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Cantabrigian Reflections / Reflexiones de Cambridge
· Commissioned and dedicated by maestros Carlos Prieto and Yo-Yo Ma. · Length: 5 minutes · Description: The title of the piece makes reference to Cambridge, a city that has played an important role in the lives of Yo-Yo Ma, Carlos Prieto and José Elizondo. In the words of the composer: « One of my sources of inspiration was my memories of the Charles River in Cambridge. The reflections of the trees and skyline are modified and "recreated" by the gentle waves, sometimes becoming a bit fuzzier but sometimes transforming themselves into something that can be even more fanciful and interesting than the original image. When one reflects upon things, our experience of memories can be a little bit like that too, since our memories don’t simply capture snapshots of reality, but rather of an interpretation of reality that has been modified, distorted or enhanced by our minds, according to our outlook and life experience. The conversation between the two cellos in this piece sometimes uses imitation to evoke the idea of images and their reflections. The melodic "images" are sometimes reflected accurately and sometimes modified or expanded. These musical motives and their reflections can be complementary, or their differences might propel each other in unexpected directions, but they always keep flowing gently, like a river. The cello melodies are sprinkled with longer high notes that are like the shimmering sun light caressing the surface of the water. Since this piece was written in 2020, I wanted to write a piece that is positive, warm and uplifting, like a gentle caress that compassionately embraces the listener in consolation of all people went through during 2020. It is a composition that gently invites us to have a moment of serene, optimistic reflection, but also gratitude for those shimmering moments that we still have in our lives. This piece is in the key of G (the note G is also known as “sol”, which means ”sun” in Spanish) so I clearly wanted to write something sunny and luminous. At the very heart of this piece, the “current” of this piece takes us to a place where we hear 8 measures from the Minuet in Bach’s monumental Cello Suite #1. It is meant as an homage to Bach, but also to maestros Prieto and Ma. The first time I heard the Bach suites (live or in a recording) was during a concert that maestro Prieto gave in Boston in the late 90s. That concert inspired me and changed my life. And of course, maestro Ma's recordings of Bach's Suites are iconic and have accompanied me and comforted my soul in many important moments of my life. Since this takes inspiration from a physical river, I also wanted to pay homage to the greatest “river” of all in Classical Music: J. S. Bach, (Bach means “brook” or “stream” in German). His music is an endless source of inspiration and awe. »
VERSION	SCORE AND PARTS	SAMPLE AUDIO	YOUTUBE VIDEO
2 Cellos	Score and parts will be available after the premiere TBD