7.-IMPROVISACIÓN: CIUDAD DE TONOS ENTEROS / 3NSAMBL3  (2:22)

3nsambl3

I began to study at Escuela Superior de Música del Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in 2002. In the course of 2007 Fernando Mariña invited me to be a part of a classical guitar duet that performed for the first time under the auspices of XXIX Foro Internacional de Música Nueva Manuel Enríquez at Manuel M. Ponce Hall in Palacio de Bellas Artes. Later in the year of 2008 we performed at X Encuentro Internacional de Guitarra of Centro Nacional de las Artes and in the cycle Música at MUNAL. That same year the duet performed its last concert at IV Festival de Fomento a la Lectura at Escuela Secundaria Técnica #33. The performances were few but very important and diverse, and all of them treated fortunately with the enthusiastic acceptance of the audiences. For me, such experience meant a great opportunity for learning.

                                                                                                                                Gabriela Alvarado                       January 18th, 2010

When I started as a professor at Academia de Guitarra of Escuela Superior de Música de Bellas Artes (October 2008) I had the pleasure of meeting maestro Fernando Mariña and Gabriela Alvarado (student from the same institution) who performed that same year at Encuentro Internacional de Guitarra as a guitar duet. Fernando effusively told me about his interest in the minimalism trend of electric guitar represented by Robert Fripp (guitarist and leader of the legendary King Crimson). So i promised him to compose a duet on that orientation. After a few days he gave me his consent for the piece and asked me if I would be interested in joining the chamber music work that he and Gabriela were developing and, at the same time, he proposed me to write more pieces but for a trio by the time being. From such anecdote emerged my incorporation to 3nsambl3 and the creation of ten musical pieces up to now which represent an approach to Robert Fripp's musical field, but for classical guitar. 

                                                                                                                 Guillermo González Phillips                                                                                                                                 January 17th, 2010

For me, the question was how to continue playing chamber music constantly after 6 years of performing with the García de León-Mariña Duet (1999-2005). The following first experience after that was a duet concert along with Víctor Pellegrini under the sponsorship of XXVIII Foro Internacional de Música Nueva Manuel Enríquez. Unbelievable and unforgettable, but impossible to establish ourselves as a duet. Later on there came the experiences commented by Gabriela some lines above. They were also excellent but, suddenly, I asked myself: why again a guitar duet? And at the same time I had the opportunity of meeting and becoming a friend of maestro Guillermo González Phillips. So 3nsambl3 made its first performance on Wednesday November 11th, 2009 at 222 Hall in Escuela Superior de Música del INBA, campus CNA. On that occasion we played 6 out of 10 pieces that Guillermo had composed and a trio by Ernesto García de León. What will become afterwards belongs to a history which is about to be written...

                                                                                                                                  Fernando Mariña                           January 19th, 2010

Since then, they have performed at Facultad de Estudios Superiores Acatlán, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM); at XXXV Festival Jazz Escuela Superior de Música 2010; and at Ciclo de Guitarra 2010 Carlos Chávez Hall, UNAM. It must be emphasized that improvising is one of the essential musical aspects in the work of 3nsambl3.                                                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                                           September 2nd, 2010

Guillermo González Phillips (Mexico, DF, Mexico; 1960), accomplishes his higher Guitar education with maestros Maricarmen Costero and Manuel López Ramos. Between 1976 and 1985; this last year he receives his college certificate. From 1978 up to 1991 he takes part in different chamber music groups: Movimiento Perpetuo (1978-1983), Cuarteto de Guitarras Manuel M. Ponce (1983-1986) and Trio A. Tansman (1987-1991). Along with such groups he performs in national and international tourneés. In 1983 he creates the composition and improvisation workshop Banda Elástica with whom he has released three lp's and six compact disks. Likewise he has achieved national and international tourneés on this project (Peru, 1989; Madrid, 1992; New York, 1994; and Norway, 2006). He has also composed music for dance, theater, short, and full length motion pictures. Under the backing of Ricardo Benet's Noticias Lejanas he was nominated for the Ariel in the category of best original music. He has also worked in an interdisciplinary manner along with Susana Frank (Theater: El Silencio de las Sirenas, 1988; Los amantes del Trapecio, 1997; La Cazuela y el Cucharón, 2000; and Penelopéa, 2005); as well with Ignacio López Tarso (El caballero de la triste figura, 2005; and Macario, 2007). In 2005 he was convened by John Zorn for the premier of Cobra in Mexico. He has developed an intense activity as a soloist in the whole of Mexico outstanding his participation several times at Festival Estatal de San Luis Potosí, Festival Internacional CNA 2003 and Festival Internacional de Guitarra Pachuca 2010.

