Eloignement (Distance) from Trois petits Morceaux

Soro, (Barriga) Enrique. (Some references have Barriga in his name others do not)
Nationality: Chilean
Born: July 15, 1884, Concepción
Died: December 3, 1954, Santiago (age 70)

This piano piece transfers well to organ and introduces us to Enrique Soro.

His Italian-born father Giuseppe, who had settled in Concepción in 1870, was a musician, composer and piano/singing teacher.
Initially taught by his father, Soro made rapid progress in his musical education.

Enrique Soro is considered to be one of the first symphonists in Chile. After early music studies in his native Concepción, he received a scholarship to study at the Royal Conservatory in Milan. In 1904, after winning a first prize in composition, he undertook a concert tour of Italy and France. He returned to Chile in 1905, where in 1906 he was appointed to the composition faculty of the National Conservatory of Music. From 1919 to 1928 he served as the Conservatory’s director.

With 70 compositions to his name, many of them for solo piano, others for voice and piano, and five major works: Melodia for string quintet (1902), Suite per piccola orchestra (1902), String Quartet in A (1903), Sonata in D minor for violin and piano (1903) and the Variaciones sinfónicas (1904).
Of his larger works, perhaps his Piano Concerto (1918) and Romantic Symphony (1920) best represent his accomplishments in this area.

Soro was Chile’s first major composer of “classical” music, but he was a decidedly local talent. His music is attractive and well-wrought, but also derivative and lacking memorability. The short works sound best. Danza fantástica and Andante appassionato both date from 1916, and even if we feel we’ve heard this music before it still has plenty of charm. By 1942 composers as diverse as Copland, Chavez, Revueltas, Villa-Lobos, and Ginastera had found ways to explore their folk heritage in a more personal and contemporary idiom.