Chamber Music
 

 

 

 

Blanche Dubois Op. 72   for solo guitar - 2001

Arranged from Tennessee for solo guitar. Blanche Dubois is the controversial character from Tennessee William’s “A Streetcar Named Desire”. In many ways, Blanche is Tennessee himself; more than that; she is the personification of every artist. The work starts with a sensuous, sentimental, old fashioned waltz, which portrays Blanche. This waltz is also Blanche remembering and yearning for the long gone world of her youth. The middle section that follows is the train itself. This train, that Williams calls desire, is also the train of madness and self-destruction. The train theme is written in unstable 7/8 meter. After its slow start it gains speed like a train missing a wheel (7/8) heading downhill to a fatal crash. Blanche’s waltz theme reappears challenging the train theme but it quickly accepts its defeat, and returns to its nostalgic nature. The work ends as the waltz theme dissolves hopelessly into fragile, unreal guitar harmonics as Blanche, now totally insane, is being dragged away.



Charango Capriccioso  Op. 90  for string quintet and piano - 2006
Commissioned by the Austin Chamber Music Center where it was premiered on July 11 2006 by Cuarteto Latinoameriocano joined by Felicity Coltman, Heather Coltman and Margaret Coltman. The work opens with a mysterious theme, which - in an unintelligible tongue - seems to invite us to a remote place high in the Andes. The piano and later the solo viola take us to a quiet beautiful landscape where soon the solo cello meditates about the sad events that took place there starting with the Spanish conquest. A charango (suggested by the piano) introduces an Inca-inspired upbeat theme that after dancing through shifting rhythms becomes obsessive. At this point, the “unintelligible” theme returns with a new, almost disturbing character. Before the dance flies out of control, the solo cello reappears with the meditative theme as distant bells (played by the piano) restore the peace.I tried to balance the massive sound of piano-four hands with that of the strings  separating them as two different elements; and at times by opposing them. When playing together, the strings part is written with big strokes, in an almost orchestral fashion. 


Clocks Op. 58  for string quartet and piano - 1998
Commissioned by the Ventura Chamber Music Festival it was premiered 1998 by Cuarteto Latinoamericano and the composer in Ventura CA. The work forms a suite where each movement represents a clock, a group of clocks or a story related to them. It is like a sound visit to a clock museum. Miguel del Aguila about CLOCKS: In CLOCKS, 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 on 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 takes the piano a more dominating roleCLOCKS has six movements: I Shelves full of Clocks, II Midnight Strikes, III The . Old Clock's Story, IV Sun Dial 2000 B.C., V Romance of the Swiss Clock and the Old Clock, VI Keeping Time



Life is a Dream Op. 76 (La vida es sueño) for string quartet - 2002
Life is a Dream was commissioned for the Audubon Quartet by the Chautauqua Institution through and Kay H. Logan. It was premiered 2002 at Chautauqua Festival, in Chautauqua, 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 (that I hadn’t read in thirty years) 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 a 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 traditional concert space on stage is not always the physical space where the action takes place. This work is thus introspective and philosophical in nature. 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.



Latin Love, Op.82 for wind quintet and piano - 2004
Commissioned by Pacific Serenades Ensemble, LATIN LOVE 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. Stylistically, the work is built on three themes, all Latin in nature. The fast theme in 19/16 time is rhythmically complex challenging the rhythmic abilities of classical musicians.



Nostalgica Op.60 for bassoon and string quartet - 1998
Dedicated to bassoonist Barrick Stees who commissioned and performed it's world premiere at the 1998 International Double Reed Convention in Tempe, AZ. "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 nostalgic and sensuous tone qualities of the bassoon started influencing the thematic material and even the form of the piece. Although the bassoon is the solo singer the strings have a technically demanding part which includes the use of extreme registers and numerous difficult harmonics. Nostalgica has four movements. 1. Long Ago: is a short, quiet and almost pastoral introduction to the piece which sets the mood for the next movement. 2. Blues: 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 Brazilian Samba singer. 4. Happy End: ends the piece in a lively Latin beat where the bassoon is used most of the time as a percussion instrument that beats time for the strings. Nostalgica features the bassoon in all its expressive and technical possibilities.



