Liner Notes for Kaleidoscope by Manuel Garcia-Orozco

Liner Notes for Kaleidoscope by Manuel Garcia-Orozco

Classical music is undergoing seismic shifts and embracing diversity in all its forms by expanding its repertoires, approaches, and canonic constructions. As a classical piano album, Isabel Dobarro’s transportative Kaleidoscope proposes a multicultural music interchange among women composers from distant continents, cultures, and traditions. As performed by Dobarro, each artist’s repertoire reflects a wealth of piano works that should inspire pianists and audiences alike while challenging and reverting the historical neglect of women in the classical genre. 

From the Greek kalos (beautiful), eidos (form), and scopio (to observe), Kaleidoscope refracts metaphors for possibility as its correlate instrument of leisure and mirrors refracts light to create colorful, spectacular shapes of inspiring symmetry. Similarly, this piano album expressively refracts musical soundscapes via wide-ranging cultural influences. Each kaleidoscopic gesture of Dobarro’s virtuosic touch reveals new hues and patterns in each of the contributing composers’ works.

Fed by Dobarro’s advocacy for gender equity and sustainability, her oxygenating musical approach to each piece unveils a unique synthesis connected to the profound and sensitive ontological views, emotions, and compositional styles of global women. The contributed repertoire compels as a testament to the composers’ brilliance in expanding the piano’s musical boundaries, leaving a distinctive, lasting imprint on the classical genre. 

Grammy-nominee Dobrinka Tabakova (Bulgaria) contributes “Nocturne” in her characteristic evocative compositional style once lauded as “exciting and deeply moving” by the Washington Times. Composed in 2008, Tabakova’s contemplative piece explores textural colors through a repetitive motif, with the left hand introducing a poignant melody during the middle section that intensely contrasts with the action of the right hand. Programmed at major venues across Europe and the United States, the Bulgarian’s oeuvre has delighted audiences at the San Francisco Ballet, BBC Proms, Davos Summer Festival, the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, and more.

“Estudio 3” by virtuoso composer Gabriela Ortiz (Mexico) strikes a bold contrast to Tabakova’s left-right delicacy. Drawing on Ligeti, Ortiz presents an impassioned continuum demanding of a tour-de-force performance from pianist Dobarro. The score calls for a “Latin feel” within very technically challenging textures, which Dobarro masterfully reaches, marking her virtuosic apogee. Ortiz is recognized as one of today’s most notable composers, having been recently appointed Carnegie Hall Debs Composer’s Chair for 2024–2025. Her reputable works, performed by major orchestras like the Berlin Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic, affirm Ortiz’s prominence in the contemporary music scene.

Nkeiru Okoye’s (USA) African Sketches weaves the composer’s Nigerian roots into each element of the suite. Its second movement, “Dusk,” honors Okoye’s first musical mentor through a meditative sonority of exceptional ambiance that explodes the piano’s resonance throughout its registers. Dobarro’s delicate performance here affirms the movement independently of the suite while extending the tradition of African piano music thriving most prominently in Nigeria and Ghana. As a preeminent artist of African descent, Okoye is the first recipient of the International Florence Price Society Award for Composition and a distinguished Guggenheim Fellow.

“Improvisation” by Suad Bushnaq (Jordan) roots in the Arab system of melodic modes known as “maqam.” Arpeggios ebb and flow between both hands, contrasting colors and exploring registers amid a nuanced Middle Eastern atmosphere. To Bushnaq’s score offering a performer interpretive freedom in dynamics and tempo, Dobarro coaxes delicate well-articulated fingerings to underscore the piece’s improvisational essence. Bushnaq stands as a seminal composer of classical and film music, with the BBC praising her compositions as “reflective and touching”—a testament to her ability to evoke deep emotions through nuanced musical narratives.

Yoko Kanno (Japan) composed “Hana Wa Saku” (Flowers Will Bloom) after the horrifying tsunami and earthquake that struck Japan in 2011. Since its creation, this work has symbolized resilience and hope amidst catastrophe. The composer, widely regarded for her masterful versatility and contributions to film and videogame music, creates a sectional work where two contrasting themes, one lyrical and one hymnal, coexist to foster hope, and Dobarro’s treatment does just that.

