Paredes: Altazor

In addition to tradition and contemporary life in her Mexican homeland, the work of Hilda Paredes, a composer who has lived in London for many years, is rich in references to the literary and visual works of her contemporaries and the cultural history of her home country. This is also the case with the first of the works collected on this album, the monodrama "Altazor" for baritone, eight instrumentalists in a soloistic setting, and electronics, which is based on the epic by Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro, the founder of "Creationismo". The disintegration of consciousness and language depicted in the poem fragments is carried out by the musical semantics through the use of a wide range of instrumental and vocal treatments.

Two further facets of her work are presented in the two ensemble pieces: "Epitafio", which was created in a family context, and "Siphonophorae", which derives its compositional idea and formal design – through the mediation of a work of visual art – from a fascinating phenomenon in the field of marine life.

Paredes deliberately ignores any separation between the musical cultures of the northern and southern hemispheres, the Old and the New World, and repeatedly builds a bridge between the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica and European-American modernism. The complexity of her sound world is rooted in this dual cultural belonging and draws on the diverse inspirations of both worlds.