Santa Barbara Music Club

Poulenc and Piazzolla

Saturday, December 7, 2019 3:00 pm

First United Methodist Church

305 E Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Image: Francis Poulenc

On Saturday, December 7 at 3:00 p.m. the Santa Barbara Music Club will present another program in its popular series of beautiful classical-music concerts. Today’s roster features oboist Adelle Rodkey and pianist Eric Valinsky performing the Sonata for Oboe and Piano (1962) by Francis Poulenc. Pianist and scholar of Argentinian music, Kacey Link, concludes the afternoon’s program with Three Preludes for Piano and “Adiós Nonino” Tango Rhapsody by Astor Piazzolla; and Alberto Ginastera’s Milonga, his solo-piano arrangement of an earlier work of his, Canción al Arbol del Olvido (Song to the Tree of Forgetfulness), Op. 3. This concert will be held at First United Methodist Church, 305 E. Anapamu Street at Garden, Santa Barbara. Admission is free.

Program Details

Sonata, FP 185 (1962)
Francis Poulenc
(1899-1963)
  • Élégie (Paisiblement, sans presser)
  • Scherzo (Très animé)
  • Déploration (Très calme)
Adelle Rodkey, oboe
Eric Valinsky, piano
Three Preludes (1987)
Astor Piazzolla
(1921-1992)
  • Leijia’s Game
  • Flora’s Game
  • Sunny’s Game
Milonga (1938)
Alberto Ginastera
(1916-1983)
Adiós nonino: Tango Rhapsody (1959)
Astor Piazzolla
Kacey Link, piano

Notes on the Program

Toward the end of his starred life, Francis Poulenc (1899–1963) planned to write a series of sonatas that would feature each of the main woodwind instruments: flute, clarinet, oboe, and bassoon. He completed only three of the four, having died before composing a sonata for the bassoon. The remaining trio of sonatas stand, as many scholars agree, as some of his finest chamber works. They betray the technique and writing of a mature, skilled craftsman. The Sonata for Oboe and Piano (1962), dedicated to the memory of Prokofiev, has the honor of being the last major work in Poulenc’s oeuvre. Although speculating the intention of composers is a risky and often discouraged undertaking, themes of death and elegy certainly do emerge throughout this piece nested in moments of delicacy peacefulness. The scheme of the work inverts the typical fast-slow-fast organization of three-movement sonatas. This sonata has a slow-fast-slow scheme, and this afternoon’s performance by oboist Adelle Rodkey and pianist Eric Valinsky invites the listener into contemplation.

Upon the death of Argentinian composer Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (1921–1992), the New York Times acclaimed him as “the world’s foremost composer of tango music.” Indeed, performers and scholars alike credit him with revolutionizing traditional forms of tango with nuevo tango, which incorporates both classical and jazz elements. Piazzolla composed Three Preludes for Piano in 1987, at the height of his maturity. Each of the movements, as pianist Kacey Link shows, incorporates elements of dance tracing to tango. The first movement, “Leijia’s Game,” is itself a tango. The second movement, “Flora’s Game,” is called a Milonga, which is a Brazillian-Portuguese dance related to a tango. The final movement, “Sunny’s Game,” is a valse, a tango-like version of a traditional waltz.

The milonga also reappears in the repertory of perhaps the most well-known Argentinian composer, Alberto Ginastera (1916–1983). He arranged his Canción al Arbol del Olvido (Song to the Tree of Forgetfulness), originally for vocal soloist and piano, for solo piano alone and renamed it Milonga (1948). This mournful folksong provides a good contrast to the mood of the works by Piazzolla, as it incorporates a slow habanera rhythm in a minor key. So characteristic of the music of the Latin Americas, Ginastera’s Milonga presents a fascinating study in negotiating cross rhythms.

Finally, Ms. Link concludes this afternoon’s program by returning to the music of Piazzolla, his “Adiós Nonino” Tango Rhapsody (1959), which pairs well with Ginastera’s Milonga with regard to its elegiac mood. This piece resulted from Piazzolla receiving news about the death of his father, Vicente Piazzolla. Within 30 minutes of receiving this devastating news, the composer rearranged and added new parts to a pre-existing piece of 1954, Nonino (“grandfather”). Unfortunately, Piazzolla lost his father while touring America and was in the throes of financial and professional setbacks, the confluence of which sent him into a deep depression. The piece is rife with the sorrow of Piazzolla’s losses and has become one of his most famous pieces, not least due to the tragic beauty of the melody.

The Performers

Kacey Link is a pianist and scholar residing in Santa Barbara, CA. As a both a solo and collaborative artist, she performs regularly in Southern California and has given recitals in the United States, France, and Switzerland. She is a pianist for University of California—Santa Barbara Department of Theater and Dance and served as music director for Out of the Box Theatre Company for the 2014-2015 season. She also has worked as a pianist for Opera Santa Barbara, Kansas City Lyric Opera, and New Theatre of Kansas City as well as accompanied classes for such prestigious artists as Marilyn Horne, Yo-Yo Ma, and ballerina Heather Watts. As a scholar, her research focuses on the music of Latin America with specific concentration on tango music of Argentina and has co-authored the forthcoming book Tracing Tangueros: Argentine Instrumental Tango Music (Oxford University Press). She holds degrees from University of California – Santa Barbara (D.M.A. in Keyboard), University of Miami (M.M. in Musicology), and University of Kansas (M.M. in Accompanying, B.M. in Piano Performance).

Adelle Rodkey, oboist, received her BM Degree in Music Pedagogy, magna cum laude, from Wheaton Conservatory of Music (Illinois), where she studied oboe with Carl Sonik. A native of Santa Barbara, she was an oboe student of Anne Anderson and a piano student of Lana Bodnar and Marilyn Clemons. Honors accorded her have included the President’s Award from Wheaton College, as well as awards from the Music Teachers National Association and the Pillsbury Foundation. Adelle performs frequently in several orchestras and chamber music ensembles, and is Instructor of Oboe at Westmont College. As a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, she maintains a private studio of oboe and piano students.

A native Manhattanite, Eric Valinsky has, for more years than he would like to admit, maintained dual careers in computer systems architecture and music. He was educated at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the University of Illinois, finally achieving his DMA in music composition from Columbia University. He studied composition with Walter Aschaffenburg, Salvatore Martirano, Jack Beeson, and Darius Milhaud; piano with Sara Crawford Drogheo and Emil Danenberg; and conducting with Harold Farberman. While living in Los Angeles, he became music director and composer-in-residence for The Storie-Crawford Dance Theatre Ensemble. Returning to New York, he served in a similar capacity for Danny Buraczeski’s Jazzdance, Uris Bahr and Dancers, and The New American Ballet Ensemble as well as composer-in-residence for The Rachel Harms Dance Company, Opera Uptown, and the Dance Department at City College of New York. He is currently Music Director for the American Dance & Music Performance Group and moonlights as founder and partner of Inlineos LLC, a strategic Internet consulting company.


Funding support for our 50th Anniversary Season is provided by the City of Santa Barbara's Organizational Development Grant Program and by the Towbes Fund for the Performing Arts, a field of interest fund of the Santa Barbara Foundation.