"Estudio de Marinera Norteña" is the first of the "Estudios Criollos" for solo clarinet.

Sheet music available at:
http://www.cayambismusicpress.com/cueto-estudios-criollos-p/cmp-1366.htm

Composed by Daniel Cueto.
Performed by Luis Vargas.

Watercolor by Pancho Fierro (1809-1879)

ESTUDIOS CRIOLLOS - I. Estudio De Marinera Norteña

"Prisma", for solo flute.

Composed and performed by Daniel Cueto.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Prisma” is strongly influenced by Andean popular music. It is based on pentatonic scales, and includes a lively middle section in the rhythm of a huayno – one of the oldest and most popular musical genres in the Americas.

The work is dedicated to my grandfather, Carlos Cueto Fernandini. The middle section begins with a brief quotation of the popular tune “Mambo de Machahuay”, one of his favorite Andean pieces.

Prisma is the Spanish word for prism, a device which can be used to disperse white light into the colors of the rainbow. 

“Prisma” is the clear light of a flute unfolding into a flourish of Andean color.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheet music available at: https://filarmonika.com/products/prisma-for-solo-flute
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PRISMA for solo flute

Suite for Three Alto Saxophones: IV.

Composed by Daniel Cueto.
Performed by Xavi Larsson, Débora Ñancupil and Steward Souppaya.

Sheet music available at: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/suite-for-three-alto-saxophones-digital-sheet-music/20058325

Image: textile of the Paracas Culture.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SUITE For 3 Alto Saxophones: IV.

Suite for Three Alto Saxophones: III.

Composed by Daniel Cueto.
Performed by Xavi Larsson, Débora Ñancupil and Steward Souppaya.

Sheet music available at: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/suite-for-three-alto-saxophones-digital-sheet-music/20058325

Image: textile of the Paracas Culture.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SUITE for 3 Alto Saxophones: III.

Suite for Three Alto Saxophones: II.

Composed by Daniel Cueto.
Performed by Xavi Larsson, Débora Ñancupil and Steward Souppaya.

Sheet music available at: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/suite-for-three-alto-saxophones-digital-sheet-music/20058325

Image: textile of the Paracas Culture.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SUITE for 3 Alto Saxophones: II.

Suite for Three Alto Saxophones: I.

Composed by Daniel Cueto.
Performed by Xavi Larsson, Débora Ñancupil and Steward Souppaya.

Sheet music available at: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/suite-for-three-alto-saxophones-digital-sheet-music/20058325

Image: textile of the Paracas Culture

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SUITE for 3 Alto Saxophones: I.

"Kipu"
Composed by Daniel Cueto.
Commissioned by the Forum Neuer Musik 2015.
Performed by the ensemble 20/21 (conductor: David Smeyers)
Recorded by Deutschlandfunk.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are many clues that point to an ancient communication between South America and China. The Chilean investigator Jaime Errázuriz, for example, gathered a list of 89 towns and cities in Peru whose names have a meaning in Chinese. In the same book, he states that Peru and China have, in total, 118 locations with the same name. Could this just be a coincidence?

The kipu is a system of recording information used in pre-hispanic  South America. It consists of several hanging threads that bear knots of different colors and sizes, placed at different heights and distances. The oldest known kipus were found at Caral (Peru), a site believed to be 5000 years old.

Alexander von Humboldt was one of the first to associate the Andean kipu with very similar devices found in China. Gustavo Vargas, in his book “Fusang: Chinos en América antes de Colón”, corroborates this claim and goes on to share their Chinese name: “qi pui”.

If these two peoples really did come into contact... what sort of relationship evolved between them? How did they view one another? What principles or ideas guided their exchange?

These are the questions that led me to write this piece. It is my own musical hypothesis; a "fantasy" on a long voyage leading to an encounter between two distant civilizations. 

Might a similar story lie hidden in a kipu we can´t yet read? Until scientists finally figure out how to decode the complex, colorful knots, their message will continue to be as abstract as music itself.

KIPU for chamber ensemble

"Surquillo" 
Piece in the style of a Peruvian "marinera norteña".
Version for brass ensemble.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheet music available at: 
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/surquillo-peruvian-marinera-for-brass-ensemble-digital-sheet-music/20361392
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Composed by Daniel Cueto.
Performed by The Latin Brass Ensemble. 
Recorded by Simon Schwaer.
Cologne, Germany, 2016

SURQUILLO - Peruvian "marinera" for brass ensemble

(for English, see below)
.
.
"Nuestras vidas son los ríos que van a dar en la mar, que es el morir"
(Jorge Manrique)

En la inmensidad de la cordillera,  nace un río.
Crece, profundiza, se pierde del flujo principal.
Recobra la dirección, recibe nuevos afluentes;
su cauce se amplía y enriquece.
Se precipita, se confunde y desemboca:
el océano es ahora la inmensidad.

Entre Cordillera y Océano, entre Sierra y Costa, mil puentes como éste,
uniendo a la eternidad consigo misma.
Compartiendo aquello que está más allá del principio y el fin;
Aquello que trasciende a toda la cultura.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Our lives are the rivers that flow out into the sea, which is death" (Jorge Manrique)

In the vastness of the cordillera,  a river is born.
It grows, deepens, diverts from its main course.
Restoring its direction, joined by new tributaries,
its waters are broadened and enriched.
It hastens, jumbles and flows out:
vastness is now the ocean.

Between Cordillera and Ocean, between Sierra and Coast,
a thousand bridges like this one,
connecting eternity with itself.
Sharing that which is beyond beginning and end;
that which transcends all culture

---------------------------------------------

Composed by Daniel Cueto.
Performed by Meri Tschabaschwili.
Recorded by Maxi Estudies (Cologne, Germany, 2017)
Photo by Patricia Reyna (@peruenimagenes)

Find the score at: http://imslp.org

RÍO for piano

The puma is one of the largest and strongest felines native to the Americas. It was a powerful symbol and the object of deep veneration for several ancient civilizations of South America, among them the Moche and the Inca.  In fact, Inca admiration for the feline was so profound that their capital city, Cusco, was built in the shape of a puma, with the Saksaywaman citadel at its head, the Koricancha temple at its genitals, and a street named Pumakurku ("puma spine") along its back.

It´s quite possible to imagine why this animal deserved such extraordinary reverence. It posesses a beautiful build and great strength; its amazing speed and precision of movement make it a flawless hunter. It is also a solitary animal, which is interesting from an emotional and/or literary perspective, and makes it all the more enigmatic as a character.

I found this combination of qualities - great strength, stunning skill and a predilection for solitude - quite intriguing. Guided by these aspects, and inspired by Moche and Inca depictions of the animal, I started to explore the ritual figure of the puma through music.  This work was the result.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheet music available at: 
http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/puma-for-wind-quintet-digital-sheet-music/20129238

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PUMA for wind quintet.
Composed by Daniel Cueto.
Performed by Confluentes Ensemble.
Recorded by Jannis Lehnert (2017).
Image: Detail of Moche pottery.

PUMA for wind quintet

www.danielcueto.com

Composer from Lima, Peru

Daniel Cueto | Composer

Popular tracks