"El sueño de las flores" for clarinet and piano, by Leonora Arbiser - World premiere recording
- Gabriel Blasberg
- Oct 25
- 2 min read
VIDEO
VIDEO YOUTUBE
VIDEO
At the beginning of 2023, Argentine composer Leonora Arbiser contacted me with the proposal to perform a work of hers that she had just finished composing, which bears the suggestive title of "El sueño de las flores" ("The dream of flowers") for clarinet and piano. It's a series of three short pieces for clarinet and piano, each lasting around seven minutes. After reviewing and studying them a bit, I accepted the invitation to make a recording of the work at a later date.
I think that technically speaking, for the clarinet it is a rather complex music, requiring a lot of flexibility to successfully address the different challenges it poses: handling a wide register from the low to the very high, very soft nuances in different contexts, variety in timbral colors, complicated rhythms that include time signature changes, among other issues. To all this we must add the expressive and rhythmic ensemble with the piano, which represented an additional difficulty that was not at all simple. I found the music very engaging, mysterious, and full of resources that make it a truly enjoyable listen. As a clarinetist, it was a difficult test that I enjoyed and successfully completed. It's always exciting to perform the world premiere of a work... to be the first performers to introduce a piece of music.
After several rehearsals with the excellent pianist Tamara Benítez at the home of composer Leonora Arbiser (who helped us during the assembly process), we recorded "El sueño de las flores" on September 1, 2023 in recording studio 0.618 in the city of Buenos Aires. In the YouTube video above you can hear our performance of this beautiful work. Let's look at some of the composer's thoughts on her own piece: "EL SUEÑO DE LAS FLORES it's a three-movement suite for clarinet and piano that I composed in 2022. It's inspired by a poetic image that connects contemplation with the subtlety and depth of the dream world, in this case the dreams of flowers... As for its style or musical language, I would say it's somewhat melancholic, and I chose a sound material that responds to a defined color scheme.
I loved Gabriel and Tamara's performance; they knew how to capture the subtlety and delicacy of the dream of flowers..."
About the composer:
Leonora Arbiser is a composer, pianist and teacher born in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Institutional studies: Piano teaching degree at the Julián Aguirre Conservatory of Music in Lomas de Zamora, Buenos Aires Province. Bachelor's degree in Chamber Music from the National University of Lanús, Buenos Aires Province.
Private studies: Composition with Daniel Montes. Early music keyboard with Mónica Cosachov. Piano with Inés Gomez Carrillo and Klaus Cavjolsky, among others.
2013 National Secretariat of Culture Scholarship, as a chamber pianist at the 2013 Patagonia Seminar and Festival.
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