Marcin Dylla, Kupinski Perform Manuel M. Ponce

MARCIN DYLLA & KUPINSKI GUITAR DUO
MANUEL M. PONCE – CONCIERTO DEL SUR: III ALLEGRO MODERATO E FESTIVO:

In classical music, the credit usually goes to the composer, in this case Manuel M. Ponce who was a Mexican composer that lived from 1882 to 1948. The YouTube description says this is performed by The Marcin Dylla and Kupinski duo… however there are 3 guitarists here. Fat chance at the odd one out getting any credit (see what I mean).

The performance however is breathtaking… that’s what I’ll say. This is a good video to share with your friends that downgrade the classically trained musician.

Here’s a bio from http://www.mtv.com/artists/manuel-m-ponce/biography/  about the composer…. you can continue reading by clicking the above link:

“Manuel María Ponce Cuéllar His work as a composer, music educator and scholar of Mexican music connected the concert scene with a usually forgotten tradition of popular song and Mexican folklore. Many of his compositions are strongly influenced by the harmonies and form of traditional songs. Biography: Early years: Born in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, Manuel Maria Ponce moved with his family to the city of Aguascalientes only a few weeks after his birth and lived there until he was 15 years old. He was famous for being a “musical prodigy”; according to his biographers, he was barely four years of age when, after having listened to the piano classes received by his sister, Josefina, he sat in front of the instrument and interpreted one of the pieces that he had heard.

Immediately, his parents had him receive classes in piano and musical notation. Traveling years: In 1901 Ponce entered the National Conservatory of Music, already with a certain prestige as a pianist and composer. There he remained until 1903, the year in which he returned to the city of Aguascalientes. This was only the beginning of his travels. In 1904 he traveled to Italy for advanced musical studies at the School of Bologna. He studied in Germany as a pupil of Martin Krause at the Stern conservatory in Berlin between 1906 and 1908. Years at the National Conservatory: After his years abroad, Ponce returned to Mexico to teach piano and music history at the National Conservatory of Music from 1909 to 1915 and from 1917 to 1922. He spent the intervening years of 1915 to 1917 in Havana, Cuba.

In 1912 he composed his most famous work “Estrellita” (little star), which is not a normal love song, as is usually thought, but “Nostalgia Viva” (live nostalgia). That same year, Ponce gave in the “Arbeau Theater” a memorable concert of Mexican popular music which, though it scandalized ardent defenders of European classical music, became a landmark in the history of the national song. Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959), who met Ponce in Paris in the 1920s, wrote ” I remember that I asked him at that time if the composers of his country were as yet taking an interest in native music, as I had been doing since 1912, and he answered that he himself had been working in that direction. It gave me great joy to learn that in that distant part of my continent there was another artist who was arming himself with the resources of the folklore of his people in the struggle for the future musical independence of his country. 1 ” With valuable activity promoting music of the country and writing melodías like “Estrellita”, “A la orilla de un palmar”, “Alevántate”, “La Pajarera”, “Marchita el Alma” and “Una Multitud Más”, Ponce gained the honorific title Creator of the Modern Mexican Song. He was also the first Mexican composer to project popular music onto the world stage: “Estrellita”, for example, has been part of the repertoire of the main orchestras of the world and countless singers, although quite often the interpreter ignores the origin of the song as well as its author.

In 1947 he received the National Science and Arts Prize. He was married to Clementina Maurel, next to whom he died in Mexico City. His body was buried in the Roundhouse of the Illustrious Men in the Pantheon of Dolores in Mexico City. In his honor there is a board of recognition by the state of Aguascalientes at the base of the column of The Exedra, next to the fountain from a spring dedicated to this musical poet, in the city of Aguascalientes where he grew up and first studied music. Recordings by Ponce: Ponce participated in the following recordings: Manuel María Ponce: Concierto para piano y orquesta (Ponce on piano; Orquesta Sinfónica de México; conducted by Carlos Chávez) (Radio Mil, 1942)

His piano and guitar works outnumber those dedicated to other solo instruments within the set of pieces we know. Guitar music: Ponce’s guitar music is a core part of the instrument’s repertory, the best-known works being Variations and Fugue on ‘La Folia’ (1929) and Sonatina meridional (1939). He also wrote a guitar concerto Concierto del sur, which is dedicated to his long-time friend and guitar virtuoso Andrés Segovia. His last known work, Variations on a Theme of Cabezón, was written in 1948, a few months before his death.”