Tiento para un pensador

for guitar (2020)

About the work

To write Tiento para un pensador, I found inspiration in an experience that I had many years ago, when I was a student in Dusseldorf, Germany. I was spending time one night with my friend Rafael Aguirre, a virtuoso classical guitarist, as he was casually playing through some of his repertoire. He asked me if I thought that it was possible to play a Baroque fugue - one of the most complex of musical genres - on the guitar. Before I had time to think about the question, he started playing his own arrangement of a fugue by J.S. Bach, “talking” me through it as the fugue theme appeared in different registers and the counterpoint got more and more intricate.

The effectiveness and beauty of the contrapuntal sounds I experienced that night stayed with me. So in 2020, when I was invited to attend the Twisted Spruce Symposium and had a chance to compose my first piece for the guitar, I quickly decided that I would take up the challenge of writing my own fugue for the instrument. Looking to find a more specific context for the new work, I discovered the early Spanish genre of the tiento, essentially an early Hispanic form of the fugue. I came up with a melody which, I sensed, featured elements of that early style combined with a touch of Andean melancholy. As I composed, I strived to follow this basic affect throughout, letting the lines evolve organically as the piece seemed to engage in a long, continued search for its cultural and temporal identity.

Para un pensador means “for a thinker” in Spanish. It is my homage to the intellectual guitarist, to the reflective and discerning performer of intricate contrapuntal music.

I would like to extend special thanks to Nathan Fischer for producing the final edition of Tiento para un pensador.

Extras