Caprichos núm. 7

A chamber concerto for clarinet and instrumental ensemble. Composed for and dedicated to Grup21; Peter Bacchus, artistic director.

“Caprichos” is a collection of compositions by Balada in the form of suites. Generally, each one consist of short movements with a soloist and a chamber orchestra or ensemble. In “Caprichos no.1”, melodies from Garcia Lorca’s folk songs are used. “Caprichos no.2” uses Latin-American dances. “Caprichos no.3” employs melodies from several European countries, which were sung by the International Brigade’s volunteers during the Spanish Civil War. “Caprichos no.4” uses ideas from jazz ideas in a free and modernistic manner. “Caprichos no.5-Homage to I. Albeniz”, is based on piano works by Albeniz. Generally speaking, in “Caprichos”, traditional ideas are mixed with contemporary and avant-garde devices. In “Caprichos no.7” the Andalusian melody “La Tarara” forms the base material of the four movements. It is a surrealistic work in which the materials evolve from the abstract into that folk melody, only to return to that abstract form. This to-and-fro movement occurs several times in eachmof the four parts, although generally in different ways. Technically, it is a going and coming from thematonal to the modal and vice versa. The work was composed in Barcelona and Pittsburgh during July and August 2009. Commissioned by the Generalitat de Catalunya [Government of Catalonia].