WORK CATALOG
CHAMBER MUSIC
ACROSS THE SEAS TOWARDS THE MYSTICAL
FOR QUINTET OF REEDS
2021
A journey through the seas can actually be an internal journey, and encounter the mystical, the deepest form of introspection. In an invented world, a traveler seeks to find elusive magical creatures and when he finds them he knows himself.
This piece aims to comment on the mystical as a state of mind of self-knowledge.
This work was commissioned by Natalie Zemba for the Kalliope Reed Quintet.
Duration: 12 minutes
DREAM MACHINE
FOR HORN AND STRINGS
2019
This work explores the role of the horn as an element, sometimes integrated, sometimes contrasting, in an ensemble of strings. Musical discourse makes use of the "logic of dreams" where unconnected elements merge with each other in a flow of ideas. In the end, a nonsensical story is intended to feel complete and satisfying.
Work commissioned by Johanna Lundy for Borderlands Ensemble.
Recorded in the record production "the space in which to see" of the same ensemble.
Premiered by live stream at the concert “Concert at the Border: Place and Identity”, the result of a collaboration between the Fred Fox School of Music of the University of Arizona and UNAM-Tucson, 2021.
Duration: 9 minutes
MUSIC FOR MOOD
FOR SIXTH OF STRINGS
2018
This work was written as original music for the choreography "Anima" by Paula Rechtman, which was already finished and had been conceived on a different music. The compositional objective was, then, the creation of completely new music that perfectly respected the dramatic line of the original work. This piece explores the concept of duality in different manifestations: opposition, conflict, parallelism, counterpoint, crisis, unification.
Work commissioned by Paula Rechtman.
It has also been used for the solo "Lu'um" by Paula Rechtman.
Duration: 10 minutes
BAAL
FOR STRING QUARTET
2017
Through an exploration of modulation and repetitions as structural elements, this work proposes an encounter of one of the least understood deities of antiquity: the Canaanite god of thunder and storm Baal.
His words have come to us through cuneiform tablets:
"I have a word to say to you,
a message to tell you:
the word of the tree and the whisper of the stone,
the murmur from heaven to earth,
from the seas to the stars.
I know the lightning that the heavens do not know,
the word that people don't know,
and that the masses of the earth cannot understand.
Come, and I'll reveal it to you. "
Duration: 10 minutes
TIME MACHINE
FOR TRIO OF STRINGS
2017
This short work in three movements seeks, from a harmonic language of synthetic scales and a rhythmic approach based on irregular measures, to re-read classical forms, in particular the sonata form in its earliest manifestations. It is intended to pay homage to the first symphonies of Haydn and Mozart.
Work commissioned by the Versus ensemble.
Duration: 13 minutes
USMU
FOR TRIO OF BREATHING
2017
Inspired by a minor deity from ancient Mesopotamia, this work proposes a playful exchange between two apparently opposite languages: modal language and serial language.
Work commissioned by the Stereocluster assembly.
Premiered at the XXV FaM-UNAM Clarinet Festival, 2017.
Performed at the 7th National Meeting of Bassoon Ollin Yoliztli, 2018.
Duration: 10 minutes
ARANEA
FOR OBOE SOLO
2016
In this work a discourse is presented through the alternation between two ideas, on the one hand there is a serial and rhythmically fluid material, in front of which a modal and rhythmic material is presented. The title of the work refers to a spider that made its home in the flowers in front of my house when I was composing this piece.
Work commissioned by Jonathan Thompson.
Premiered at the Sala Xochipilli of FaM-UNAM, 2017.
Performed by live stream within the framework of the IDRS Festival (International Double Reed Society) from Granada, Spain, 2018.
Recorded on the album "Tollan: Mexican Works for Oboe", 2020.
Duration: 8 minutes
THREE JIGS
FOR FIFTH OF BREATHES
2014
This work is a chamber music approach to the tradition commonly known as Celtic music, that is, to the traditional music of Ireland, Scotland and other similar regions. Loa jigs are 6/8 dances and, as is often the case with instrumental music in this genre, they are usually grouped into sets of three or more called "sets."
The jigs that make up this work are "Pentatonic Jig", "The Man in the House" and "Ringing the Bell".
Duration: 10 minutes
WARM DARKNESS
FOR CLARINET ONLY
2014
This work is an exploration of the lyricism and narrative expressiveness of the clarinet performing as a fully melodic instrument in a variety of contexts. Harmonically, a discourse is proposed where serial sections are contrasted, with very rhythmic octatonic sections.
Work premiered by Pablo Ramírez in Las Muses de Papá Sibarita, 2014.
Duration: 8 minutes
WOODWIND QUINTET III
FOR FIFTH OF BREATHES
2013
This work aims to be a "small and congruent abstract story" made from the interpolation of very diverse harmonic materials, which aims to reflect the timbral diversity of the wind quintet. Serial, modal and cluster elements are incorporated in a search for narrative unity.
Work premiered by the Quinteto de Alientos from Mexico City at the XXXVI International Foro de Música Nueva Manuel Enríquez, 2014.
Duration: 10 minutes
HALLUCIGENIA
FOR VIOLA AND OBOE
2012
This short duet work takes its name from a small extinct animal from the Cambrian period, which had a tubular body with spines on one side and tentacles on the other. Scientists have found it difficult to understand the true orientation of the animal, leading some to believe that early reconstructions were backwards. Taking this strange symmetry as a reference, this work makes use of various "non-retrogradeable" patterns from rhythmic elements to structural elements.
Work commissioned by Gerardo Aponte.
