Ritmos Anchinos

Abstract

Research Statement: World Premiere Performance of New Arrangement of Ritmos Anchinos by Lena Frank (arranged by Richard Charlton) Karin Schaupp Research Background This was a collaborative project commissioned by the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. The 2006 three-movement work Ritmos Anchinos was originally written for the Silk Road Ensemble and was reconceived (with the composer’s blessing) to be played on the classical guitar instead of the pipa (a Chinese instrument). The guitar is featured with long solo passages, and the ensemble also includes string quartet and sheng. This process involved a major re-writing of the pipa part, which was undertaken by Richard Charlton in close collaboration with me. The composer considered this re-write to be such a major departure from the original work that she requested it be described as a world premiere performance. Research Contribution: Re-working this piece in close collaboration with the arranger and then performing its rather improvisational passages as a soloist within the ensemble was a challenge and required a great deal of research and experimentation, as the guitar needed to imitate the pipa, but also to sound guitaristic in parts. The original inspiration for this significant work came from the composer’s South American heritage, but in the context of writing for a Chinese instrument, the pipa. The challenge in this creative research was to re-conceive this Latin-inspired piece written for a Chinese instrument, on a Latin instrument, whilst still retaining some of its Chinese effects and making it blend with the rest of the ensemble, particularly the sheng. Some final decisions on the arrangements were made in the rehearsal process in close consultation with the Sheng player, Wu Tong who was part of the original Silk Road Ensemble. Hopefully this will pave the way for more transcriptions of pipa music for guitar. Research Significance: This work represents a major addition to the repertoire for guitar and mixed ensemble and its world premiere performance took place under the auspices of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music at the Townsville Civic Theatre with myself, Wu Tong (sheng) and the Goldner String Quartet.