Navidad Nuestra - Ariel Ramírez - Harmonium Choral Society

Navidad Nuestra, December 2018
Under the direction of Dr. Anne J. Matlack
Harmonium Choral Society
Morristown United Methodist Church, Morristown, New Jersey
La Anunciación (Solo: Holland Jancaitis, Ted Roper); La Peregrinación; El Nacimiento (Solo: Nancy Watson-Baker); Los Pastores (Solo: Holland Jancaitis, Ben Schroeder); Los Reyes Magos; La Huida (Solo: Nicholas Herrick, Holland Jancaitis, Ben Schroeder)
Guitar: Darren O’Neill Violin: Rebecca Harris Lee Bass: Kara Delonas (‪@KaraCamilleDelonas‬ )
Piano: Helen Raymaker Cello: Michael Holak Bongos/Djembe: Eric Roper
Additional Percussion Team: Jamie Bunce, Laura Metcalf Clancy, Jeff Kunick, Laura Quinn,
Jake Sachs, Michael Sutcliffe, Deborah Wohl Recorders: Mariam Bora, David Thomson

Argentinian Ariel Ramírez initially pursued tango before switching to Argentine folklore and piano. Fascinated with the music of the gauchos and creoles in the mountains, he continued his studies in Córdoba, where he met the great Argentinian folk singer and songwriter Atahualpa Yupaqui, who encouraged him to deepen his research into the traditional rhythms of South America. He also studied as a composer at the National Conservatory of Music in Buenos Aires. Ramírez went on to study classical music in Madrid, Rome, and mainly in Vienna, from 1950 to 1954. Back in Argentina, he collected over 400 folk and country songs and founded the Compañía de Folklore.
Ramírez wrote Navidad Nuestra in 1964, the same year he composed his well-known Missa Criolla. Both were written in response to the Vatican II permission to perform mass in the local language of the people, rather than Latin. Subtitled “A Folk Drama of the Nativity Based on the Rhythms and Traditions of Hispanic America,” Navidad Nuestra tells the story of Christmas in six parts, from the Annunciation to the Flight from Herod, probably with intention of a living tableau (criollo retable) for each movement. The work uses the rhythms and instruments of Argentine folk dances and a Spanish text by Felix Luna. There is a lot of traditional call and response between tenors and tenor soloists and chorus, and lots of percussion, which luckily is handled by Harmonium’s many music teacher singers!
The first movement, The Annunciation, uses the 6/8 dance rhythms of the chamamé, while the second movement uses the graceful huella pampeana for The Pilgrimage to Bethlehem. The Birth is set to a gentle vidala, after which the raucous arrival of The Shepherds (chaya rohana) must surely wake the baby with offerings of music on local instruments and bouquets of flowers and herbs. The Three Kings movement is the most famous, as they arrive to the rhythm of the charango and bring more practical gifts, like a warm local poncho and honey cakes! The last movement reminds us that the young family had to flee the wrath of a despotic ruler, and the vidala tucumana is slow and heavy, as they urge their tired little donkey to help them flee to the foreign land of Egypt for safety.

Program Notes: http://www.harmonium.org/s/Navidad-Nu... (En español: http://www.harmonium.org/s/Navidad-Nu...)

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00:00 - Downbeat
00:01 - La Anunciación
02:36 - La Peregrinación
07:16 - El Nacimiento
09:53 - Los Pastores
12:15 - Los Reyes Magos
14:58 - La Huida