Borderline (for orchestra and percussion ensemble)

1) BORDERLINE (for chamber orchestra and batucada ensemble) Scored for: FLUTE 1, OBOE 1, CLARINET 1 in Bb, CLARINET 2 in Bb, BASSOON 1, FRENCH HORN IN F, TRUMPET IN C, TROMBONE, SOLO HARP, SOLO PIANO, SOLO VIOLIN 1, SOLO VIOLIN 2, SOLO VIOLA, SOLO VIOLONCELLO, SOLO DOUBLE BASS PERCUSSION ( 7 players) Percussion I: Plays Tamborim 1; 2 Percussion Blocks Percussion II: Plays Tamborim 2; Repique; Cajón Peruano Percussion III: Plays Tamborim 3; Caja; Agogó; Repique Percussion IV: Plays Tamborim 4; Chócalo; 2 Double Shakers; Guiro Percussion V: Plays Surdo 3 & Three Timpani (tuned in D, A and A ) Percussion VI: Plays Surdo 2 Percussion VII: Plays Surdo 1 Duration: 15 Minutes Work commisioned by CDNM (Centro para la Documentacion Nacional de la Música) premiered on June 4, 2012 at the National Museum Reina Sofia in Madrid, and later performed at the ENSEMS (Festival of Contemporary Music of Valencia) on May 29th, 2013. "The CNDM has commissioned for this concert a work by composer Ricardo Llorca, whose language, influences and conviction, does not depart from the classical constructive rigor of J. S. Bach, but retains the melodic expression and communication of Aarvo Part and the sensuality of Bjork " Video demonstration: http: //www.ricardollorca.com/video-borderline.htm "BORDERLINE" by Ricardo Llorca Last year I visited several times the "Occupy Wall Street" crowd camped at the gates of my building in New York City, and I witnessed the first signs of a somewhat utopian rebellion that reminds us that in today's world you need a good dose of unreality to survive. I also saw protesters camping in Puerta del Sol on a short trip I took to Madrid. Today, after almost a year, half of the world's youth is demonstrating. What caught my attention, both in New York and the rest of the world, is that these public displays always start with a "batucada" group of boys and girls setting the frenetic pace of Brazilian music with their percussion instruments. When, in June 2011, the Spanish Ministry of Culture commissioned a new work from me I decided to take my inspiration from everything I had seen during those spring months in New York and in Madrid. So, when summer came, I moved to Barcelona and had the opportunity to work closely with a group of young enthusiasts that I had connected over the internet: "La Republik de L'Avern". After an initial meeting, organized through Facebook on a basketball court and attended by over forty boys with their drums and percussion instruments, I spent most of that summer parading with them and learning their style hitherto unknown to me: the "Bateria de Samba", music omnipresent in all demonstrations of outrage throughout the world. Back in New York City I tried to capture in score everything I had learned over the summer. In strictly musical terms, the basic structure of the "batucada" is divided into call-response between the "repique" and the "surdos", then the recovery phrase with the tambourines ending with a final coda. Throughout the rhythm-based interlayer there are also different "breaks" or cuts. In "Borderline" there are also elements of contemporary music, especially in its orchestral writing, although I tried to combine it with a standard structure of traditional "batucada". I also added two elements strange to the "batucada" but, in my point of view, also very attractive: the Peruvian Cajón and a Solo Harp.