Urban Birds, Op. 45 (2000)
for saxophone, cello, and piano

1.Traffic Circles
2.Solitary Wings
3.Birds at Carnival

This three-movement work is dedicated to the Urban Birds Trio. The first movement is built upon a rhythmic element, which I use to represent the agitated wings of a bird. The 
urban atmosphere is given by jazz harmonies. The second movement depicts a state of solitude of a bird at night. At some point during sleep it feels the nightmare of its everyday life. The third movement is a carnival feast, which finishes in solitude. The starting point for this piece was also the poem "Pássaros Urbanos" by Joeldo Holanda.
Performed by Griffin Campbell (alto sax), Dennis Parker (cello), and Jan Grimes (piano) on April 18th, 2000, during my masters recital at the LSU School of Music Recital Hall.

PÁSSAROS URBANOS
JOELDO HOLANDA

Sob o sol das cidades, observo
O debater de inverossímeis asas
A namorar o cimo dos sobrados
E a devotar seu canto pelas casas.

São pássaros do tempo, que floreiam
A lida inconsistente das calçadas
Pairando em tons de dúvidas e sombras
Sobre as certezas surdas das estátuas.

Os pássaros sem pouso são filósofos
Eivados de calor e poluição
Que não vêem mais folhas sobre os postes
Nem crêem que há mais frutos pelo chão.

São meio heróis, os pássaros do asfalto
Divagam em patética insistência.
Fazendo coro à frigidez da chuva,
Reverberando aladas consciências.

Os pássaros sem rumo dialogam
Com o insensato canto do seu mundo
Que ecoa, desmedido, em seus pilares
Unissonamente, a cada segundo.

São pássaros urbanos, que navegam
Na forte ventania do progresso
Dançando a valsa dos próprios destinos
Voando em brancas nuvens se repintam

No céu azul que ora amanhece.


2 UrbanBirds - Solitary Wings

Black Orpheus | Raw Version | Mini Saxophone Stainless Steel

Trails by a River, by Alfredo Barros, 2007. Filarmônica de Minas Gerais, Marcos Arakaki, conductor. June 2011

Trails by a River, for Large Orchestra

Pau-Brasil is inspired by the word “pau-brasil” in which I found associations between my native country, Brazil, and, the city where I am studying since 1998, Baton Rouge, in the United States of America. Pau-brasil is a redwood tree, which was very popular in Europe during the 16th century. When Brazil was “discovered” by Cabral and the Portuguese fleet in 1500, they found that this tree abounded in the new land, which was named Brasil, after this redwood tree. The abbreviation of Brazil is BR, so is the abbreviation of Baton Rouge. Also, baton rouge is a French word that means red stick or red wood. To complete the chain of coincidences the piece has been written for the Red Stick Quartet. In this three movement piece, I use quotations and stylistic impressions of both places such as jazz, samba, blues and choro.

title

Allegro

Allegro moderato

Three poems by Sarah Jewett, a New England poet, inspired this three-part work. The first movement, “At waking” uses octatonic scale to represent the day, a tranquil nocturne melody in French style to represent the night, and echoing fast notes to represent bells. These three subjects – the light (octatonic spectrum), the night (French melody) and the bells (echoing notes) – are in constant conflict throughout the entire movement. In the second movement, a wild “thirdless” rose – the first chord – opens its petals one by one in a romantic song. The light of the day (octatonic scale) permeates the movement. The last movement reveals the main story character – Calla, a variety of lily – and shows again the night, the light, the bells and the romantic song. Because “the silly little Calla could not rest until her best was shown” the music unfolds “In a hurry”.

NewEngland Impressions - 3 In a Hurry

NewEngland Impressions - 2 A Wild Rose

NewEngland Impressions -  1 At waking

As the title might suggest, the piece is joingly a tribute to Johann Sebastian Bach and Béla Bartók.  The first part of the composition is a prelude based on a non-serial twelve-tone theme, quartal harmonies, and quotations from Bartók’s Third String Quartet.  The second part is a fugue whose subject is the inverted form of the twelve-tone theme stated as the beginning of the prelude.  Gradually, the fugue becomes modal (Mixolydian) with harmonies based on common practice progressions. The piece is dedicated to Dinos Constantinides who gave the first performance conducting the Louisiana Sinfonietta.

BACHTÓK  Opus 37 (1999)

Skythought II

Sobre la tierra amarga
for voice and piano, Op.93 (2005)

The poem Sobre la tierra amarga was written by Antonio Machado (1875-1939) in 1907. This piece was commissioned by and dedicated to soprano Lisette Oropesa.

Skythought II

Lindenberg Munroe

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