Discography
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Earth SinfoniaSamples are full length CD quality YouTube clips.
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 Guanaco Samba
Prelude to the Rhine
Earth Sinfonia (Cover)
Dario's Lament
Paradise Juergas
A Woodland Wedding
Call of Valhalla
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The bulk of this CD was written, or orchestrated shall I say, between July and October of 2009. Guanaco Samba was released as a single during the fall of 2008, followed by Call of Valhalla during early 2009. The remaining five themes are orchestrations from selections of Estival - the ones that could lend themselves to Latin percussion animation, orchestral interplay, contemporary rhythm section, plus electric and acoustic-electric guitars. The title, apart from making reference to the baroque practice of the fast-slow-fast movement sequence, has a story of its own:
It was spring of 2008. I was already in full-steam, tired but enthusiastic, recording vocal music. It was sung by myself, and I had the songs showcased on my website while I looked for singers to record the actual vocal melody. By this, any interested singer would know what these songs sounded like, learn them faster and consequently, make the recording an easier task that would imminently bring the composition to full flower. At first, I thought the telephone would ring around the clock with singers eager to record my songs. But time went on and no one called. It could have been many reasons: time to scramble, artistic eclecticism, the challenge of singing in Spanish and English, or simply just who I am and what I look like. It could have been many factors combined, but the fact was that the search for these artists was long, tiring, and to no avail. Time kept passing, the studio meter was running, and the wait was making me feel lost in a sad loneliness that was already taking its toll on my overall health. Even if all the love in the world was on my side, no one was to walk with me through the inferno ahead.
The output was slow and spotted. I wanted for the writing to pick up, but it was already a heavy load considering I had been left badly bruised and with a broken wing in the wake of a dark, yet whimsical episode of endless weekly performances promoting Gardens of Guadalupe. These were marred with unforgiving, grueling hours at improbable Latin bars, run by morally-flexible owners and a staff with plenty of "sand". But here, party favors abounded and the women were beautiful, single and ready to mingle. This was my odyssey: in my best intention to promote Gardens, I put the noose around my neck by agreeing to direct a motley crew of loose cannons, handpicked by the owner, to play along with "Raulito" the sequencer. Bad move. We were the living-flesh image of a Pancho Villa firing squad (fronted by the owner, Pancho Villa himself) and keeping a tune together, let alone the whole show, was the same as successfully landing a WWII B-17 bomber after quaffing back a bottle of bourbon (which was more or less the only way anyone could brave playing at this gig). So by the time the search for singers reached its limits, my mind, body and soul were already spiraling down a dark abyss where at the very bottom was the gateway to a parallel universe still awaiting genesis. The week became a long broken up Tuesday. Eventually, something had to give. An icy, grey and mournful spring, which made people reclusive and the streets desolate and whose only dwellers were the sad derelict survivors of another sinister winter, was the perfect setting for the final crash: pneumonia. As I lay in the emergency unit of the Foothills Hospital waiting for assistance, I begged God for a second chance: "My man, please, I have so much music to write!". The wait was heartbreaking and painfully eternal. I must have been in limbo, or purgatory (depends on how you feel about me), for almost a week when I finally started to realize that the prayer had worked. I took a good look at myself and slowed things right down. I stopped the search for these dream-like voices that never descended from heaven and concentrated on soul-searching, on my friends and on my teaching while my health recovered.
Summer in beautiful Alberta came along with birds, bees, and music in the air. It was during a weekend at an outdoor event when some CD buyers asked me if I had a more recent recording of instrumental music (Morning in Eden was already a 5 year-old CD). While tuning my guitar for the next number I replied in a cordial and non-descriptive commercial tone: "It's coming". As the buyers walked away with their CDs of alternative choice, an epiphany happened. It was the sensation of having a barrelful of light poured over me, that paralyzed me in stupefaction and made me realize this was actually the answer to a plea I had mistakingly considered already given: "Hombre, this is my second chance!". I smiled, took a deep breath and called at the CD purchasers with the growly shout of a voice once scarred by pneumonia: "It will be ready next month!" (yeah, right). That afternoon I went home, put my gear away, popped the cork of a Spanish blush wine and enjoyed the rest of my day. So in the end, with the economy in the dumpster, work going slow, with some cash in my pocket and with a little help from friends (you guys know who you are!), I finally sat down to write, safely thinking: "This CD is already history". Two cool thoughts keep spinning endlessly in my mind: I can only be immensely thankful for all the music that despite pain, sadness and hardship, brings us together to celebrate the gift of life, and that, as an immigrant on many levels (I guess if you look at it from a certain point of view, we all are), I will be eternally grateful for the opportunity of having been granted an extension of my work visa on this small and beautiful planet.