Asturianas desde la distancia (1999)

Composed by commission of the City of Oviedo for the inauguration of the Auditorium “Principe Felipe” of this city in Northern Spain, this work has two purposes: to fulfill its commission as a celebratory piece for such important occasion, but also to celebrate Asturian culture. It is not a work of folkloric quality, but it does stem from this tradition. Among the themes used in the work we can find several popular melodies from the Cancionero de la música popular by musicologist Eduardo Martínez Torner, such as No le daba el sol, A la mar fui por naranjas y La mío morena vase pa Uvieu. But it is the treatment of these sources that provides the different quality and sound of the composition. The work is divided in two sections: the first one, very slow at first, evolves toward a molto vivace where the second section develops, full of motion and vitality in its entirety. Elements proper of the tradition of Asturian music, such as the drone of the bagpipe, the melisma performed in these instruments or other inflections and nuances proper of the vocal music from Asturias (tonada) provide the ambience of the first section. These elements develop fully in the second section with the addition of other rhythmic, melodic, and timbre elements.