University of York Music Press

Paula Mlyn of A440Arts writes:

Hilda Paredes: Altazor. Guillermo Anzorena: baritone; Ensemble Aventure; Nicholas Reed: conductor [WER 74162].

London-based Mexican composer Hilda Paredes’s work not only establishes continuity between the past and the present but also builds bridges between the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica and European-American modernity. The complexity of her sound world is rooted in this dual cultural identity and reflects diverse influences from both worlds. Paredes also addresses the social conditions in her country, especially themes of migration and the search for a better life. Her work is also rich in references to literary and visual works by her contemporaries and to Mexican cultural history. The first work on this album, the monodrama Altazor for baritone, eight soloists, and electronics, is based on an epic poem published in Madrid in 1931 by Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro, the founder of the literary movement “creationismo,” a variant of surrealism. The musical language depicts a disintegration of consciousness; the language of the poem is fragmented by a broad range of instrumental and vocal techniques that are also subjected to live-electronic processes. Epitafio was written in response to a death in the composer’s family, and Siphonophorae, whose compositional idea and formal structure are borrowed from a fascinating phenomenon in the world of marine life, was inspired by a work of visual art.
 
Listen Here: https://streaming.prestomusic.com/album/9831139

You can find the full press release here