Born
1972

Instrumentation
Three flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), two oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, three bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, timpani, percussion (bass drum, crash cymbals, snare drum, tambourine, tam-tam, xylophone, chimes, woodblock, temple blocks, slapstick, bongos, congas, thunder sheet, castanets, claves shekere (a ground rattle), triangle, suspended cymbal, two marimbas, harp, piano and strings

Duration
17 minutes

Composed
2003

World Premiere
 April 23, 2004 with the Utah Symphony

Program Notes

Written by composer

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 belongs 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, Bela Bartok, is eluded too.

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.