DENNIS LLINÁS

I grew up performing the works of the great Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona on piano. His lyricism and rhythmic vitality always had a big influence on me and has made its way into my music. When Hiram approached me about composing a theme and variations style piece, I instantly wanted to arrange this melody – something well known to all Cubans. This work takes Lecuona’s wonderful melody and features the Euphonium taking it in different acrobatic directions. When performing this work, it is important to note that when the salsa kicks in at letter F, the style of the staccato and marcato accents should get shorter and more influenced by jazz articulations. Also be sure to play every note without an accent or marcato two dynamics softer than notes with those articulations to give them an almost “ghosted” sound.

The premise of the piece is a musician on Calle Ocho that is performing on the street with a rhythm section. As the piece progresses, other musicians decide to join along with the soloist and rhythm section to have some impromptu jam sessions. Therefore, the setup of the stage is VERY IMPORTANT and necessary for the piece to sell the vibe. There must be the musicians traveling to the additional quartet solo stands for their respective features and there should be a theatrical element to this. This shouldn't be anything silly but it should involve musicians acknowledging each other on stage, solo sections acknowledging the audience, and the conductor encouraging the audience to clap for these soloists.