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Alfred Reed (1921 – 2005) is an American composer. Although several of his compositions are influenced by the musical cultures of various regions (e.g. Armenian Dances), he is primarily a composer from Western culture.
El Camino Real (El Cam.) was written between 1984-1985, and is a piece of contemporary wind band music. Translated, ‘el camino real’ means ‘the royal road’, or alternately ‘the King’s Highway’. ‘El Camino Real’ is also a reference to the California Mission Trail, so named for the many Spanish missions founded in the area. California was part of New Spain, a Spanish colony until the beginning of the 19th century. Although the piece takes the fast-slow-fast form of a contemporary overture, it is subtitled ‘A Latin Fantasy’, indicating the composer’s conscious intention to write in the ‘Spanish idiom’ (Reed, 1985).
The objectives of this investigation are to:
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Identify elements of traditional Spanish music in the piece.
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Evaluate the composer’s treatment of said elements.
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Understand the conscious decisions on the part of the composer with regard to his use of elements of Spanish music
This will be accomplished by:
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Considering examples of traditional Spanish music.
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Comparing said examples with El Cam.
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Commenting on the divergences.
I have selected three examples of traditional Spanish music for comparison. España Cañi takes the form of a paso dobles, a march-like dance usually in duple meter. El Relicario by Jose Padilla is another example of paso dobles. La Flor is a fandango performed by the flamenco group Los Alhama. The recording of El Cam. was performed by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra under Yasuhiko Shiozawa. (Full recordings only available on the CD submission.)
