Sacro-Monte

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Musical Terms (2)

• Danzas gitanas (Turina) es
  Two sets of five gypsy dance pieces for solo piano: Serie 1 (Op. 55, c. 1930) and Serie 2 (Op. 84, 1934). Together they form one of the most vivid evocations of the Gypsy-Andalusian musical world in the concert piano repertoire. The most famous piece from either set is Sacro-Monte (Serie 1 No. 5), named for the cave district of Granada where Gypsy communities lived and where the most intense forms of flamenco were performed. The Seguiriya that closes Serie 2 is named for the most solemn and ancient of the cante jondo styles.
  The dance rhythms in these pieces must be felt physically, not just notated. The distinction between Zambra (an Andalusian Gypsy ceremonial dance) and Danza ritual, or between Danza ritmica and Seguiriya, is one of character and weight: heavier, slower, more weighted for the more solemn pieces; lighter and more fluid for the festive ones. Sacro-Monte in particular should feel improvised even when played from memory.
• Sacro-Monte es
  The Sacro-Monte (Sacred Mountain) is a hill district on the edge of Granada, Spain, traditionally inhabited by the Gypsy community and associated with the most authentic and intense forms of flamenco. Its cave dwellings were (and some remain) the sites of private and commercial flamenco performances, and the district has a powerful mythological weight in Spanish cultural imagination as the birthplace of the deepest flamenco singing and dancing. Turina's piece of the same name (Cinco danzas gitanas Op. 55 No. 5, A minor) captures something of the mysterious, rhythmically incandescent atmosphere of the place.
  The A minor tonality of Sacro-Monte should feel modal and ambiguous, not like Classical A minor. Allow the Phrygian inflections — the flat second degree — to colour the melody distinctly. The piece has a hypnotic quality that depends on rhythmic evenness underpinning any expressive flexibility in the melody.