Miguel del Aguila
Chamber Music
in alphabetical order
BLANCHE DUBOIS Op. 72 (for solo guitar)
III. And the Sun Came Out (Y el sol salió)
Finally the clouds dissipate and the sun comes out brighter than ever. He can now see home in the distance. The music/journey is filled with optimism and excitement as the travelers know that everything will be fine now that he is back home where he is anxiously expected.
The musical language in this work uses elements from Andean folklore and the string instruments are often imitating some traditional instruments of this music as Quena, Charango, Bombo and other percussion instruments. The writing for the strings and guitar often calls for unusual techniques and can be demanding and virtuosistic at times.
CLOCKS Op. 58 for string quartet and piano
1. Shelves full of Clocks
2. Midnight Strikes
3. The Old Clock's Story
4. Sun Dial 2000 B.C.
5. Romance of the Swiss Clock and the Old Clock
6. The Joy of Keeping Time
Written in 1998, Clocks was commissioned by the Ventura Chamber Music Festival. It was premiered on May 9, 1998 by Cuarteto Latinoamericano and Miguel del Aguila in Ventura, California during the Festival. In 2011, Clocks was honored with a Latin Grammy Nomination for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. This suite of six movements portrays an imaginary visit to a clock museum, exploring the vast sound world of clocks from the deep resonance of clock towers to the finely calibrated workings of clock mechanics. The final movement, “The Joy of Keeping Time,” takes place after the museum closes and the clocks come to life in an exuberant jam session. The composer writes: “I tried to avoid the piano quintet sound, which is so much associated with the quintets of Brahms and Mozart. The theme of Clocks allowed me to explore different kinds of sound and different ways to produce it by using plucked strings notes for the piano, extreme high registers, and pizzicatos as well as rhythmic ostinatos in the strings. The piano is used as one more instrument of the ensemble and not as the dominating instrument as in the usual quintets. Only in the last movement does the piano take a more dominant role.” Clocks is recorded by Camerata San Antonio on the Bridge CD “Salón Buenos Aires
CONGA-LINE IN HELL for chamber ensemble
LATIN LOVE Op.82 for wind quintet and piano
It was commissioned 2004 by Pacific Serenades Ensemble who premiered it in Los Angeles the same year. The work is a nostalgic but optimistic revisit of youth, its emotions and places through the sounds of Latin American dance forms. The harmonic language here is traditional and evocative of Latin American music in the 1950’s. After a short introduction, the solo flute anticipates the dance theme and it is then joined by the others. There is excitement and beautiful chaos. The music here is simple and carefree, lacking emotional depth, until the solo Clarinet introduces the first expressive thought that triggers a long, meditative piano solo. The dance resumes, going through different dance styles and forms including a fugue, shifting time meters and percussion effects culminating in a passionate Tango. Built mainly on three themes, the work challenges equally all performers.
Life is a Dream was commissioned for the Audubon Quartet by the Chautauqua Institution and Kay Logan. It was premiered in 2002 at the Chautauqua Institution Summer Festival in NY by Audubon Quartet.
“As I started writing this music, words from Calderon de la Barca’s play Life is a Dream began ringing obsessively in my mind without any particular reason. After I re-read this play I realized the reason: With these words, Calderon’s main character realizes that he can no longer tell reality from dreams. A crisis has led him to this state of mind. Being myself in a somewhat similar situation at that time, I probably chose this subject matter subconsciously, out of the psychological need to deal with it. I then set out to do with music, what Calderon achieved through words: To blur and confuse the boundaries between the real and the imagined. Thus I wrote a piece in which the “real” music is often used as background merely accompanying “imagined”, “dreamed”, “remembered” and “suggested” music. The entire concert hall becomes the performance space as the musicians recite Calderon’s words as they play. The lack of direction and thematic development, gives this work an introspective, often meditating character. Its form is derived from the text and the subject matter. Calderon’s 17th Century Spain has also influenced the music: The first section is written in the Spanish Phrygian mode and is followed by a lively Jota dance that seems to be stuck on its own rhythm.
