Fiesta! A celebration of Latin American music with the RLPO and Hindoyan

Domingo Hindoyan and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra have built up a great rapport with each other and their audience over the last couple of years. Their latest concert began with the announcement that Hindoyan will renew his four-year contract as Chief Conductor for another three years. This good news launched us into a celebratory end-of-season programme of Latin American music. 

Celebratory, but not frivolous. The six advertised pieces plus an encore, dating from 1941 to 2023, presented us with a variety of styles and moods. The unifying factors were rhythmic vitality and an orchestral sound in which brass and percussion were much more prominent than is usually the case in European music.

A religious festival was conjured up in Evencio Castellanos’ Santa Cruz de Pacairigua, with swooping strings, dancing and the church all vying for attention. A generous percussion section added Latin colour. In contrast Antonio Estévez’ Mediodía en el Llano was much more reflective, shimmering strings evoking the midday heat of the plains of western Venezuela. It was unhurried, impressionistic and very beautiful.

Then the orchestra was joined by Venezuelan trumpeter Pacho Flores who, on previous visits to Liverpool, has built up an enthusiastic following. He gave the UK premiere of Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz’s trumpet concerto Altar de Bronce, a joint commission from the RLPO and several other orchestras. Flores gave its world premiere in Spain earlier this year. He alternated between four instruments and led proceedings throughout. His substantial solos gave Flores the opportunity to display his virtuosity and ringing tones, but equally striking was the way he combined with the orchestra. Muted orchestral trumpets sometimes echoed what the soloist had just played; often he was supported by a quiet background of strings. There was tension and drama, but by the end it was the infectious dance rhythms of popular Mexican bands that came to the fore, Flores swaying along with the music.

After the interval came Margariteña, a set of orchestral variations by Inocente Carreño. The title refers both to the island of Margarita where the composer was born and a song which is the subject of the variations. An evocative horn solo introduced the theme (the composer himself was a horn player) but the quiet start was soon overtaken by vigorous orchestral variations with contrasting rhythms and timbres.

Then our second trumpet concerto of the evening. Flores, Hindoyan and the RLPO premiered Roberto Sierra’s Salseando in January 2020 to great acclaim and they now repeated it. The first movement had some darker moments but exuberant rhythms won out. The second movement began with a gently melody shared between orchestra and soloist and was predominantly lyrical. The fireworks took over in the finale during which Flores was joined at the front of the stage by percussionist Grahams Johns for a remarkable duet that brought the concerto to a conclusion. Johns is retiring from the RLPO after an amazing 40 years – what a way to finish!

Alberto Ginastera’s Four Dances from Estancia began with an astounding burst of insistent, energetic rhythms, only to be contrasted with the beguiling melody of the second dance played by the flute, then the strings, then a solo violin. The final sections drew us to an exuberant conclusion, but there was more to come. After a presentation to Graham Johns, we had an encore in the form of Arturo Marquéz’s Conga del Fuego Nuevo – in which Pacho Flores joined Johns in the percussion department. What a joyful evening in the Philharmonic Hall!