CARLOS SURINACH: ACROBATS OF GOD

GUERILLA OPERA

BALLETS OF MARTHA GRAHAM

Carlos Surinach (1915), composer

Boston Modern Orchestra Project

Gil Rose, conductor

Aliana de la Guardia, narrator

ABOUT THE ALBUM

Surinach was commissioned by the illustrious Martha Graham, one of the most influential choreographers of her generation, to compose a total of three ballets for her-Embattled Garden (1957), Acrobats of God (1960), and The Owl and the Pussycat (1978). These colorfully scored and eminently danceable works became Surinach's calling card as a composer. Conductor Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project's latest offering on their in-house label, BMOP/sound, gives contemporary listeners a chance to hear these Surinach-Graham ballets for the first time together.

The album opener, Acrobats of God, is a multi-section dance suite that employs several mandolin players, plucking and strumming, within the orchestra. Its key element is an ascending sweeping glissando gesture, repeated over and over by keyboard, percussion, piano, and harp. Also on the album are the first and final ballet collaborations between Graham and Surinach: Embattled Garden (1957) and The Owl and the Pusseycat (1978). The latter is based on the beloved poem by Edward Lear with narration by Cuban-American theater artist Aliana de la Guardia.