NOSTALGICA
Op.60 for bassoon and string quartet
Written in 1998, Nostalgica was commissioned by bassoonist Barrick Stees who premiered it 1998 at the International Double Reed Convention in Arizona. "I wanted to write a piece in which the bassoon would be the "solo singer" of the ensemble. Soon after I started writing this work, the tone qualities of the bassoon started determining the thematic material and even the form of the piece. Even though the bassoon is the solo singer the strings share a technically demanding part which includes extreme registers and the extensive use harmonics.
1. Long Ago Is a short, quiet and almost pastoral introduction to the piece which sets the mood for the next movement.
2. Blues It uses idioms from Blues and Jazz. The solo bassoon sounds at times like a sensuous saxophone or even a jazz trombone.
3. Nostalgica Is the central movement of the piece and the longest. It uses elements from Latin American and Brazilian folk music and it is nostalgic in nature. The bassoon's voice becomes in this movement that of a warm, sensuous Samba singer.
4. Happy End This movement concludes the piece in a lively Latin beat where the bassoon becomes a percussion that beats time for the strings. Nostalgica features the bassoon in all its expressive and technical possibilities.
OPHELIA IN SEVILLE Op.85 for soprano, tenor and chamber ensemble
Duration 16:00' Instrumentation: soprano, tenor, flute, clarinet, bassoon, trombone, and string quartet. Written in 2005, It was commissioned by Utah State University for the inauguration of its new Recital Hall in October 2005. The wark is intended as a short theatrical work where singers and ensemble are integrated equally into the performance. The text for Ophelia in Seville was taken from Gustavo A. Becquer's "Rimas". Only one of his poems deals with the subject of Shakespeare’s Ophelia. Other subject related poems from Rimas complete the text. The Shakespearean characters are here seen through the eyes of Becquer, and given a 19th. Century Spanish-romantic,symbolic character. The entire piece represents Ophelia’s thoughts, fantasies and hallucinations. Miguel del Aguila: "I tried to recreate musically the atmosphere of Becquer's poems, his dreamy and at times melodramatic moods, as well as the poetic romanticism of Seville of the 19th Century. The music mirrors Ophelia's moods and thoughts rather than a illustrating a particular music style or time. At the beginning of the work, she has been already abandoned by Hamlet and has lost her mind. In her heart, she feels Hamlet's presence (tenor) everywhere although he is in reality not present and his voice is heard from the tenor backstage. At the end both lovers (the real and the imagined), say a symbolical farewell to each other as Ophelia decides her death.
PACIFIC SERENADE Op.59 for clarinet and string quartet
Also Version for Clarinet /piano and Saxophone/piano
Written in 1998, Pacific Serenade was commissioned by Pacific Serenades Ensemble who premiered it 1998 in Los Angeles. The ensemble’s name helped inspire this work as well as its theme: a romantic serenade, meant to be performed at night under the stars. The main “singer” here is the clarinet. In general the music is extremely quiet, delicate, sensuous and sentimental. The sensuousness is created by the use of South American folkloric idioms, especially the Brazilian “choro”, which is at times combined with Blues melodies and Jazz harmony. Miguel del Aguila: “In an age of boom boxes, media bombardment and an increasingly aggressive pop culture, I felt the need to write just the opposite.
also for guitar quartet and guitar/strings octet
program notes coming soon
SALON BUENOS AIRES Op.84 for chamber ensemble
(piano, flute, clarinet, violin, viola and cello)
1. Samba
2. Tango To Dream
3. Obsessed Milonga
Commission by the Cactus Pear Music Festival in 2005, it was premiered by the Festivals ensemble in San Antonio, TX the same year. Written in three movements Salon Buenos Aires is a nostalgic musical trip to 1950’s Buenos Aires. The music conveys the general mood of this period of great prosperity and optimism that preceded the social collapse of the 1970’s in the hands of militaristic regimes. The mood is set by numerous South American dance forms used throughout the work. From carefree Brazilian Samba rhythms to old fashioned melodramatic Tangos and Milongas (an Uruguayan dance which preceded Tango). After a bright upbeat first movement, the next “Tango to Dream” starts with a mysterious introduction to a Lullaby that slowly acquires a beat to transform itself into a dramatic, passionate Tango. In the final movement, a Milonga rhythm is distorted into irregular patterns as its constant beat drives the piece from the good spirited lightness of the beginning to an out of control obsessive finale.
