Cien Noches Cerradas - Tres piezas

Each of these three pieces is a typical dance from Buenos Aires: Vals, Tango and Milonga. Although these dances are popular music, they are a consequence of the heritage of the European classical tradition.

It was inevitable that the music I listen to or like to play made its way into my compositional process. In this case, the rhythms of my native region of Rio de la Plata are deliberately blended with Johann Sebastian Bach and Gustav Mahler. Even though there are no explicit quotations (except for Carlos Gardel’s “Sus ojos se cerraron” III. bars 24-25, and bar 214 of Bach’s Ciaccona BWV1004 III. bar 41) various elements reminiscent of their music can be found in this work.

These three pieces begin with the same simple motif (b-c-d), over a chromatic bass line that zigzags from tonic to dominant: stability over instability. Part B of I and III begins with the retrograde (d-c-b) above a palindromic bass line.

At the same time, the melodic motifs function as characters in a story that develops throughout the three pieces, intertwining to create a narrative through music.