Ophelia in Seville Op.85 - 2005
Written for soprano, tenor, flute, clarinet, bassoon, trombone, and string quartet. The text for Ophelia in Seville was taken from Spanish Poet’s Gustavo. A. Becquer's "Rimas". Only one of his poems deals with the subject of Ophelia. Other subject related poems were chosen by the composer to obtain a theatrical sequence. The Shakespearean characters are here seen through the eyes of Becquer, and given a Spanish-romantic, symbolic character. Ophelia mainly represents poetic eternal love. 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 Becquer's Spain and more specifically his Seville of the 19th Century. The music mirrors Ophelia's moods and thoughts rather than a illustrating a particular music style. At the beginning of the work, Ophelia has already been abandoned by Hamlet and has lost her mind. In her heart, she feels Hamlet's presence (tenor) everywhere although he is in reality not there. At the end both lovers say a symbolical farewell to each other and to their love, using one of the most beloved poems of 19th Century Spanish literature." This work was written in 2005. It was commissioned by Utah State University for the inauguration of its new Recital Hall in October 2005, where it premiered.



Pacific Serenade for Clarinet (or sax) and string quartet. Also version with piano - 1998
Pacific Serenade is a “peaceful serenade”. A serenade as in: romantic, quasi improvised music which should be sung at night under the stars. The main “singer” here is the clarinet (or sax). In general the music is extremely quiet, delicate, sensuous and sentimental. The sensuousness is created by Latin song elements especially the nostalgic Brazilian folk song, which is at times combined with Blues style melody and harmony. The string quartet has a technically expressively challenging part which is not merely the accompaniment to the clarinet, but rather it is responsible for setting the mood in which the clarinet sings. The version with piano has one more piano solo movement and it is slightly different. This is Aguila’s opus 59 and it was commissioned by Pacific Serenades Ensemble of California who premiered the work in 1998. The ensemble’s name inspired the title of this work as well as its mood. “In an age of boom boxes, media bombardment of information and pop culture becoming increasingly aggressive, boisterous and violent, I felt the need to write just the opposite… to show once more that less is more”



Presto II for string quartet (also version for guitar qtet.) - 1996
Originally the last movement of Aguila's String Quartet No.2
(1988), it was transformed by the composer into a larger, independent piece for Cuarteto Latinoamericano who premiered it in 1996. PRESTO II is humorous, ironic, sometimes mocking and rhythmically complex music, culminating in a breathless, frantic finale. The introduction has 1920's Jazz  elements and the following  Latin-inspired dance is based on a small rhythmic and melodic cell that repeats constantly in odd irregular time meters. A challenging work for the performers, it calls for unusual playing techniques and effects and rapidly shifting irregular rhythmic patterns. "I wrote this piece while living in Vienna. For the Viennese, the string quartet ensemble is a sacredly serious matter. With PRESTO II I was mocking the form, and the protocol of classical string quartet tradition. String Quartet No.2 was premiered in Vienna, and not surprisingly, the Viennese press found it "not serious"



Salon Buenos Aires Op.84 for fl, cl, string trio and piano - 2005
1. Samba, 2. Tango To Dream, 3. Obsessed Milonga. Co-commissioned by Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society (Madison WI), Music in the Vineyards ( Napa, CA), and Cactus Pear Music Festival, in San Antonio, TX. It was premiered by the later in 2005 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. After a bright upbeat first movement, the next “Tango to Dream” starts with a mysterious introduction to a Lullaby that later acquires a Tango beat to culminate in a full, passionate Tango theme. In the final movement, a Milonga rhythm is distorted to irregular patterns as it beats obsessively. Underneath the happiness of this movement, there is tension and angst.



Seduction Dance
(notes coming soon)



Summer Song
(notes coming soon)



Sunset Song Op.42 for bassoon and piano - 1994
It is the composer's second large work featuring the bassoon as soloists (after Hexen) and it is dedicated to bassoonist Judith Farmer who premiered it with the composer at Los Angeles' Bing Theater. The piece is technically demanding for both the bassoon and the piano. It is a happy, sensuous, rhythmically driven and at times mocking piece which conveys those times in which it was written: “for me, a time of change and exploration in many ways.” Sunset Song starts with a sensuous, blues inspired introduction played by the bassoon. A middle section fallows where a static -almost Middle Eastern- ostinato rhythmic pattern beats with increasing obsessiveness. This pattern is transformed to a Latin beat and finally returns the piece to the opening mood where the bassoon ends the piece in an irreverent tone, with a high note played only with the mouthpiece.



