La maison du temps

Federico Tarazona was born in Huaraz, Peru, in 1972. Guitarist and instrument maker in his free time, he is ranked as one of the world's finest Andean charango virtuosos, and is also considered one of the most important contemporary Peruvian young composers. La maison du temps was composed in 2000, yet not published until 2011. The best description I could offer for this would be "Villa-Lobos Etude No. 13," for it is very similar to the harder bits of the Twelve Etudes. There are two primary sections to the present work, a moody, dreamy arpeggio sequence and a more rhythmically robust scherzo, whose first phrase sounds for all the world like the first bit of "Waltzing Matilda" before quickly moving in a very different direction. Rapid scales and moving arpeggios dominate the scherzo, with a few harmonics and a segment of descending slurs just to round out the technical demands. The opening figure partially reprises, then bits of the scherzo reprise as well, before coming to a very quiet final repose. An intermediate level of technical skill would be necessary to make any musical sense of this, I should think.

David Norton (Soundboard Magazine)