FRIPPEANAS

When Fernando Mariña proposed me to compose a homage to the leader guitarist of the memorable band King Crimson i got enthusiastic, not so much responding to a fanatic impulse but for realizing that Robert Fripp is the minimalist musician who traced the way to develop such a language on the guitar, and brought forth from his tape recorder machine and delay system called by him Frippertronics. Such a device allowed him to hasten a minimal phase since it repeated cyclically what he was playing. In such a way, before I started the task, I knew that with the classical guitars it was possible to make phases obtaining therefore a more than attractive tone result. In short, the work done may be classified in three different types of pieces: a) those which practically are transcriptions or adaptations of R. Fripp's music (Frippeana III, based on the piece Discipline that is a part of King Crimson's CD thus named; b) those that derive from Fripp's ideas but are developed in my singular personal manner (Frippeana IV, based on an unfinished Fripp's experiment in which he tries to combine lines with different accents; Frippeana VII, based on the piece The Construction of Light from the CD of the very same name, but developed and concluded in a meaningfully different manner as in the original); and c) those compositions that are linked with our guitarist's minimalism, but without a theme connection with any of his pieces (the rest of the Frippeanas).

                                                                                                                 Guillermo González Phillips                      August 29th, 2010

Ignacio Martínez Madrigal (Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico; 1975), is a morelian composer and organist born in 1975. He studied with several professors in Mexico, Spain, and Brazil among which stand out: Emil Awad, Mario Lavista, Antón García Abril, and Antonio de Almeida Prado. He has composed and premiered several works since 1995 and has taken part in Festivals like Internacional de Música de Morelia; Órgano "Alfonso Vega Núñez"; Internacional de Música Contemporánea de Morelia; and Órgano de la Catedral. The Fondo Estatal para la Cultura y las Artes bestowed him a scholarship in 2000; in that same year he was awarded the "Andrés Segovia" Prize in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. He has also published articles for Pauta magazine and some other newspapers. Martínez Madrigal is currently Composition and Organ professor as well as on theory subjects at Conservatorio de las Rosas and Instituto Superior de Música Sacra in Morelia. He also performs as organist at San José Parish and maintains a scholarship in Sistema Estatal de Creadores. Several of his work pieces stand out like "Deyá" for solo guitar; "Canción de la muerte pequeña" for voice and orchestra; "Agua turbia", overture for string orchestra; "Dadá", for solo violin; "Homenaje a Pasolini", for soprano; "Colage", for ensemble; "Homenaje a Zappa", for solo guitar; and some others for solo organ.

SIETE VERSOS PARA TRES GUITARRAS

Is a musical piece divided in 7 very short movements whose expressivity lay on the little or lack of developing the ideas. The musical "gestures" are the thread in each piece, so being the "gesture" and its interpretation the essential purpose of this music. This composition reiterates the use of extra-musical and literary themes such as number or cabalistic matters and symbols close to them. From there comes forth the title of each piece. The score begins with a Miguel Angel Gutiérrez López's short text which fulfills the musical discourse although it is not necessarily inspired on the literary idea.

The triangle is the vivid image of happiness.                                                                                                            It is unbelievable the amount of thoughts and feelings that                                                                                can co-inhabit within three walls. Nevertheless,                                                                                                      nothing may be compared with the diversity of the straight line or of a twisted one.                                    Its simplicity hides a whole universe. Have you ever asked what lays behind the                                            horizon line or what secrets are hidden under the skin wrinkles?                                                                          A line may be a scratch, an imperfection, a hair in the soup; or the                                                                  linking of some lips, or two or three or more bodies as well. A line may be the reflection of                      light below the door that you always have desired to enter.                                             

SIETE VERSOS PARA TRES GUITARRAS was composed for this CD and dedicated to 3nsambl3.