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 New York and it premiered the same year at Chautauqua Summer Festival, NY by the New Arts Trio. The work evokes Argentine-Uruguayan tango idioms, especially those of the early tango period between 1910 and 1940. The musical language is intense, dramatic and direct, becoming at times melodramatic, affected and humorous. The tango rhythmic pattern is present through the whole work undergoing several transformations of tempo and meter becoming at times highly syncopated and with unusual asymmetrical time signatures. The form is ABA, a typical Tango form. The harmonic and melodic material also evokes the neo-romantic and sentimental feeling of the tango era.
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
(notes coming soon)

 

 

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 Caribbean flavor. The rhythmic pattern of the conga dance beats throughout the piece and is at times distorted into a 13/16 pattern.

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) I. Crossing the Ocean to a New World  (Cruzando el océano hacia un nuevo mundo) II. (Vidalita) -  In the Purple Land  (En la tierra púrpura) III.The Return (El regreso) IV. Confrontation and Defeat  (Confrontación y derrota) (Jota) Commissioned and premiered by the New Mexico Symphony and its music director Guillermo Figueroa, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra was finished in early 2007, and premiered 2008 in Albuquerque, NM. It was revised shortly after the premiere. The violin soloist is turned here into a traveler who becomes the protagonist of the story.  The orchestra often represents the outside world as he sees it. As the work progresses, the actual trip becomes a symbol of a more existential journey: LIFE. As the Concerto begins, the traveler has been forced to abandon his native Spain and is ready to embark on a long trip in search of a better life.  He bids farewell to all, as a minimalist, undulating theme begins to carry him steadily across the ocean. During the long journey, he reminisces and loses himself in introspection, loneliness and ultimately: bitter resignation. The next movement happens far away, in “The Purple Land” of South America. The music is in the style of the Vidalita: the simple, slow and nostalgic song of the Uruguayan Gauchos and their guitars. The traveler spends most of his uneventful life here. Unseen and unnoticed, he works hard to raise his family and dreams of a glorious, but improbable, return to his remote and now idealized homeland. Movements III depicts this imaginary return, as Calderon de la Barca’s words reassure him that the return he dreams is as real as the life he leads, the traveler meditates on his own existence. Finally, in movement IV he is face to face with his past in his native Andalusia. He re-visits the places of his childhood but finds that nothing looks familiar anymore. Trying to reclaim his own memories and identity, he confronts again this new place and people, and is defeated yet again. At the end, he sings one more time the farewell theme, as he leaves behind this place that is no longer his for another that will never become home. He finally realizes that he is alone and belongs nowhere, as his favorite Jota theme plays one last time, now mocking and grotesque. This work is a tribute to all those who once left their homeland in search of a better life, (among them, my grandparents and again: my parents)

 

 

 

 The Giant Guitar Op. 91 - 2006
Was jointly commissioned  by WNED-FM Radio of Buffalo, NY and by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2006 JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition. It was premiered at Buffalo’s Kleinhans Hall in 2006 by Buffalo Philharmonic conducted by JoAnne Falletta. A short overture-like work inspired in the guitar and by Andean folk idioms. The opening theme and harmony originates form the  guitar’s open strings (E A D G B E). The Harp introduces this theme as the strings, and later the horns, use the same notes to provide harmony. Having lived the first twenty years of my life in South America I can’t think of a guitar without associating its music to my early memories there. I often view South America as a “giant guitar”…friendly, sentimental, nostalgic, apparently week, and yet concealing a great power, only suggested by occasional “rasqueado” chords or historical revolutions. As in the political events of the 1970’s. Thus this work starts in a somewhat nostalgic mood which seems to transport us to a place high in the Andes. After these few introductory bars the flutes re-introduce the guitar theme now in a very rhythmic pattern resembling an Inca Andean-flute chant. The orchestra strings accompany the melody through rhythmically complex pizzicati, imitating a giant guitar or “charango”. The drama begins almost unnoticed as the originally delicately strummed chords turn into violent bass-drum and timpani hits. A final chord, from a third higher then the rest of the piece, offers a last note of defiance as it confronts a police siren, only to be quickly crushed by the overwhelming percussion. 



