Piece begins on minute 32

SCORE

​

[English]

Tre’ Reloje’ (Three Clocks) was commissioned by Jorge Salgado, director of the FLUTUA flute orchestra of Aveiro, Portugal. Salgado requested a piece based in flamenco rhythms, and that asked the players to use their bodies as percussion (claps, stomps) in addition to their flute playing.

​

I titled the piece “Three Clocks” because the piece moves through three different flamenco Rhythms: Petenera, Seguiriya, and Soleá. Each is a Rhythmic mode within the famous flamenco “compás” which resembles a clock with 12 beats. The piece, then, could be understood as three different flamenco clocks and the transitions between them. 

​

In addition, the very last section is a Mexican Petenera. Being Mexican, I wanted to highlight the relationship between flamenco and Mexican folk music, so I added a type of epilogue which is an arrangement of the standard Mexican Petenera from the Son Huasteco folk genre. 

​

I could not have been able to write this piece and to gain a musical understanding of flamenco without the YouTube tutorials of Salva del Real and the “Compás Flamenco” videos of Gerhard Graf-Martinez, as well as Nahre Sol’s video on flamenco music. I thank them and I hope one day this piece reaches their ears. 

 

¡Olé!