NYTimes.com: 'Tania León’s Cuban heritage influenced her Cuarteto No. 2, whose rhythms evoked Son Cubano'

[Tania Justina León]

The New York Times

Music Review

Latino Music, From Tango Back to the 16th Century

By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

Published: May 16, 2011

“Since their founding in 1978, the annual Wall to Wall 12-hour marathons at Symphony Space have focused on a single composer; a genre, like opera; or a region, as did last year’s survey of music from behind the Iron Curtain. On Saturday the Wall to Wall Sonidos program explored Latino culture, with performers and composers from Spain and Central and South America representing myriad styles, including 16th-century vocal polyphony, tango, contemporary string quartets and Latin jazz.”

“Tania León’s Cuban heritage influenced her Cuarteto No. 2, whose rhythms evoked Son Cubano, a style of music that developed in the 1930s. The finely wrought piece received its premiere in a committed performance by the Harlem Quartet in the closing section of the evening, devoted to Cuban music. That segment, which concluded after midnight, also included the premiere of Arturo O’Farrill’s 'Still Small Voice,' with the composer conducting the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra and the LaGuardia High School Senior Chorus.” [The website of the Afro-Cuban composer and conductor Tania León (b. 1943) is http://www.tanialeon.com/; she is also profiled at AfriClassical.com]