Catdenza is a page for solo clarinet whose title aims to combine the two most characteristic factors that make it up: the virtuosic character of a cadenza, and the use of the two most famous musical themes that have the cat as the protagonist and, in the first case, to the clarinet: the one from Peter and the Wolf, by Prokofiev, and the one from the harpsichord sonata called Cat's Fugue by D. Scarlatti.
Cat's theme from Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev
Subject of the Cat's Fugue by D. Scarlatti
The first of them is always located in the low register, and the second in the upper register, the notes of both are systematically isolated and submitted to an elaborate ornamentation, so that this Catdenza conforms, in a certain way, to the formal pattern of a large ornamental variation of the two themes used in the piece.
Program of the premiere of Catdenza (Valencia, May 28, 2003)
Catdenza was composed in Mollina (Málaga) in April 2003, following a commission from the Valencian Institute of Music to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Ensems Contemporary Music Festival. The premiere took place on May 28, 2003 at the Talía Theater in Valencia, within the 25th edition of the Festival, being performed by clarinetist José Luis Estellés.
Clarinetist José Luis Estellés (Bétera -Valencia-, 1964)
The score, along with the other commissioned compositions, was published in 2004 by Editorial Piles.
Cover of the "Quadern Ensems" in which the score of Catdenza is included (2004)