HILDA PAREDES: Señales (mode 292)

Señales, “Homenaje a Jonathan Harvey” (2012) for violin & ensemble

Páramo de voces (2006) for piano & tape
Alberto Rosado, piano

Homenaje a Remedios Varo (1995-96) for mixed sextet
1. Ciencia inútil
2. Hilos del destino
3. Premonición
4. Arquitectura vegetal
5. Naturaleza muerta resucitando
ensemble recherche

Intermezzo malinconcio (2013) for bass clarinet solo
Adrián Sandi, bass clarinet

Recuerdos del Porvenir (2006) for mixed ensemble
ensemble recherche

Paredes’ third release on Mode Records features 3 chamber works separated by 2 solo works, written between 1995–2013 and performed by world class musicians.

Señales (Signals) was commissioned by The Miller Theater in New York for Irvine Arditti and Ensemble Signal, who recorded it here. Señales’ melodies and exuberant flourishes may involve quarter-tones and noise effects, especially on the wind instruments, are also part of the ceaseless flow of gestures, of señales. Steve Smith wrote of the premier in The New York Times: “From a lapping, splashing introduction, the music — played by a 10-member ensemble that included an ear-tickling mix of cimbalom, harp and marimba — rippled, surged and jolted ceaselessly around Mr. Arditti’s flashing exertions. Time stood still repeatedly during haunting interludes that paid homage to another composer, Jonathan Harvey.”

Páramo de voces (Voices of a wasteland), is a dialogue between piano and recorded sound, the latter extending the piano’s sonorities or providing invitations in the form of auras or images.

Intermezzo malinconico, for bass-clarinet, begins with percussive attacks in a low register, created by jamming the tongue between the lips while playing, and higher sustained notes that slip in intonation through quarter-tones. The percussive sounds become normal tones, their bouncing now expressed as rapid irregular repetition, then the poignant melancholic sounds open into melody and the piece ends at a whisper.

ensemble recherche perform 2 chamber works: Homenaje a Remedios Varo, scored for the instrumentation of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, and Recuerdos del Porvenir.

Liner notes by Paul Griffiths. Cover photos by the celebrated Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide.

All are first recordings.

NOTE: although this release is not yet on the Mode website, it is available now direct from Mode, the normal sources and as a download.