Live performance:
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia
Paul Daniel, conductor
National Auditorium of Galicia,
Santiago de Compostela
October 17, 2013

Ewiges Licht II, In Memoriam Gustav Mahler (2011/13)

Home recording of the third movement of the suite "MusicScapes", commissioned by artist Katya Chilingiri for the photography series by the same name.
http://www.katyachilingiri.com

MusicScapes (2011): third movement, "Ballade"

Live recording of Penelope, on a poem by X.M. Diaz Castro, commissioned by the Galician Cultural Council for the 2014 Galician Literature Day

Penelope

Live recording of the 3rd movement of "Widows of the Living and of the Dead", concerto for Gaita and orchestra, commissioned by Cristina Pato with support from New Music USA.

Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, Cristina Pato, gaita, conducted by Andrew Grams

Watch on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL00AA0816C9DACAFC&v=5kJWJwT47gM

Widows of the Living and of the Dead, 3rd movement

Victor Pablo Perez conducts the ORCAM (Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid), National Auditorium of Spain, Madrid

Ewiges blaues Licht

Ewiges blaues Licht - In Memoriam Gustav Mahler

In alchemy, the raven, swan, and phoenix traditionally represent the three alchemical stages known as Nigredo (Blackness), Albedo (Whiteness) and Rubedo (Redness).  Widely understood as a process of personal transformation, nigredo brings images of death, the decomposition of personality through a chaotic, even reckless phase driven by desire.  Following the chaos or massa confusa of nigredo, albedo represents an after-death limbo, a spiritual cleansing which is sometimes referred to as ablutio—the washing away of impurities.  Rubedo symbolizes a rebirth out of nothingness, a state of presence or constant renewal, the culmination of the Magnum Opus, the Great Work.

“Alchemical Birds” was composed for and premiered by the Akropolis Reed Quintet as part of the 2018 I-Park Foundation Composers + Musicians Collaborative Residency. Their recording, on the Birds EP, was released in January 2021 and is available on all digital platforms:

Bandcamp: https://akropolisreedquintet.bandcamp.com/album/birds-ep
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/akropolis-reed-quintet/id596586583
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/artist/3zPn8QXZcncmGkkeuc5Ihw

Credits:
Recording, Editing, Mixing & Mastering: Dave Schall Acoustic
Birds EP Artwork: Jason M. Walker

Alchemical Birds (excerpts from all three movements)

Hailed by the press as “...a burning torch for the next century ..stunning ..superb” (The New Music Connoisseur, New York), “…melodicism and rhythmic buoyancy” (The New York Times), “…astonishingly virtuosic” (Soundboard Magazine), the music of Octavio Vazquez has been performed throughout the US, Europe, and Asia, and broadcast by radio and TV stations such as PBS, PRX, New York's WQXR, and Spanish, Russian and Chinese national networks. He has also collaborated with Grammy Award winner Cristina Pato as an arranger, orchestrator and producer. A winner of numerous national and international prizes, recent recognition includes I-Park Foundation and MacDowell Fellowships. Professor Vazquez teaches at Nazareth College School of Music in Rochester, NY, where he directs the composition program.

Composer Octavio Vazquez

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