Cristina Spinei in Constant Motion

This post was written by Timo Andres, one of Metropolis Ensemble's featured composers in Spring 2010, for the upcoming Reverb concerts at (Le) Poisson Rouge.



For Cristina Spinei, writing music is inextricably linked to dance, her study of Brazilian folk music, and, at times, the sounds and rhythms of her commute on Metro-North railway ("Does that make me sound too much like a dorky composer?" she wonders aloud). Dork or not, Cristina hardly conforms to the stereotypically cloistered life of a composer. She's more likely to be found salsa dancing at the Copacabana or Sounds of Brazil, covertly taking notes on the bands she hears. "For me, the best way to learn about music is to participate in it."

Cristina studied composition at Juilliard, beginning when she was a teenager. She grew up listening not just to Latin dance music, but also to Italian opera; her favorite composer was Rossini (she attributes both tastes to a flair for the dramatic). Though her pieces exist as fully notated scores, she's refreshingly unconcerned about the details. "I'd rather the musicians be freed from the exact notation... and learn how to better embody the feel of it." This is contrary to much conservatory training. "Classically-trained musicians... aren't used to making something 'swing' or adding a certain amount of groove... they are so bound by wanting to execute precisely what the composer wants."

Perhaps for this reason, Cristina is happy to pick and chose from different worlds when she chooses musicians to write for. She befriended the members of Ogans, the Sounds of Brazil's house band, and has written for Meia Noite, who plays berimbau (a tall, single-stringed instrument resembling a bow and arrow with a resonating chamber). Malian kora player Toumani Diabate is another favorite. "I'd love to write a concerto around him... it's better to let the traditional player perform what they know and compose a piece around what they're playing."

Despite her conservatory training, Cristina's music shares more of the fundamental structure of jazz. Jolt, which she originally wrote for a small band of piano, percussion, bass, and traditional Brazilian instruments, moves along briskly in groove-based sections, including improvisatory episodes highlighting individual players' virtuosity. A new version, which will be premiered on Reverb, augments the band with strings and winds, creating a more concerto-like setting for the percussion and piano parts. But it's still far more salsa band than Rachmaninoff.

A teacher once voiced concern that Cristina's music was "always moving, it never sits still for a moment," imploring her to write something "calm, suspended." But staying in one place doesn't seem to come naturally; "So far," she says, "that hasn't happened."