TOMÁS GUEGLIO (b.19??): Mil Panaderos for Solo Violin (Austin Wulliman), Apostillas a Mil Panaderos for Clarinet, Soprano Saxophone, Violin, Cello, Piano and Percussion (Ensemble 49), 1901: Un oiseau for 2 Bass Flutes (Mei Música para Flautas), After L’Addio/Felt for Solo Harp (Ben Melsky), Canción en Duermevela for Guitar Quartet (Nuntempe Ensemble).

Description: The Argentine-American composer is represented here by a collection of recent chamber works, exploring crystalline textures and unfamiliar timbres. Mil Panaderos and its companion piece, Apostillas a Mil Panaderos (marginal notes on Mil Panderos) sums up much of what the composer is about; Mil Panaderos is a bravura exercise in harmonics and different types of articulation, for solo violin, while Apostillas a Mil Panaderos is a transcription of the work for sextet, the instruments played more conventionally yet saturating the colors and filling in the etched lines of the violin piece and producing a subtle timbral counterpoint that the violin could only suggest. Un oiseau divides similar material (including vocal effects) between two bass flutes played in diverging rhythms, leading to a playful heterophonic texture. After L'Addio / Felt's two contrasting tableaux each explore a specific harp technique. The first movement focuses on the idea of glissandi, varying the pressure between hands and strings and by performing with knuckles, nails, fingertips, and palm, while the second movement focuses on the performance of harmonics. What is surprising in this technical tour de force is the dramatic scena that emerges, the first part vigorous and active, the second serene, resonant and glowing. The guitar quartet Canción en Duermevela (combining the words ‘asleep' and 'awake') is in four movements, connected through a kind of cantus firmus distributed between the players, harmonized in chromatic clusters, and accompanied by timbres produced by extended techniques and microtonal clashes.