                                                                                                                                    Ignacio Martínez Madriga  September 1st 2010

Jorge Sosa (Mexico, DF, Mexico; 1978), is currently Composition and Theory professor at Elmhurst College in Chicago. In 2008 he obtained his Doctor's degree as a musician at Missouri University in Kansas City. In 2005 he finished his mastership on Composition at Mannes College of Music in New York City and in 2002 he concluded his college studies on Composition at Centro de Investigación y Estudios de la Música CIEM, where he worked afterwards as Harmony on Keyboard and Piano professor. His chamber music has been performed in important stages of Mexico, The United States of America and Europe, including concerts in Paris, Dublin, Sophia, Barcelona, London, and New York. In 2006, his piece "The Fly" for choir was selected as one of the winners at the Chanticleer Student Composition Competition. His piece "Bounce" for solo saxophone was performed at Carnegie Hall, New York City, in 2007. His pieces "Ariel" and "Refractions" have been performed at various new music festivals, including, among them Foro Internacional de Música Nueva Manuel Enríquez, Electronic Music Midwest and New York Electronic Music Festival. In 2008, Jorge was selected as resident artist at the American Lyric Theater where he is undertaking operistic projects. His music can be listened at his web site: www.jorgesosa.com

CAJÓN

Was comisioned by the New York City Classical Guitar Society in 2004 and it has been performed several times in New York and Mexico. Its basis is afro-peruvian music. I had the fortune of visiting Peru and listening to its marvelous music, particularly songs belonging to the afro-peruvian tradition such as El Alcatraz and El Son de los Diablos. The cajon's sounds and rhythms inspired me to write CAJÓN. I was privileged by meeting and taking a class with Eusebio Sirio "Pititi", extraordinary Peruvian cajonero, who created Perú Negro and who also is an exceptional human being. I learned the basic rhythms of the cajón from Pititi, but mainly, I was impressed by his musical sensibility. For me, to listen CAJÓN means to recall Peru, my friends, and the unbelievable experience of strolling through Lima with Pititi, as well as visiting the peñas, drinking pisco, and exploring Barranco's streets. In CAJÓN the guitars work as percussion instruments, by imitating the typical rhythms of afro-peruvian music. As for my music, I try to fuse tradition and modernism, Latin American folk music, modern music, the classical style as well as the contemporary popular expressions. It seems to me that turning to the past, to examine it, may allow us to see the future more clearly.    

                                                                                                                            Jorge Sosa                    August 21st 2010 

Ernesto García de León (Jáltipan, Veracruz, Mexico; 1952) is the founder of Premio de Musicología Casa de las Américas in Havana, Cuba (1979), along with some other Latin American musicians. He has taken part at the principal national and international festivals as a performer as well as a composer. He has written more than 60 works and his music may be found in about 30 CD's. MICHAEL LORIMER EDITION publishes García de León's music in New York, U.S.A (Collected Works, Volume 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) (www.MichaelLorimer.com; www.ernestogarciadeleon.com). García de León has gained Reconnaissance and Homage in different national and international festivals from which they outstand "IX Concurso y Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Taxco" in Taxco, Guerrero, Mexico, 2006; "Latino Dance Music Festival" at "Texas Woman's University" in Texas, U.S.A., 2008; "Festival Pa'lo Escrito" at Escuela Nacional de Música, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2008; "Festival 21, New Works for Guitars" in Boston, U.S.A., 2009; "V Festival Internacional de Guitarra Ramón Noble" in Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico, 2010, among some others. Different cities of Veracruz State organized for him a Great Homage and the State Government conferred him a recognition as one of the most outstanding personalities of that State. Furthermore, since 1984, he is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in New York City and presently, a member of Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI).

SON Op.59

Was composed entrusted by the guitar trio "Eufonía"; it was originally intended for a festival in Italy. I started scheming it beginning February 2003; after a few days I was urgently taken to a hospital because I had a lung problem and had a surgery after 10 days of induced coma. Then, when I was in the recovering pavilion I remembered that I had to compose the entrusted work. Therefore, under the influence of very strong doses of morphine for the pain I composed the Son directly on a sheet of paper. At the moment I judged that it was as usual and I finished it before I left the hospital by the end of February. When I first listened to it at the premiere it sounded somehow queer but I decided not to make corrections at all, not any change but to appreciate the benefits and hallucinations of opium dreams. It encloses various poli-rhytmic sections with minimalist treatment and open invitations for improvisation; its harmony moves in a disonant context whithin a queer pandiatonic manner. It includes an introduction which is also used as a coda, this one slightly modified, and at the middle there is a son that reminds us, in between dreams and feverish delirium, of a traditional Son Jarocho.

                                                                                                                       Ernesto García de León                                            Mexico, D.F., August 27th. 2010