About the Music

We thank the composer for sharing this note about her Nastrajenje (2015) for three bass clarinets and piano:

"Nastrajenje" is a Russian word that means a humorous mood. The piece starts with a light "Bossa Nova", where the 3 bass clarinets want to "joke" and make a "conversation". As the word "Nastrajenje" suggests, those are different moods that are necessary to emphasize, as well as the rhythmic contrast between the piano and the clarinets.

The Allegro 116 is fast, the winds have to try to make the parallel scales very equal and clear, are 8 sixteenths in counterpoint with the quarter triplets on the piano. The Moderato 100 is almost a preparation for the waltz Andante 92, which is a little slow but very Cantabile. Exaggerate the dynamics on the entire piece because sometimes 3 bass clarinets can sound louder than the piano.

Piano score: 15 pages, spiral bound; parts: 3 pages each, booklet. Extended-range instruments NOT required.

Click here to listen to an excerpt of the piece on the composer's website.

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About the Composer

Mónica Cárdenas – composer and pianist

Years of working on stage, as a composer; both solo-piano and chamber music with Cárdenas Trío, place her among Latin American pianists with a great international career and she occupies a place among the most outstanding composers of the 21st century.

This phase as a composer has led her to receive awards and distinctions, such as the Gold Medal at the Global Music Awards 2021 and the "Honorable Mention" at the 2nd World Composition Competition 2021 in Austria. Her compositions are for piano, chamber music, symphonies, theater and are performed in the USA, Europe, Latin America as well as being invited to participate in Conferences and Master Classes. In Brazil, her "Marinera" Wind Trio was premiered (09-2015) and same work was performed on the Clarinet Bass Festival at the University of Rio de Janeiro under the direction of Maestro Thiago Tavares (12-2015). Her works are performed in the USA, Europe, Latin America, she is also invited to Master Classes, as well as in regular programs and Diploma exams where her works for solo piano are also required.

In 2018 she was invited by the Riverside University of Califonia and in 2019 is invited by the Jacobs School of Music (Indiana University, USA), both to make a conference and concert about her style of composition. She was co-founder of Cárdenas Trío with whom she performed in concerts for more than two decades in many places. Among the recordings of the Trio there are „The 4 seasons of Buenos Aires“ with music by A. Piazzolla, one of the last CD called "Labyrinth" where they interpret classical music of Brazilian composers such as Villa-Lobos, Nazareth, Mignone. In 2015 Mónica recorded „Anikousto“: works for flute and piano, where she performed her Sonata „Festejo en Sueños“.

In 2020 Monica introduces "Influence", a piece for string orchestra within the works that make up the CD "Espiral" with the Ibs Classical production, the conductor Alejandro Muñoz and the chamber orchestra Camerata Gala from Cordoba, Spain.

Her latest 2021 production is the CD "10 Preludes and Fugues of Latin America" (which she composed in 2020) where she herself is a performer and with which she wins the Gold Medal at the 2021 Global Music Awards. This production has led her to participate in videos and recordings as a pianist and composer; to be invited again by American universities. Monica presented the CD in concert on June 18, 2022 in London.

Mónica Cárdenas, Peruvian-Spanish, began her piano studies at the National Conservatory of Music in Lima, Perú and the Tchaikovsky Conservatories in Kiew and Moscow. In 2019 she obtained the Fellowship Diploma equivalent to Master's degree in composition from West London University. Mónica currently lives in Germany where she develops an intense activity as a composer and pianist.