As music students in Morelia, Mexico in the late 1990s, violist Jorge Martinez and pianist Alain Del Real often played together, became good friends, and promised they would continue making music together “in the near future.” Though 22 years have intervened, tonight the two musicians will make that dream a reality when they perform a recital in Las Cruces, joined by Radostin Konstantinov, principal clarinetist of the Juarez Symphony Orchestra.
Martinez and Del Real joined Intermezzo host Leora Zeitlin to discuss their collaboration and the program, which includes music by Franz Liszt, Tiberiu Olah, and Del Real himself, who is also a composer. But the centerpiece of the concert is a rarely-heard double concerto by Max Bruch for viola and clarinet.
“It’s a fantastic concerto,” Martinez said, noting that Bruch wrote it for his son, who played clarinet. Del Real will play a piano reduction – an arrangement in which he performs the music that would otherwise be played by an entire orchestra. “You can tell he has the whole score in his mind,” Martinez said of his old friend. The concert also builds on Martinez’ recent efforts to start a chamber series that will showcase faculty and students from both NMSU and Juarez in concerts in both cities. The three will repeat the concert tomorrow night in Juarez. Tonight’s concert is at 7 p.m. at the Good Samaritan Auditorium.
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