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Brief notes:

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Commissioned by Rianxo Music School Wind Orchestra. First performance was given by Rianxo Music School Wind Orchestra, conducted by Rafael Collazo at Rianxo Municipal Auditorium, Spain, May 1, 2014. Is affectionately dedicated to Ismael Iglesias.

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Prost! is a concert pasodoble (double-step) written for wind orchestra. The origin of this passionate form of music is disputed, although shares characteristics with the march form. The facts known about it – due to physical historical evidence – are that it was being written as early as the 18th century, since Spain has pasodoble scores dating back to 1780; that it was incorporated into comedies and adopted as a regulatory step for the Spanish infantry; do not being introduced into bullfights until the 19th century. Its most common structure is adjusted to the march form, that is: (Introduction) – AA – BB – (Bridge) – Trio – Bridge – Trio – (Coda). The sections between brackets are flexibles and sometimes the AA is repeated before the first trio (completing a ternary form).

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Prost! (cheers!) is a German word that describes the act of toast when drinking alcohol. It is also my second published pasodoble, preceded by Enrique López (2012) and continued by BUMM (2016), completing in this way my humble contribution to this fascinating musical genre. There are some innovations with respect to its predecessor, evolution-like, which spanning both structure and harmony. The original march form is here modified as follow: Introduction – Bridge – Trio – 'BB' – Bridge – Trio. As shown, the AA and BB sections are omitted, going (jumping) directly from the introduction to the trio section. The introduction is a brief ternary form (A – B – A), which helps to organizing the thematic materials in what is on its own, a deliberately 'eccentric' configuration. The trio section is a symbiosis (or fusion) between the pasodoble and the ragtime genres, apparently unrelated to each other, but with interesting points of convergence once intertwined. It is noteworthy the use of a saxophone quartet (two altos, one tenor and one baritone) as counterpoint of the trio section, which is harmonized in block chord style. The block chord style is a chord or voicing built directly below the melody in order to create a four-part harmonized melody line in "locked-hands" rhythmic unison, as opposed to broken chords. There are lots of different arrangement techniques for resolve the block chord style, the one used here is called "drop 2 voicings". The 'BB' section is entirely built over the 'Moorish march' style, which is itself a kind of mutation of the pasodoble, but adding sonorities taken from the oriental mode (fifth mode of the double-harmonic major scale). A broken ending gives the sensation of be in front of a fresh, but somewhat 'eccentric' pasodoble.

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                download it in PDF: Español - English.

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