What the critics say:

Missa Latina

"...the 'Missa Latina' is remarkably organic in its expression: If it is music that sets out to be liked -- perhaps loved -- it is also a unified and, one suspects, deeply felt utterance of the heart. It certainly received a joyful send-off. The chorus sounded both transparent and powerful; soprano Heidi Grant Murphy sang her long, limpid part with a fresh and florid sweetness, while Nathaniel Webster brought decorum and agility to the passages for baritone. Slatkin, who commissioned the 'Missa,' seemed to be having the time of his life, working hard, conducting with affection, with a full command of the score's many complications and that same sense of rapt, delighted discovery I recall from his years with the St. Louis Symphony. Judging any work on the evidence of such a brief acquaintance is always risky; still, it is probably safe to say that the 'Missa Latina' will bring pleasure to a great many listeners. (Indeed, the 'Sanctus' could almost be turned into a pop song.) Samuel Johnson used to say that the first duty of a book was to make us want to read it through; similarly, I can't imagine anybody who starts listening to the 'Missa Latina' wanting to turn it off before it is over." The Washington Post (Tim Page)

Danzas Concertantes

"...the source material is the dances of Latin America, a trove of common goods elevated by the composer to priceless artifacts. In rhythm, especially, Sierra is true to the spirit of these musical styles. This work throughout exhibits an authentic, springing liveliness that never fails to charm...The Mozart ['Paris' Symphony] was designed as a showpiece — to win over, in a single hearing, the listeners at a prestigious Paris subscription concert. Sierra's "Danzas" attempts something similar, emphasizing distilled ideas strung up like lovely party lights." Asbury Park Press (Carlton Wilkinson)

"...melodies burst through like the moon after an evening storm. There was an especially ravishing episode when a tune was passed from oboe to guitar... The highlight of the Sierra piece was the slow movement, which seemed to channel the twilight poetry of De Falla's 'Nights in the Gardens of Spain'." The Star-Ledger (Bradley Bamberger)

"...a substantive addition to the guitar repertoire..." The Baltimore Sun (Tim Smith)

Fandangos

"Remarkable ...accessible, excellent structure, splendorous orchestration..." La Opinión - Spain (Julio Andrade Malde)

"[a] work of truly remarkable beauty because of the interior energy that permeates it from beginning to end and the lush treatment of the orchestral textures" Mundoclásico - Spain (Julián Carrillo)

"In his 'Fandangos' (2001) written for Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra, the Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra took this fascinating dance as point of departure for his 'tropicalization' of Western music. With great fantasy and finesse he transformed Soler's Fandango into an exhilarating work for symphony orchestra..." NRC Handelsblad (Holland) (Door Wenneke Savemije)

"It is an expertly scored piece that takes a dance by Soler and passes it repeatedly through the prism of contemporary harmonic and rhythmic procedures; the result is attractive..." The Guardian-London (Andrew Clements)

"...an up-to-date version of Respighi's Ancient Arias and Dances." The Independent-London (Martin Anderson)

"A sort of Hispanic 'Bolero', 'Fandangos' was pure fun and should be repeated again on some program..." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Andrew Druckenbrod)

"Roberto Sierra’s 'Fandangos' was another treat. Here was a contemporary composition that is surely destined to become a popular orchestral display piece." The Classical Source (Timothy Ball)

Folias

"The audience loved it, and so did I. Melodic beauty, clear structure, magnificent orchestration ... Applause, bravos and several calls to the stage for the composer, conductor and soloist." La Opinión - Spain (Julio Andrade Malde)

“Sierra’s Folías is a soaring, ecstatic, and fiery masterpiece based on Spain’s 16th- and 17th-century dance music; it conjures up dizzying echoes of Boccherini’s ‘Introduction and Fandango’ mixed with an exhilarating exchange between tempo and rhythms, accented by Spanish castanets … Sierra’s one-movement Concierto Barrocco is a lively and colorful evocation of an imaginary moment (based on Alejo Carpentier’s novel of the same name) in which Scarlatti, Handel, Vivaldi, and a man and his servant from India gather to make music.” Acoustic Guitar (Julia Crowe)

“…Sierra achieved – masterfully – a synthesis of a tradition five centuries old…This work is truly a masterwork, comparable with the best achievements of twentieth century composers like Rodrigo and Ohana.” Soundboard (Eladio Scharrón)

