fascinated with indigenous Latin-American cultures.

II. Highland Harawi
This movement is the heart of Three Latin American Dances, and evokes the Andean harawi, a melancholy adagio traditionally sung by a single bamboo quena flute so as to accompany a single dancer.  As mountain music, the ambiance of mystery, vastness, and echo is evoked.  The fast middle section simulates what I imagine to be the zumballyu of Illapa–a great spinning top belonging to Illapa, the Peruvian-Inca weather deity of thunder, lightning, and rain.  Illapa spins his great top in the highland valleys of the Andes before allowing a return to the more staid harawi.  The music of the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók is alluded to.

III. The Mestizo Waltz
As if in relief to the gravity of the previous movement, this final movement is a lighthearted tribute to the "mestizo" or mixed-race music of the South American Pacific coast. In particular, it evokes the "romancero" tradition of popular songs and dances that mix influences from indigenous Indian cultures, African slave cultures, and Western brass bands.

~ Notes by Peter Laki, copyright 2025