Many of the musical ideas that later would become THROUGH THE PATH OF LIGHT came to life in the Spring of 2013, during the composition seminar coached by Dr.
Chen-Hui Jen at Florida International University. This work is my personal expression and interpretation of the road of one’s mind into enlightening and maturing. The beginning
measures illustrate a ray of light that rushes in through a door that has been just opened, and there on the road begins. As in day-to-day life, the music features steady rhythm in
many parts, with sudden and unannounced changes of overall mood that invade the steadiness of life, eventualities which occur in various moments of the journey.
Thanks to Kyle De Varona and Daniel Yellin, Percussion wizards who not only gave me the opportunity to brainstorm and work with them back in the Spring 2013, but also gave
me vital information in order to better harness the possibilities Percussion instruments have to offer.

THROUGH THE PATH OF LIGHT was premiered on March 31st, 2015 at Florida International University, conducted by Darwin Aquino and performed by Eric Benaim (piano),
Justin Swearinger (percussion), and Carlos García (Bassoon).

Through the Path of Light - Chamber Trio

In this piece I am exploring the idea of a single sound created out of more than one source of the same. When the Ember Winds Project approached me to compose the work, I knew right away that I would be interested in exploring this idea. The piece, then, is mostly a chamber piece between the two clarinetists and the electronic (which is the third wheel of the “tricycle”), and how those three forces can create a “super clarinet.” Tri-Cycle Bicycle is composed and dedicated to, with all my gratitude, for Heather O’Gara and Valerie Nuzzolo.

Tri-Cycle Bicycle - for 2 clarinets and electronics

PIEZAS PARA EL INGENIERO (“Short pieces for the Engineer”) is the musical recollection, interpretation, and tribute to four short anecdotes revolving around the life of the late Rafael Agustín De Moya (in Spanish, “El Ingeniero De Moya” – in English “Engineer De Moya”) and focuses on simple day-to-day life stories of him as a husband and head of his family. The short movements are monothematic, drawing from two rhythmic and melodic ideas, and using a variety of compositional methods to convey an interpretation to the stories, which are the topic of each piece.

I. SU MAJESTAD TIENE SU REINA (“His Majesty has His Queen!”)

This miniature serves as a conversation of the always-calm and collected Cello (El Ingeniero), the other, more dramatic Violins around him whom unsuccessfully demand his attention, and the Viola (“The Queen”, the only one), the only one whom is entitled to it.

II. LA QUINTA Y EL SUSTO (“La Quinta and the fright”)

Fear towards the unknown is the anedotal concept behind this short piece. How distorted from the actual thing would a person’s first impression towards a rhythm (and culture altogether) be? This piece features an ostinato line in triplets, a purposely-distorted version of the actual rhythms and lines that might be heard in Afro-Dominican religious music often performed in funeral processions in the Dominican Republic. “La Quinta” was the street where the Ingeniero lived in Barahona, Dominican Republic, where the short story that inspired this movement happened.

III. DE MADRUGADA (“In the wee hours”)

An interpretation of the sounds of the wee hours, sometimes quiet, and sometimes shocking is the main concept featured in this miniature. At the end of the movement, the Ingeniero greets his son, whom surprisingly was waiting for his father to get home from a workday that transcended into the next day.

IV. LA PARED (“The wall”)

The “wall of sound” created by the four instruments playing at the same time serves as a refuge to the Cello, which in the middle section speaks to itself in a solo. The Cello once more takes on the role of the Ingeniero on this final movement, being THE WALL a representation of the wall in the front of his house, behind the one he lived his final days in his home in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. This wall, rather than represent an imprisonment, was the one that served as the container for his save haven.

©2014, Emmanuel Berrido.

"Piezas para el Ingeniero" – for String Quartet

Performed by Craig Mehler, Cello
Ithaca College Composers Concert, Nov. 1, 2016
Ithaca, NY

Craig Mehler – E. Berrido – "Asterism" for Cello Solo (2015)

Kaitlyn Laprise - flute
Richard Laprise - alto saxophone

Premiere performance in Ithaca College on April 10th, 2017.

WONDERING, WANDERING is an impression of a casual conversation in between close ones. The instruments come out of each others lines, some times overlapping, some times interrupting each other, some times finishing each other’s sentences (or melodies). Sometimes there are awkward silences, and some other times the conversation flows just fine.

Not only have I chosen temporal space (left-right) to express this interaction, but also I chose vertical space —register— in order to create a tri-dimensional plane in which the flute and the saxophone come together. I am not very sure what the actual words of this interaction would be.

This piece is composed for and dedicated with all my gratitude to my Ithaca College friends Kaitlyn and Richard Laprise.

Ithaca, NY – March 2017

Cover picture by Lucca Baggio

"Wondering, Wandering" for flute and alto saxophone

Peter Sheppard Skaerved, violin
Performance in the Hockett Family Recital Hall at Ithaca College
Ithaca, NY – 04/19/2017

~~~

Miserere is the first word in Latin of Psalm 51, which could be translated to “Have mercy” or “Have pity.” I composed MISERERE for solo violin after a period in which I had not completed any music — if the reader could only imagine what it means for a creator not to have the time or energy to create!

When I sat down to write this quasi-rhapsodic work, I found myself reciting not the first word “Miserere” of this psalm, but rather the hopeful verse “Domine, labia mea aperies: et os meum anuntiabit laudem tuam” (O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall declare thy praise). Still unsure why this came to my mind when I started composing after 10 months: the only reason I can think of is that this is the invitation recited in the catholic liturgy (in which I was raised), at the beginning of the first rite in the morning. As I was to begin a new era in Ithaca, NY, and as I had sharpened my pencils and readied my papers to compose once again, I prayed for music to pour forth from my heart once more.

It is my hope, then, that both performer and listener can find in MISERERE a sonic landscape in which feelings of vulnerability and humility come forth. Most importantly, at the end of the work the ascending melody can be heard as an awakening back into life — I am creating once more. I am alive, and I am thankful.

MISERERE was composed for and dedicated to Peter Sheppard Skærved, with all my gratitude.

Ithaca, NY – November 2016

"Miserere" for solo violin (Live @ Ithaca College 04/19/2017)

Those who have performed my music or are close to me personally know that I am not, by any means, a “scientific” composer – there are better, smarter composers out there who can do this! That said, my interest was piqued when I read about the idea that emotions, as overwhelmingly and strongly as we feel them, last only 90 seconds: this means that when triggers occur, our  brains release chemicals that go through our phisiology, and these surges die out on their own after a minute and thirty seconds. Any emotion longer than that is perpetuated by our own (overthinking?) minds! Crazy! Credit to Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, who published her book A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey, and discussed this idea.

When I started to write “CONCENTRATION & RESET” it occurred to me that I could base the form of the work on this idea: musical “sections” of this piece are not exactly 90 seconds, but in the vicinity. Each “reset” is expressed by the performer playing a few notes inside the piano, and this is when the listener knows that the “emotion” is over. Melodic/harmonic ideas were inspired by the opening of Chopin’s Ballade no. 4 in F minor, one of my very favorite piano pieces — I suspect this happened because I wanted to relate this work to the tradition and the aesthetic elements I appreciate in works written for the piano.

CONCENTRATION & RESET was commissioned by the 2018 Valencia International Performance Academy & Festival, and composed with all my admiration for Anna D’Errico (www.annaderrico.com).

Emmanuel Berrido

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