"The high point of the concert was the performance of 'Folias' for guitar and orchestra by Roberto Sierra, in which Manuel Barrueco shone" Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Benedikt Stegeman)

"... a brilliant, Hispanic- flavored guitar piece by Puerto Rican-born composer Roberto Sierra ... exuberant ... Sierra's charismatic approach was to have the tune's harmonic progression run its course, while he embellished, interrupted and accented it with Hispanic musical flavors, from Flamenco guitar riffs to soaring trumpets." The Indianapolis Star (Whitney Smith)

"The major offering, Roberto Sierra's 'Folias', written only last year...Vieaux's consummate handling of a virtuoso solo part that had Bach and flamenco sharing the same hacienda." The New Zealand Herald (William Dart)

Concerto for Saxophones and Orchestra

"You read accounts of premieres 150 years ago where the audience clamored to have movements repeated. In your lifetime, did you witness such a thing - the reprise of a new work on the spot? Neither did I, until Thursday night, when Carter and conductor Neeme Järvi finally gave in to a storm that showed no signs of abating and recapped the last long stretch of Roberto Sierra's brilliant 'Concerto for Saxophones'... His three-movement concerto, which has the soloist switching off between tenor and soprano saxophones, is a delight and a thriller, idiomatic and challenging in its jazzy language, affecting in its bluesy-ballad turns, electrifying in its solo flights and as colorfully fashioned for the orchestra as it is for the man with the horn." The Detroit News (Lawrence B. Johnson)

"Sierra's Concerto, starring the irrepressible Carter, created the same rip-snorting impression as it did at last year's premiere. Carter raced from the basement of the tenor sax into the the stratosphere. The rollicking scherzo, nutty boogie-woogie and cadenzas left room for him to improvise gloriously." Detroit Free Press (Mark Stryker)

"...one of the best of all works for saxophone and orchestra." The Buffalo New (Herman Trotter)

Sinfonía No. 1

"…imagine that Beethoven had traveled forward into the 21st century, stopped in Puerto Rico for a weekend vacation and sent us a musical postcard…The second and third movements were particularly striking. In the second, soft strings hang as woodwinds add a rippling texture and a lyric horn melody cuts through. The third movement-a scherzo- plays mischievously with a fast, percussive 5/4 meter and big Beethoven-symphony sounds…Latin rhythms and syncopations drive the symphony joyfully forward…” St. Paul Pioneer Press (Joan Oliver Goldsmith)

Beyond the Silence of Sorrow

"...a work of depth and consequence ...A setting of moving, magical texts by Native American poet N. Scott Momaday, Sierra's song cycle captured the drama, mystery and life inherent in the poems while working as effectively on the level of pure musical experience." Tucson Citizen (Daniel Buckley)

"The symphony commissioned a work from Puerto Rico's Roberto Sierra, and his beautiful song cycle 'Beyond the Silence of Sorrow', had its world premiere at this concert ...Sierra has set six poems by N. Scott Momaday, which have a sense of one person in the outdoors and wide open solitude about them. Without any obvious onomatopoeic devices, Sierra has created a setting like fresh air, neither spare nor lavish, which surrounds the words. Orchestrally and vocally atmospheric and evocative, it draws the hearer in." The Post-Intelligencer (Philippa Kiraly)

"Beyond the Silence of Sorrow features a lot of shimmering and sensuous orchestration ... he writes very singable music for voice — and for the supporting instruments as well ... It's a beautiful poem, beautifully set." The Seattle Times (Melinda Bargreen)

 "Without a doubt, the stunning masterwork of the first half of the program was Roberto Sierra's six-part song cycle 'Beyond the Silence of Sorrow', which received its New York premiere with this performance [at Carnegie Hall].  It was premiered in May by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Gerard Schwartz.  In much the same way that poet N. Scott Momaday revels in the alliterative cadences of repeated words, in this work we hear Sierra reveling in pastel sounds and crystalline and sparkling orchestration as the coloristic setting for vocal lines pregnant with perfection...as a successful encounter with a contemporary work, listeners can enjoy in 'Beyond the Silence of Sorrow' new music that connects with refined delicacy and class, a full-bodied orchestral event full of wonder. Clearly, the standing ovation at the end left no doubt that Maestro Figueroa had presided over a resounding triumph - what one so often yearns for but rarely experiences in the presentation of a new work." New Music Connoisseur (John de Clef Piñeiro)

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