Symphony No. 3 La Salsa I. Tumbao

Roberto Sierra writes:

“As the title of my work implies ('La Salsa'), this symphony is about the music of the Spanish speaking Caribbean: Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Cuba. In the true spirit of salsa music (salsa means ”sauce” in English), I mix diverse types of older and newer rhythms from the music I remember growing up in Puerto Rico. The first movement is in actual Sonata-Allegro form. The different themes evoke the piano riffs (or tumbaos, as in the subtitle I gave the movement), heard in many salsa pieces. I wanted to write a piece that takes off from the riffs of the salsa. I’m drawing on the vernacular. Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn -- they all did that. It’s nothing new.”