RIO

for orchestra (2020, based on homonymous 2012 piano work)

Photo by Perú en Imágenes (Patricia Reyna)

Photo by Perú en Imágenes (Patricia Reyna)


Details


Duration:
7 minutes

Premiere:
October 17, 2022 by the Columbus Symphony Orchestra of Indiana
Winner of the Inaugural CSO Composition Competition.


About the work

"Río" is a programmatic piece. It tells the story of a river that is born in the heights of the Peruvian cordillera, going through different stages and eventually flowing out into the Pacific.

The following narrative text, written by the composer, describes the structure of the work in more poetic detail, and is presented here in the original Spanish with an English translation:

"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.