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La Fortuna (Duet for Marimba & Piano)
Genre: Marimba with Piano
# of Players:
Level: Medium Difficult | Duration: 5:45
Publisher: C. Alan Publications | Copyright: 2020
Download mp3 | Click on images to left for score sample
Rating:
Price:
$24.00
Item #:
27060
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Notes & Instrumentation
With its title inspired by a famous waterfall in Costa Rica, La Fortuna is a marimba and piano duet that celebrates the power of music and its ability to unite people from all different parts of the world, despite their cultural differences.
Genre: Marimba with Piano | # of Players:
Level: Medium Difficult | Duration: 5:45
Instrumentation
Marimba (5-octave)
Piano
Program Notes
La Fortuna is a marimba and piano duet that celebrates the power of music and its ability to unite people from all different parts of the world, despite their cultural differences. The piece is an ode to the incredible collaboration turned life-long friendship between the University of Costa Rica and the University of Minnesota Twin-Cities.The title is inspired by the waterfall located in San Carlos, Costa Rica. La Fortuna is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the country and is known as “the gateway” to a massive arenal volcano site. The piece uses two contrasting themes representing the volcano and the waterfall. These two themes are juxtaposed symbolically to represent the elements of fire and water existing in one contingent environment. The first theme developed is the volcano in the A section of the piece. It is represented with fast, articulate passages that evoke a bombastic, military, march-like expression. Throughout the A section, interjections of the waterfall theme are present, specifically at measure 14. The full waterfall theme is established during the development section starting at measure 34. Contrary to the volcano theme, the waterfall is represented by smooth legato passages. The waterfall section is molto espressivo and phrasing should reciprocate common characteristics to the flow of water. The original volcano theme is brought back during the recapitulation of the piece at measure 69. The final section of the piece emphasizes the sheer power of the volcano. This section includes the thickest texture of the piece. This section is technically advanced for both the pianist and the marimba player.
La Fortuna honors friendship, humanity, and unity. The piece was premiered with Mackenna Tolfa and Daniel Quesada in San Jose, Costa Rica at the Sala Cullel Theater, June, 2019. It is dedicated to Estefa Segura, Daniel Quesada, and the students and faculty at the University of Costa Rica.
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Video
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La Fortuna by Mackenna Tolfa
This year has been the epitome of incredible experiences for me. The University of Minnesota has truly been one of the most amazing things that has happened to me. During this year in November we did a Percussion Extravaganza concert with the University of Costa Rica. After spending two weeks with the students and factually of that school, I have been fortunate enough to meet really extraordinary musicians and create long lasting friendships with many of them. Estefa Segura, Daniel Quesada Brenes , Jacob Peroutka and I decided we didn’t want our one performance in Minnesota to be the last time we played together, so since February of this year we have been planning our own concert at the University of Costa Rica. The experience I’ve had so far has been absolutely life changing and the amount of kindness and generosity that both Estefa and Daniel have given to us this far has been amazing and I can’t thank them enough for that. One of the most incredible things I’ve realized this year is music’s power to bring people from all over the world together, and that it truly is a universal language that everyone can recognize, sing to, dance to etc... I decided in early March that I really wanted to write a piece for both Estefa and Daniel as well as to the University because of our experience in Minnesota earlier in the year. After many weeks of writing I finished my first composition and decided to name it La Fortuna, which is one of the most famous waterfalls in Costa Rica and is a gateway to a huge Arenal Volcano site. The piece captures both of these contrasting elements of fire and water. Last night we premiered my piece in Costa Rica which was the most honoring experience I’ve ever had. Thank you thank you thank you to Daniel for working so hard on my piece and playing it with me! I hope you enjoy La Fortuna. ~M
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Product Reviews
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Percussive Notes New Literature Review
La Fortuna is a large waterfall and popular tourist destination in Costa Rica, and it is known as the “gateway” to a massive volcano site. This physical site inspired the title and music of this six-minute duet for marimba and piano, as the composer wove together two melodic themes, meant to represent the combination of fire and water in one environment.
This piece has a distinctly Spanish sound, and it is sprinkled with minor chords throughout, multiple sections of rubato and ritardando that allow the marimba or piano to stretch out musical gestures (slow triplets into eighth notes), and elements of “furioso” presentations with fast marimba runs up and down the instrument. Marimbists will have to be comfortable presenting melodic material scored as thick and fast-moving chords, as well as thirty-second-note permutations and scaler runs up and down the instrument. The two melodic themes are utilized in various ways throughout the piece, sometimes as slow, triplet-based presentations, and at other times they are played in conjunction with the piano as fast, rhythmically-arpeggiated figures.
This piece is technically challenging for both the marimbist and pianist, and it unfolds like a six-minute cadenza that puts the musical spotlight on each player as they both travel through the melodic waterfall en route to the volcano.
Joshua D. Smith
PERCUSSIVE NOTES
VO. 59, NO. 2, APRIL 2021 Joshua D. Smith on Jun 29th 2022
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