Duration: 6 minutes
UNDER THE GREAT TREE OF MY BLOOD
FOR STRING QUARTET
2012
In this work for the first time my music focused on the exploration of the darkest parts of the human experience. Death, inconceivable by its very nature, is a concept on which we can never stop reflecting from our inexorable condition of being alive. The contradiction is curious: it is necessary to be alive to think about death. Octavio Paz's poem "Raíz del Hombre I" gives its name to this piece.
This work received First Mention in the National Composition Competition for String Quartet “Nuestra América” of the José White Quartet, 2012.
Premiered by the José White String Quartet at the Manuel Enríquez International New Music Forum, 2013.
Duration: 10 minutes
CERES
FOR CELLO AND PIANO
2011
This work, inspired by one of the lesser known celestial bodies in our solar system, seeks to portray the fascination for space through soft textures and modal and pentatonic colors.
Work dedicated and premiered by Gregory Daniels (Cello) and Mauricio Náder (Piano) in the Manuel M. Ponce Room of the Palacio de Bellas Artes, 2011.
Duration: 10 minutes
QUAOAR
FOR ASSEMBLY
2011
Using the name of one of the dwarf planets in our solar system seemed appropriate for this miniature camera. Composed almost like an improvisation, this work draws its discourse from ascending rhythms and progressions.
Work commissioned by Miguel Salmón del Real for the New Mexico Assembly.
Premiered at the concert "21 small pieces for the New Mexico Ensemble" at the Blas Galindo Auditorium of the National Center for the Arts within the context of the Contempo cycle of the same institution, 2010.
Performed in the Manuel M. Ponce Room of the Palacio de Bellas Artes, 2011.
Performed in the Auditorium of the José Vasconcelos Library.
Duration: 1 minute
EUROPE
FOR CLARINET AND STRING QUARTET
2010
This work, dedicated to the clarinetist Luis Humberto Ramos, is part of a cycle of chamber works inspired by the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter. It is believed that this celestial body must have an immense internal ocean of water in a liquid state where perhaps there may be life. This piece is proposed as a vehicle of the imagination to ponder what could be in this distant world.
Duration: 10 minutes
CALISTO
FOR CLARINET, FAGOT AND STRING QUARTET
2010
This work, dedicated to the bassoonist Wendy Holdaway, is part of a cycle of chamber works inspired by the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter. In this work, repetition and modulation are used as structural elements, while strongly rhythmic textures are used as sources of musical impetus.
Work premiered by Wendy Holdaway, Luis Humberto Ramos and the José White String Quartet at the Zacatecas Cultural Festival, 2011.
Duration: 15 minutes
Io
FOR FLUTE, CLARINET, VIOLIN, CHELO AND DOUBLE BASS
2009
This work, dedicated to the flutist Óscar Romano, is part of a cycle of chamber works inspired by the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter. It has two large sections: the first, rhythmic and built on the basis of octatonic sounds, represents the colors and volcanic activity of the Galilean moon closest to the planet, while the second, calm and atmospheric, symbolizes an observation of this celestial body. in the distance.
Work premiered by the Ensemble Signos at the XXXII Manuel Enríquez International New Music Forum, 2010.
Performed at the Morelia International Music Festival, 2010.
Duration: 10 minutes
FLOWER, RHYTHM, INSECT
FOR FIFTH OF BREATHES
2008
This work, dedicated to the Quintet of Breaths of Mexico City, elaborates its speech through rhythmic passages with changing metrics, soft sections with diatonic harmonies and a distribution of the musical materials in all the instruments of the quintet.
Work premiered at the XXXI International Forum of New Music Manuel Enríquez, 2009.
Duration: 8 minutes
ONEIRIC IMAGES
FOR FIFTH OF BREATHES
2006
This work seeks to connect with the public through strongly rhythmic modal ideas. The names of the two movements (I. The walking fish and II. The room of infinity) propose to the listener to visually link with the music through imagination and the relationship with dreams.
This work was premiered by the Permutaciones ensemble in the Silvestre Revueltas hall of the CC Ollin Yoliztli in the concert “Poética de lo indeterminado”, 2006.
Performed by the Quinteto de Alientos from Mexico City at the XXX International Foro de Música Nueva Manuel Enríquez, 2008; in Texas Tech University, 2013; at the Bassoon Meeting, Hermilio Novelo Room, 2014; Carnegie Mellon UInivesity, 2014; at the 43rd Annual National Flute Convention, Washington DC, 2015.
Performed by Ensamble Zephyrus at the International Cervantino Festival, 2019.
Performed by the Arizona Woodwind Quintet at Holsclaw Hall, The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music, Tucson, AZ; UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, Los Angeles, CA; General Consulate of Mexico in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA; Pasadena Conservatory, Pasadena, CA; Mt. San Antonio College, Walnut, CA; College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita, CA; Consulate of Mexico in Tucson, Tucson, AZ; Arizona Senior Academy, Tucson, AZ; Exo Roast Co., Tucson, AZ; St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Nogales, AZ, 2019.
Recorded for online video by Wild Prairie Winds in 2021.
Duration: 10 minutes
THE ORIGIN OF THE SNAKES
FOR FLUTE, CLARINET AND TRIO OF STRINGS
2005
This piece represents a debut in the art of academic composition, presenting for the first time ideas that were to remain for many years: rhythmic intensity, metric complexity, pentatonic colors, concern for the formal.
Work premiered by the Permutaciones ensemble in the amphitheater of the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, in the concert “De luz y sombra”, 2005.
Duration: 8 minutes