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With the performers, the Master's programme organizers, and the composers,
after the concert by the Modus Novus Ensemble conducted by Santiago Serrate
(Madrid, Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, November 28, 2025)
Dedicatoria / Dedication
For Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello and PianoCommentary
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Commentary
Dedicatoria was written in response to a commission from the Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR) to conclude the Laureates' Concert of the Master's Degree in Composition for the 2024–2025 academic year, of whose graduating class I was appointed godfather.
The concert, performed by the ensemble Modus Novus under the direction of Santiago Serrate, took place in the Auditorium of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando on 28 November 2025. It was to consist of twelve very short works, composed by the twelve students of the programme. Given the fascination exerted by the number 12 on a composer born in 1952 (the year of the premiere of Structures Ia by Pierre Boulez), I was attracted from the outset by the idea of relating the work in some way to serialism, albeit in a completely non-orthodox manner —indeed, quite the opposite.
Furthermore, since the instrumental forces had to conform to what has come to be known as the "Pierrot ensemble", after the instruments used by Schoenberg in his Pierrot Lunaire, op. 21 (1912) —flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano—, I was amused by the idea of taking one of the movements of that work —No. 18, entitled "Der Mondfleck"— as a point of departure, extracting from it a series made up of the first twelve distinct pitches of the vocal part. In this way I obtained the following series:
| D♯ - E – F – A – D – C♯ - B♭ – F♯ - C – A♭ – G – B |
With this starting point, Dedicatoria consists of a succession of twelve brief sections, in each of which one of the pitches of the series is deliberately omitted, always following the order established by the series, and ending each section (or beginning the next) with the omitted note, which is always given dynamic prominence.
Dedicatoria was composed in Madrid in June 2025. Each of the twelve sections is dedicated to one of my goddaughters or godsons from the UNIR Master's Degree in Composition.
First page of Dedicatoria
Videos
Video of the Laureates' Works Concert of the UNIR Master's Degree in Composition, performed by the Modus Novus Ensemble conducted by Santiago Serrate.
Madrid, Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, November 28, 2025.
| I. Presentation of the work |
| II. Preliminary clarification and performance |