Pulitzer winner and Kennedy Honors recipient Tania León (Cuba) exhibits a masterful blend of her Latin heritage and contemporary language with “Tumbao,” a composition title also representing the basic rhythmic motif in Afro-Cuban popular music, as harnessed by Dobarro prominently on the left hand withlively bursts in contrast, sharpness, and brilliance. León’s composition, activism, and pedagogy have established her as another leading figure in the contemporary musical landscape as well as a composer-in-residence for prestigious orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic and London Philharmonic. León was appointed Carnegie Hall Debs Composer’s Chair for the 2023–2024 season.   

“Blue Ocean” by prominent pedagogue and composer Carolyn Morris (Australia) pertains to the educational volume Australian Women Composers’ Piano Anthology. Vol. III published by Wirripang and conjures Morris’ childhood along her home country’s Great Ocean Road. Morris crafts a long-sustained melody over a constant flow of arpeggios that in Dobarro’s hands presents a perpetual process of transformation, perhaps epitomizing the highs and lows of the composer growing up beside the rhythmic dance of ocean waves.

Karen Tanaka (Japan) andher “Water Dance III” gracefully evoke water amid her compositional creativity, which unfolds in classic ABA structure. Its first and third sections, characterized by rapid arpeggios imbuing the piece with an ethereal lightness that mirrors the multifaceted hues and fluidity of water, while its middle section contrasts that lightness with the piano’s lower register, casting a darker, more dramatic tone reminiscent of the ocean’s hidden depths, which Dobarro tastefully articulates. Tanaka’s extensive musical versatility has been performed by venerable orchestras such as the BBC Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, and the NHK Symphony, among others. 

“Buenos Aires, Despierta y Sueña” resonates as a heartfelt tribute to the Argentinian city by the prominent late composer Claudia Montero (Argentina), the winner of four Latin Grammy Awards who positioned herself as a seminal figure in Latin America. The piece conjures a nostalgic melody that elegantly hovers above an arpeggiated accompaniment. This minimalistic yet emotive structure allows Dobarro a vast breadth of romantic freedom to reinterpret its evocative musical cosmos, keeping the piece poignant and potent while honoring Montero’s enduring legacy.

Renowned for her Pulitzer Prize and MacArthur Genius Grant, Julia Wolfe (USA) presents a fascinating compositional perspective with “Earring.” As Wolfe reflects, “Earring, like much of my music, appears deceptively simple at first glance. However, once the fingers engage, the complexities unfold.” The primary challenge here for a pianist, which Dobarro brilliantly meets then transcends, lies in the hands’ distinct independence: the right hand must persistently articulate a samba-like rhythm at the piano’s zenith while the left drifts in a dream-like state. Wolfe is esteemed as one of the most influential composers of our era, and her imprint has been felt in music scenes across continents.

“Gustave Le Gray,” composed by Grammy and Pulitzer Prize recipient Caroline Shaw (USA), captivates as a deep dive into intriguing sonic techniques. Deploying fragmentation and repetition, the piece pays homage to photographer Gustave Le Gray and his contemporary, the composer Fréderic Chopin. Shaw meticulously assembles each component of a musical puzzle to form Chopin’s Mazurka op.17 no.4, expressed at the composition’s center. Hereafter, the work undergoes a deconstruction into contrasting tonal landscapes that traverse the spectrum of human sentiment. Considered one of the most influential composers of her era, Shaw shines in both the classical domain and as a rap and pop-music producer.

Kaleidoscope concludes with “Alalá das Paisaxes Verticais” (Alalá of Vertical Landscapes) by composer Carme Rodríguez (Spain). Dedicated to Isabel Dobarro herself, this programmatic piece epitomizes the coast of Galicia, birthplace of both original composer and first performer. Rooted in the traditional Alalá, a Galician melismatic solo chant, the piece weaves a rich tapestry of dynamic, formal, and textural contrasts derived from Galician traditional music. The piece’s dedicatee brings this evocative musical homage to life as only she could.

Manuel Garcia-Orozco

Ph.D. in Music

Columbia University