 

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. Sunrise. Both Suites are taken from del Aguila’s third opera: Time and Again Barelas which was commissioned by the New Mexico Symphony, the National Hispanic Cultural Center, Meet The Composer and the City of Albuquerque in celebration of the 300th. anniversary of its founding. The Opera premiered in April 2006 By New Mexico Symphony under conductor Guillermo Figueroa.  Choral Suite No.1 premiered in 2005 by NMSO conductor R. Melone. The longer Choral Suite No.2 was written for The Lancaster Symphony and its music director S. Gunzenhauser. It includes some of the main choral numbers from the opera as well as a new overture on themes from Time and Again Barelas. The score has been enlarged by extra winds, brass and strings, and the chorus has been expanded into a large symphonic chorus. About the opera: “Rather than writing an incidental work for the event,” wrote del Aguila, “I was more interested in writing a dramatic work that would be of timeless and of universal interest. In summer of 2004, I finished a synopsis of the story: a love story that lasts 500 years with the neighborhood of Barelas as background.” Situated on the Camino Real that ran from Mexico to Santa Fe, Barelas had been settled by the Spanish sonce early 17th century. Although most characters are fictional, the opera starts with the historical event of Don Barelas’s murder. The soldier who commits the crime, Don Ignacio, and Barelas’s daughter Marcelina, are the central characters of the story.  Following a shaman’s curse, they are fated to fall in love through the ages.  While Don Ignacio lives in shame and remorse, Marcelina only gradually becomes aware of his true identity as the murderer of her father. Her forgiveness of Ignacio ends the work in hope and affirmation. The composer states:  “I did not try to write music that is true to a particular historical time or place. Instead, my music is mainly "Latin" in a broad sense and it conveys the story and the place of Barelas in a cohesive unity of style and form. I use music themes to represent events and places to create a sort of familiar musical landscape in which the action takes place.” Choral Suite No. 2 - Synopsis: 1. Overture 2. Ignacio’s Dream World War Two. An ocean apart, Marcelina and Ignacio think of each other. Ignacio prepares for yet another assault on German lines. Back in Barelas, Marcelina wonders when people will abandon violence and learn to forgive, love, and live together in peace. 3. The Rhythm of the city.Building a city, 1650-1850. The town of Barelas rises. Its hard working people build the town house by house.  Slowly the wide open sky of the New Mexico desert is transformed into a modest city skyline. Marcelina presides over a happy and thriving community. Ignacio enters, pursuing an escaped slave Marigold. The people of Barelas help Marigold escape. 4. Ave Maria. River has just revealed  to Marcelina that the man she loves is a monster who has killed Marcelina's father. Marcelina recoils in horror as we are transported to Los Alamos/While Sands, 1945.  Humanity attains the ultimate violence – the ability to destroy itself. The famous news photo of scientists at White Sands is recreated as the first nuclear test occurs. Horrified, Marcelina and the people of Barelas watch the eerie cloud and silent fallout that ensues, as a heavenly chorus sings an Ave Maria imploring for human forgiveness. 5. River’s Death A cold winter night on a deserted street in Barelas, 1980's. Ignacio's guilt has driven him to the street, homeless. Marigold has become a drug addict, and as she tries to buy drugs River enters. In a struggle River is stabbed, by one of the dealers. Ignacio comes to her aid and takes her to Marcelina's house. River is amazed at the transformation in Ignacio; Marcelina's love has re-awakened humanity in him. For the first time he feels the full weight of his guilt. As River lies dying, she tells Marcelina that Ignacio has changed and that he deserves forgiveness. As River's soul leaves her body she calls on the Shaman to lift the curse 6. Sunrise A place out of time. As the curse is lifted, Marcelina forgives Ignacio as they clasp hands and see a vision of the future. Barelas, 2206. The people of Barelas watch the sun rise over a sky as bright as their future. Learning from the past everyone has come to love, forgive and erase spite from their hearts.


Toccata Op.28 - 1988
Toccata was written in Vienna where it premiered at the Konzerthaus in 1989 by American Music Ensemble, cond. H. Earle. Toccata is built on one theme, a rhythmic cell of 6/8 + 7/8 of a Latin nature. A toccata is traditionally a technically demanding work for keyboard, rhythmic, brilliant and often driven by an ostinato motif. This form and concept is here transferred to a whole orchestra. The theme starts slowly, played in the highest register by the violins as eerie harmonic sounds. It slowly speeds up, becomes more rhythmic and obsessive driving the piece to a final climax and collapse.