SEDUCCIÓN (Seduction) Op.96 for violin and piano
Also versions for flute/pno, clarinet/pno flute/pno and oboe/pno.
Commissioned by Saul Bitran and Header Coltman, it was premiered 2008 at Florida Atlantic University in Miami. Written in 2007 Seducción is a frantic, restless dance. The work is propelled forward by a series of ostinatos and rhythmically irregular themes. Rhythm is here the captivating (seductive), element which often relegates the melodic material to a secondary role. The Latin inspired dance begins with a percussive, almost primal theme that becomes increasingly breathless and ever-more-intense leading the work towards a final romantic climax. A tour de force for both pianist and violinist Seducción demands not only stamina but outmost rhythmic accuracy through various shifting meters.
SUMMER SONG, Op. 26 for oboe and piano, was written 1988 in Vienna, and premiered there a year later by oboist Vasile Marian, for whom it was written. “The work is all about nature, how it affects us and how we interact with it. It was inspired by an Aztec poem that, though lost long ago, I still recall visually: It’s a quiet, warm and lazy summer afternoon and the protagonist is lying on the grass. As he daydreams, his thoughts interact with the actual landscape, creating a magical, unreal place. Soon, as passing clouds bring rain the protagonist falls asleep and dreams. As the storm passes birds begin to sing, waking him up”. The work opens with a gentle, modal theme, followed by a more lively and rhythmic second theme. Their interplay provides a gentle dialogue that takes us through a set of variations. The themes become agitated and trigger the "dream" section of the piece from where a bird seems to slowly guide us back to reality. The themes we heard at the beginning return and are later joined by a new, almost scandalous theme, reminiscent of Brazilian samba “Summer Song stands alone among my works due to its capricious form, its over-abundance of thematic material, and most of all for the disparity of styles which somehow seem to merge together: idioms ranging from Indian chant and the 1940s Big Band era coexist with the late Renaissance, Middle Eastern arabesques, music from the Caribbean and Brazilian Samba. Originally written in 1988, I revised the work in 1996, expanding it in both length and, alas, difficulty”. Katsuya Watanabe brilliantly masters the work's challenges in his recording with pianist David Johnson on the Profil label. Summer Song is recorded by Katsuya Watanabe, oboe, and David Johnson, piano, on
Profil CD 8977792
SUNSET SONG op.42 for bassoon and piano
Was written and premiered in 1994 at the Los Angeles Museum of Art, Bing Theater. It is the composer's second large work featuring the bassoon as soloists (after Hexen) and like Hexen it is also dedicated to bassoonist Judith Farmer who premiered it with the composer at the piano. Sunset Song is technically a tour de force for both the bassoon and the piano. It is a happy, sensuous, obsessive and at times mocking often reflecting the time in which it was written and the events of a Mexico tour that followed the first performance during which the piece underwent revisions. Sunset Song starts with an introduction played by the bassoon almost entirely. This introduction uses elements of 1950's pop music. A middle section fallows where a static -almost Middle Eastern- ostinato rhythmic pattern beats with increasing tension. This pattern is then transformed to a Latin beat which finally returns the piece to the opening mood. The bassoon ends the piece in an irreverent tone, with a pitch written two octaves above the official limit of the instrument’s register. The title Sunset Song was inspired by California’s sunsets and the sun setting on the Pacific Ocean.
Tango Trio Op.71 for violin, cello and piano (also cl, cello and pno) - 2002
A short, bright concert opener, or closer, TANGO TRIO was written in in
Although the piano part is very virtuosistic, it never takes over the musical discourse, blending instead with the others to create that highly rhythmic, sharp and bright sound characteristic of the tango ensemble.
