The Allmusic Blog: Brouwer & Roldán Among Cubans Who 'have made lasting contributions'

[Leo Brouwer & Amadeo Roldán] 
Blog.AllMusic.com

Cubanisimo! Happy 70^th Birthday Leo Brouwer

March 27th, 2009 | 8:15 am est | Uncle Dave Lewis

“Multi-talented Cuban composer, guitarist and conductor Leo Brouwer turned 70 on March 1; Brouwer is perhaps the most renowned of living Cuban composers, and this inspired us to take a look back at some of the Cuban composers throughout history who have made lasting contributions to the world of concert music. Leo Brouwer began to compose in 1955 at age 16, and even in those early years produced works of high quality such as his Danza Caracteristica (1957), regarded today as a classical guitar standard.” “From 1976 he entered into his mature vein, which Brouwer calls 'New Simplicity;' it encompasses input from popular and classical music, Afro-Cuban music and the avant-garde. A hand injury interrupted Brouwer’s career as guitar soloist, and while he has recovered, Brouwer has moved into conducting.”

Amadeo Roldán (1900-1939) was the father of Cuban modernism; when his ballet La Rebambaramba (1928) was conducted by Ernest Ansermet in Paris, Roldán became the first Cuban composer of serious music to be heard in the concert halls of Europe. Roldán was greatly interested in percussion, and his Ritmicás Nos. 5 and 6 (1930) appear to be the first Western musical works for predominantly non-pitched percussion, and without piano; Roldán is also credited with adding the claves and guiro to the concert percussionist’s arsenal of instruments. Roldán was from 1927 conductor and later music director of the Havana Philharmonic and taught composition at the Havana Municipal Conservatory; after the revolution, it was renamed the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory in his honor. Amadeo Roldán died of cancer at the age of 38.” [Amadeo Roldán and Leo Brouwer are profiled at AfriClassical.com]