ALDEMARO ROMERO: Toccata Bachiana y Gran Pajarillo Aldemaroso

by Jeff Counts

Venezuelan composer Aldemaro Romero was born in 1928, and he quickly rose to international prominence in many musical fields. At 22, he was working for RCA in New York as an arranger and releasing albums of his own music to wide critical acclaim. As his reputation grew, Romero was invited to work with the likes of Dean Martin, Stan Kenton, Jerry Lewis and Tito Puente. In Italy, he composed film scores and, just in case the totality of his achievements was not enough, Romero also invented a new genre of Venezuelan popular music called Onda Nueva. This “new wave” combined the Venezuelan joropo (a dance style reminiscent of the fandango), Brazilian bossa nova and American jazz. Romero’s work as a conductor led to guest appearances with the London Symphony and other prestigious institutions. But the highlight of his podium life was a position with the Caracas Philharmonic Orchestra in 1979. Some twenty years later, he wrote the orchestral tour de force Toccata Bachiana y Gran Pajarillo Aldemaroso. Imagine a Caracas nightclub scene in a stylish spy thriller and you just begin to get a sense for this exuberant, colorful score. The work was premiered in Caracas and later recorded in Valencia, the respective cities of Romero’s death and birth.