Concert Band, Wind Orchestra, Solo with Band Grade 3-4

Written in 2012 to be interpreted in the 34th Band Contest of the Comunidad Valenciana, Spain, as a piece of work of obligatory interpretation. The work is divided into three distinct parts. The first introduces itself in an almost surprising way and with a certain air of “intrigue”. After a section where part of the main theme of the work is exposed, a second part comes much more expressive and emotion. The final part comes by returning the materials previously exposed to finish energetically and very vibrant.

On November 13th 1985 the town of Armero, in Colombia, was literally swept away. It was bombarded by an avalanche of mud and stones set off by the melting of glaciers caused by the soon-to-erupt Volcano Nevado del Ruiz. This composition is dedicated to then 13 year old, Omaira Sanchez, one of the more than 23,000 victims of this disaster. The version for bass trombón was released in April of 2013 by the Banda Municipal de Castellón under the direction of José Vte. Ramón Segarra and Javier Colomer (Bass trombone solo). The version for tenor trombone was released in December 2013 by the Banda Municipal de Pinto under the direction of Jose Antonio Blasco and Ximo Vicedo (solo tenor trombone – ORTVE).

This is the version for wind orchestra and euphonium. The new revised version for soloist and band euphonium was premiered on January 19, 2019 by the prestigious soloist Steven Mead along with the Belgian band Maasmechelen ConcertBand and maestro Mark Prills. Also, it is included in the latest CD of the prestigious English musician ‘PULSE’, with the ‘Royal Band of the Belgian Air Force, Conductor: Matty Cilissen.

On November 13th 1985 the town of Armero, in Colombia, was literally swept away. It was bombarded by an avalanche of mud and stones set off by the melting of glaciers caused by the soon-to-erupt Volcano Nevado del Ruiz. This composition is dedicated to then 13 year old, Omaira Sanchez, one of the more than 23,000 victims of this disaster. The version for bass trombón was released in April of 2013 by the Banda Municipal de Castellón under the direction of José Vte. Ramón Segarra and Javier Colomer (Bass trombone solo). The version for tenor trombone was released in December 2013 by the Banda Municipal de Pinto under the direction of Jose Antonio Blasco and Ximo Vicedo (solo tenor trombone – ORTVE).

This is the version for wind orchestra and euphonium. The new revised version for soloist and band euphonium was premiered on January 19, 2019 by the prestigious soloist Steven Mead along with the Belgian band Maasmechelen ConcertBand and maestro Mark Prills. Also, it is included in the latest CD of the prestigious English musician ‘PULSE’, with the ‘Royal Band of the Belgian Air Force, Conductor: Matty Cilissen.

Iuventûs is an overture for band written in 2002 and is dedicated to the Youth Band of the ‘La Tropical de Benigánim Musical Society’ (Valencia-Spain). It is a very varied timbre and rhythmic piece with the intention of reflecting the freshness, intensity and uncontrolled happiness of that time that we have all lived: youth. The work is full of small individual interventions for a wide variety of instruments, ranging from the most serious to the most acute.

The symphoic suite for band ‘Subiaco’  is based on a trip that the author makes to Italy in the summer of 2003 and where he resides for a few days in a small city, Subiaco 63 km from Rome, where more than a century ago was the Birthplace of great painters and artists from all over Europe. Among them was Vicente March, an illustrious Valencian painter who lived there about 16 years and to whom the author dedicates this work.

The work is divided into four clearly differentiated movements, although the first is interlaced with the second, and the third with the fourth: The Streets of Subiaco, L’Aqcua dell’Aniene, Subiaco Pictoresco and Nerone (Final).

Musical story for narrator and band written in 2002. ‘Vida’ is a work in which the thread is the story of a Spanish girl, Maria, who lives bitter since her older brother, Carlos, had an accident that left him disabled . Thus the child tries to find the “spirit of life” to grant him a wish: the happiness of his brother. During the story, Maria encounters a spirit of which she becomes a close friend, and who believed that she had come to her to grant her wish, but it was not so. Arnas, his friend the “spirit,” had come to her to make her realize that life, in spite of all the catastrophes that may happen to us, must go on, with or without wheelchairs.

Written in 2004, ‘Com a remor a l’orella’ (As a whisper to the ear), it is dedicated to Arnau Pascual Navajas, son of the composer and conductor José Rafael Pascual-Vilaplana, friend of the author. It was premiered by the Societat Musical “La Nova de Xàtiva” in March 2007, under the direction of José Rafael Pascual-Vilaplana. It is a short piece with free form where the tenderness and freshness of childhood is allowed to glimpse among his notes. After a brief introduction, the first part of the work is characterized by the warm cello, which gives off a tender melody in the form of a lullaby. Song that could be sung by a mother to her son, song that would arrive at the baby “as a whisper to the ear”.

The Symphonic Poem ‘ETNA’, is based on a legend that over the centuries has lasted between Greco-Roman mythology. It is considered that the legend is attributed to the mythical personage Hephaestus, Greek god of the fire, smith of the gods. This, like almost every Greek god, Hephaestus has its equivalent Roman god: Vulcan. That is why in Roman civilization also venerated the figure of the fire god but for them called Vulcan, of which has always maintained the same legend as on his Greek counterpart Hephaestus. It was premiered by Sociedad Musical “La Tropical” of Benigànim, Spain, on December 1999.