Homenaje a Remedios Varo
Commissioned by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble for their twentieth anniversary.
Premiered in January 1996 in Pittsburgh by The Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble conducted by David Stock.
Homenaje a Remedios Varo, written in 1995 for the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, is scored for the “Pierrot-plus” lineup of flute and clarinet, violin and cello, percussion, and piano – a grouping that provides potent sources of colour and texture for Paredes to respond to the fantastic imagery and rich-dark palette of the artist being celebrated. Remedios Varo (1908-63) was born in Spain, encountered surrealism in Paris, and in 1941 settled in Mexico City, where she created most of her mature work, including the five canvases – all viewable online – Paredes reinterprets as music.
– Paul Griffiths