Series Samples Classical Music of Cuba, Spain

However much the classical music world has evolved, the mainstay repertory remains the product of, in New West Symphony artistic advisor Charles McDermott’s words, “dead white European males.” For the last eight years, the stated goal of the Ventura County-based orchestra’s annual Musics Alive! series has been to even up the score.

Last weekend’s edition toasted music of Cuba and Spain, especially the former, via the gracefully culture-crossing work of Tania Leon. Born in Havana and based in New York, Leon has built up a reputation of increasing international stature, and for good reason.

What we heard whetted the appetite. Her enticing chamber ensemble piece “Indigena,” performed Saturday night at Ventura’s Mission Theater, handily blends influences in a Euro-Afro-Cuban stew. Unfortunately, one piece on Saturday’s program, “sin normas ajenas,” was scrapped at the last minute, reportedly because of inadequate rehearsal time, a bad precedent given that short rehearsal time is inherent in the presentation of new music.

In a concert dubbed “Cuba Alive!” Sunday in Ventura’s Church of Religious Science, Cuba’s musical strengths flowed freely. If anything, the program was too piecemeal, lacking a focal point. From Leon’s recent acclaimed opera, “Scourge of Hyacinths,” soprano Anne Marie Ketchum dignified the aria “Oh, Yemanja” and later reeled off Cuban popular songs.

The program was framed by works inspired by Cuban music but penned by Yankees. The ever-impressive piano duo of Vicki Ray and Gloria Cheng performed Gershwin’s “Cuban Overture” and Copland’s “Danzon Cubano,” both written before the island nation’s revolution.

Aurelio de la Vega, a Cuban exile and Los Angeleno for many years, was represented by his wonderful 1995 “Canciones Transparentes,” settings of poems by the celebrated 19th century poet-revolutionary Jose Marti. Sung luminously by Ketchum, these pieces show a felicitous, quasi-Romantic marriage of text and music.

A surprise treat Sunday was Leon’s “Paisano Semos!,” a short, sweet, pungent solo guitar work performed beautifully by Randy Pile. Dedicated to the farming life, the piece teems with poetry and subtle bursts of Cuban rhythm. It ends with a delicate passage of harmonics, evoking an image of seeds gently popping open.