Wind Quintet No.2 Op.46
1. Back in Time
2. In Heaven
3. Under the Earth
4. Far Away
Wind Quintet No.2 was written in 1994 and premiered the same year in
Santa Barbara by the Bach Camerata. In 1995 it was awarded a Kennedy
Center Friedheim Award for excellence in chamber music composition.
The four movements are held together by an undisclosed program that
takes the listener through four different places (movements), as would
the four acts of a play. Back in Time has a primitive, ritualistic
character. The flute, accompanied by chant, plays a simple, modal theme.
The simple musical structure and melodic material are retained as the
movement progresses. In Heaven is a delicate, relaxed and stylized
Caribbean dance. Extensive new performance techniques and effects are
used in this movement which at times makes the quintet sound like a
delicate, distant percussion ensemble. Under the Earth is perhaps the
composer’s darkest and most realistic musical depiction of death.
Miguel del Aguila: “The wind quintet is often thought of as an ensemble
dominated by the high instruments with limited bass support. I tried to
prove the contrary with this movement which explores not only the
expressive depth of the wind ensemble but the extreme low registers of
some of the instruments”
Far Away takes us to a busy scene in the Middle East. Several Arabic
maqams and oboe solos, combined with a digeridoo sounding ostinato bass
are used to create an exotic fabric in which the entire ensemble is
challenged to the limits of their technical abilities before bringing
the piece to a fiery conclusion.
Recordings:
The Borealis Wind Quintet
CD: Discoveries (HE1030)
Helicon Records
Orchestra
Chautauquan Summer Overture, Op.80- 2004
Commissioned by the Chautauqua Institution in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. The work is scored for triple winds, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, harp, perc. and strings. It was premiered in 2004 at Chautauqua Summer Festival by Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra cond. Uriel Segal. “As the work begins it is winter and a cold wind blows over the frozen lake. As the piece progresses it portrays the changes that take place in the landscape over spring and finally the arrival of summer. Two motifs are heard constantly throughout the piece. First introduced in a darker, mysterious mood by the horns and double Basses, the themes are transformed into a lyrical, nostalgic Tango in the middle section. After a dramatic climax, the main theme returns transformed into humorous, carefree carousel music with an ever-increasing circus-like street-fair character. The work ends with an upbeat, triumphant finale that challenges the orchestra’s technical and endurance abilities.
now playing
Conga for orchestra (also chamber ensemble and solo pno. -1994
Conga-Line in Hell" or Conga, began as a dream. At first there was the visual image of an endless line of dead people dancing through the fire of hell. I gradually started hearing the music, which was flowing spontaneously out of me in an effort to entertain and alleviate the pain of those poor souls. I woke up and wrote the music as I remembered it.
As the name implies the work has a definite
It employs unusual percussion and rhythmic structures, and instruments are often playing at their most extreme registers. The piano is used 'obbligato' as a sort of metronome, very much like the harpsichord of the old Baroque times. The music is humorous, sarcastic, grotesque, sensuous and at times also terrifying. I rely mainly on the dramatic and expressive qualities of rhythm to convey the evil forces that govern my imaginary hell. As thematic material I primarily use rhythmic claves (Spanish for clef or key) as they are used in Latin American music: a sort of 'rhythmic tonality' to which harmony and melody must conform. After the sensuous middle section the work rushes frantically toward the end to explode in a dramatic finale.
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra Op. 94 - 2007
The Journey of a Lifetime (El viaje de una vida)
The Giant Guitar Op. 91 - 2006
Was jointly commissioned by WNED-FM Radio of
Time and Again Barelas Choral Suites No.1 and No.2
for orchestra and chorus (opt. solo tenor) (20 and 33 minutes.) 1. Overture (only Suite No.2) 2. Ignacio’s Dream 3. The Rhythm of the city 4. Ave Maria 5. River’s Death (only Suite No.2) 6.
Toccata Op.28 - 1988
Toccata was written in
