Hilda Paredes (1957)

Recordare (2006)

for symphony orchestra

  • General information
    • Composition date: 2006
    • Duration: 15 mn
    • Publisher: University of York Music Press
    • Commission: Dirección General de Música de la UNAM

Premiere information

  • Date: December 2006
    Location:

    Mexique, Mexico, Sala Nezahuacoyotl


    Performers:

    l'Orchestre philharmonique de la UNAM, direction : Daniel Boico.

Program note

One of the most important aspects that I learnt from Mozart, was his economy of means. This is something that has been with me throughout my life as a composer and of course in this work.

Recordare was written in 2006 to be part of the celebrations to celebrate Mozart’s 250th birthday. Therefore the choice of the title, which also makes reference to the Recordare Jesu pie of the Requiem, in a seminal more than a thematic function. The opening notes F-E-Bb-A become also the starting point to elaborate the melodic material of my Recordare. This melodic cell of four notes appears frequently in its original transposition throughout the work and it mirrors itself to close the piece.

In a similar manner, I also make reference to the Quartet K465 to elaborate the harmonic material of the introduction. However, the work takes off in its own direction, to establish its own identity harmonically and structurally.

The contraposition of two ideas: the pizzicatos on the strings, which are interrupted constantly by the woodwind and percussion, establish the first section of the piece after the introduction. The fast sparkly material of the woodwind finally disintegrates into breath-like sounds in the wind and the tonloss of the strings as well as the col legno battuto, which serve as a transition into the next section.

The repeated scherzando like patterns of the woodwind lead onto the fanfare like material of the second section of the piece. The glissandis of the trombone in the fanfare becomes more independent and gradually establish the glissando as an idea in the strings as well, leading us into the third section, which opens with the original melodic cell of four notes on the cor anglais. The running figuration in this last section leads the piece to material previously heard on the very high woodwind in fortissimo, which then is mirrored in the lower register of the orchestra on pianisimos. This and the fanfare material make reference to my opera EL Palacio Imaginado.

The opening material of the introduction leads the work to a coda built mostly on harmonics on the strings as well as the breath-like material of the first transition in the work.

Hilda Paredes.