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A PERFORMANCE GUIDE AND ANALYSIS OF CARLOS ESCALANTE MACAYA'S DESASOSIEGO FOR SOLO BASSOON, STRINGS, AND PERCUSSION (2017)
Barrantes Aguero, Rick
Barrantes Aguero, Rick
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Thesis/Dissertation
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2025-05
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Music Performance
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https://doi.org/10.34944/bmtg-w196
Abstract
This research project aims to promote one of the few solo works written for bassoon and orchestra by a Costa Rican composer. Carlos Escalante Macaya (b. 1968) wrote Desasosiego in 2017 for Fernando Zúñiga Chanto and the University of Costa Rica Symphony Orchestra. Zúñiga Chanto has performed the work several times with different orchestras in Costa Rica, but it has not yet premiered internationally. This monograph offers a detailed analysis of the work and a performance guide with the objective of motivating bassoonists from around the world to learn and program the work. The analysis studies the work's musical form, harmonic structure, melodic and rhythmic development, and programmatic qualities. This is the first-ever analysis of this important composition. Carlos Escalante Macaya is one of the most prolific living composers in Costa Rica, especially in music for film, theater, and dance, but with important works in the symphonic, choral, chamber, and solo genres as well. He studied in Costa Rica, Spain, and South Africa, and this monograph explores his compositional career and the most important works that shaped his musical language and imagination, such as his Sinfonía Centenario (1997). Escalante Macaya won Costa Rica’s highest music honor in 2022: the Premio Nacional de Música “Carlos Enrique Vargas” (National Music Award). He is also a long-time composition professor at the University of Costa Rica and a history professor at the National Music Institute of Costa Rica, where he was my teacher during my undergraduate studies. Understanding his background and musical career offers valuable information about the ideas and musical language behind his work Desasosiego.
The analysis of Escalante Macaya’s work is based on materials provided by the composer for this project, including a virtual interview (January 2025), scores, images, and language describing programmatic elements used in Desasosiego. Other additional materials are Zúñiga Chanto’s three different recordings of the work, another monograph written at Temple University by Dr. Ana Catalina Ramírez Castrillo on Escalante Macaya’s Latin-Grammy nominated Clarinet Concerto, and the book Música académica costarricense: Del presente al pasado cercano (2012). The latter is the only book with information about Carlos Escalante Macaya and includes a biography, catalog of works, and analysis of his musical language. As a Costa Rican bassoonist, I wrote this extended analysis from both a theoretical and practical standpoint, offering a performance guide to help future bassoonists looking to learn and perform the work.
As an introduction and complementary research, this monograph reviews the brief history of the bassoon as a solo instrument in Costa Rica and the potential reasons for that brevity. I examine these reasons with help from leading Costa Rican bassoonists, offering possible strategies to promote the academic use of the bassoon as a solo instrument in the country. Costa Rica has a rich history of renowned bassoonists and orchestral composers, but only a few original works for solo bassoon and orchestra. Ideally, this research seeks to not only promote Escalante Macaya’s Desasosiego but also advocate for more frequent use of the bassoon in the Costa Rican compositional scene, with new collaborations between performers and Costa Rican composers to expand the existing solo repertoire for solo bassoon and large ensemble.
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