(2020, Full Orchestra Version 2023)
Reverdecer, a word that I found in XVII century religious sermons contains, in its essence, two temporal possibilities. On one hand we have reverdecer as something that grows, and renews itself, and thus looks towards the future. On the other hand, we can find reverdecer as a construction of memories, a nostalgia, a remembrance of a past not necessarily chronological, but built by the individual imagination, personal impressions, and recollections.
The idea of organizing musical gestures and blocks in two simultaneous times, in which a past and future flow together, is at the center of this concerto. The voyage of the instrumental soloist, the cello, is made throughout these two coexistent times, in a temporal estate simultaneously positioned in a past and future. Through a distinct musical language – manifested by its microtonal material – the cello emerges and submerges from the orchestral fabric, with a distinct language than the one which surrounds it. Thus, the musical material is continually recreated, being reinvented through new orchestral palettes, colors, and timbral manifestations.
Originally written in 2019 for a reduced pandemic orchestra, Reverdecer suffered a major revision and reorchestration in 2023 for its world premiere. In its final version, the concerto is divided into three movements, played attaca. Formally, the work grows from the depth of the earth (as if a seed that emerges) – represented at the beginning of the work by the lowest pitches in the cello and the orchestra – until the infinite, through an ascending cyclical movement, from darkness towards the light.
Reverdecer, concerto for violoncello and orchestra, is dedicated to the memory of my parents. It is a voyage of emotions, memories, nostalgia and hope. A second dedicatory is for the extraordinary soloist Jay Campbell with friendship and admiration, for whom this work was written and with whom I have been working for the past six years.