Just the delicate sound of a small number of musicians and the freedom to be creative.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Dançando e tropeçando.

A short piece for violin and viola duet.

Download Pdf score: Dançando e Tropeçando

This is the first part of a 3 movement suite. The title could be roughly translated as “Dancing and Stumbling”.

I wanted to create a piece with exiting rhythms and limited thematic material that could be used to provide tensions in polimodality while preserving a somewhat limited macroharmony and easily perceivable pitch center.

In each section different modes are used in parallel with more or less notes in common. The limited number of voices creates a certain freedom of interpretation. I avoided extreme modal contrasts, my aim was to create a texture that sounds somehow familiar, yet interesting. I went experimented with parallel modes that would share the grounding tones, while passing notes could vary in amounts of dissimilarities and dissonance. Thus the tonic and the fifth of each mode split among the 2 players usually remain stable while all other notes may present different degrees of tension. That sense of ground permits a clear independenceof the voices, even when both are playing in isorhythm.

Preference was given to modes that are somehow less common in Western music, such as Phrygian, Phrygian-major, Lydian-minor, Lydian-b9, Phrygian-Lydian (1, b2, b3, #4, 5, 6, 7). Each voice tends to be perceived as an independent force that pulls in different directions, sometimes complementing, sometimes stretching the distance between parts, but finally meeting in a common ground. The rhythms are derived from a Brazilian folk dance called Afoxé.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Escher – featuring the Malagueta Trio

The theme Escher was based on an arbitrary rhythm, built on the prime number 13. It was originally to portray NY and a character from Tamanduá, the opera. The challenge with the trio was to play it like it was a folk beat from the back-lands of Brazil.

Pdf score: Packing Escher for Cello

_______________________________________________________________________________

Choro n.1

for bassoon solo.

Featuring Daniel Smith on bassoon.

Download Pdf score: Choro n1 para bassoon solo

This solo piece is part of a set of compositions for solo instruments, in attempt at subverting the tonal expectation by creating a harmonic discourse that is packed with misguiding tonal pointers, throughout the solo the arpeggio of poly-harmonies interchanged horizontally, so the actual poly-chords would be perceived as prolongations of the previous sounding pitches, as they would be active harmonically until the next rhythmically delineated phrase. The ambivalence is that due to the space provided by the solo texture, the piece may be configured harmonically in different ways, depending on the choice of “pitch holder” made by the mind. One may insert different opposing tonalities to the same phrase, yet preserving the overall harmonic functionality of each segment of each sentence. Much may be inferred by the mind, even some sort of personal accompaniment, and that could vary greatly, depending on all sorts of personal preferences of the listener.

_______________________________________________________________________________

A Prelude do Tamanduá

Cello: Micha Haran
Piano Xheni Roji
Percussion: João MacDowell

Download Pdf score: 00 Prelude to Tamandua

_______________________________________________________________________________

Death Transition

Piano: Dmitri Korneev
Violoncello: Daniel Mumm
Percussion: Peter Abazia, John Carega, Raymond Carega

 

Download pdf score: 27 Death Transition – Chamber Ensemble

_________________________________________________________________________________

If you like these recordings, you might want to check the Malagueta Trio.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Also available:

I have scores for the following ensembles, just drop a message and I’ll email it. If you decide to play any of these, please send me a recording!

• String Quartet
• String Octet
• Violin and viola, duet.
• Cello and oboe, duet.
• Wind Octet (Stravinsky gewidmet)
• Mixed Trio (Counter-bass, bassoon, marimba)
• Piano solo
• Mixed Ensemble (string quintet, flute, clarinet, oboe, guitar, mandolin, 2 percussions)
• Art songs (piano and voice)
• Mixed Percussion Ensemble (3 players)
• 4 Kettle Drums – solo

______________________________________________________________________________

Making music has been quite a journey and it has taken me in many directions. I am very thankful to life for having granted me this chance.

I feel that I am just beginning to return what I have received.

Please leave a comment, so I know what you like best.