Conductor Domingo Hindoyan introduces us to a selection of beautiful orchestral works by his fellow Venezuelan countrymen. Most, if not all the composers will be new names to many of us, but their music is extraordinary. Spanning the 20th century, the works on this album are tonal, romantic and colourful, often evoking the rhythmic vitality of the Venezuelan countryside, towns and cities.

The present selection of pieces clearly falls into the category of musical nationalism.

The majority of European countries, eager to distance themselves from apparently ‘universal’ music, such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner etc., sought to differentiate their music at all costs. Whether by using folk themes, unusual scales, authentic melodic phrases or simply by celebrating the landscape or traditions of the respective regions, this approach was not slow to cross the ocean and to arrive in America. The compositional craft of the New World composers –learned from European sources – in turn became steeped in local as well as national influences, even if this had necessitated the extreme measure of inviting a famous Czech, Dvořák, to ‘invent’ a national musical style. In any case, the project took root and national schools sprang up in America, from north to south, including a Venezuelan national musical style courtesy of Castellanos, Estévez, Carreño and others.

(Extract from the liner notes by CARLOS CALDERÓN URREIZTIETA, translated by Robert Sargant)