DE LAS CRIATURAS for Symphonic Wind Band by CARLOS DAVID PERALES (Spain, 1979)
- WASBE Marcom
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
[#328] Nov 03, 2025 Spain | 2024 | Symphonic Wind Band | Grade 6 | 14’ | Tone Poem
Premiered by Municipal Symphonic Band of Valencia conducted by Cristóbal Soler
on 24 Sep 2024 in Valencia, Spain
Publish by Totperlaire | Purchase at Totperlaire
“De las Criaturas”, by Spanish composer, conductor and educator Carlos David Perales is our Composition of the Week.
“De las Criaturas” was commissioned by the 46th Festival ENSEMS 2024, held in Valencia Spain. The first performance took place at the Palau de la Música in Valencia, Spain, on September 24, 2024, with the Municipal Symphonic Band of Valencia, and Cristóbal Soler conducting.
“A diptych inspired in two verses of Saint John of the Cross’s “Spiritual Canticle”. The text’s exuberance of images and expressive impulse comprise an inexhaustible wellspring of figures and gestures from which the musical discourse emerges. The first part, whose title and stanza opens the poem, presents a discussion between a husband and wife. This dialogue between the soul and God is intoxicatingly glossed by St John in a lyrical outpouring that fuses theology and Platonism. The melodic elements and sound contrasts are directly connected to the oxymorons that abound in his poetry: “sonorous solitude”, quiet music”, the mysticism and spiritual metaphor that define his literature and the extreme austerity of his figure. The second part is inspired by the ascent of Mount Carmel, a metaphor for ascetic plenitude symbolizing the ascent to the Mount of Perfection. The road leading to it is narrow and steep, having been sketched in a drawing. It is a path on which he writes up to five times: “nothing”. On both sides of this path are the bounty of earth and those of heaven: disappointing, elusive material wealth, which one must relinquish if one hopes to attain “Iuge convivium” or heavenly feast. The work’s micro-formal organization arises from arborescent, self-generating systems, in conversation with the elements of nature that appear in his poetry.” Program notes by Carlos D. Perales
Carlos D. Perales studied piano and composition at Conservatory of Music of Seville with Pilar Bilbao and composition with A. J. Flores. He subsequently moved to Vienna to continue his studies in composition and orchestra conducting at Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Wien with M. Jarrell, D. Schermann, W. Suppan, Y. Yuasa and L. Hager. He focused on electroacoustic composition with D. Kauffman at the Institut für Komposition, Elektroakustik und TonmeisterInnen-Ausbildung. In 2006 is resident composer at the Mixed Reality Lab at the National University of Singapore. PhD by Polytechnic University of Valencia. His main area of interest is the extension of the acoustic sound through the possibilities of the electronic expression and the human-computer interaction. His creative process is closely related to the concept of gesture and the psychology of perception. His works have been performed by ensembles and performers such as Amores Grup de percusió, Ensemble D'Arts, Plural Ensemble, A. Rosado, X. Giner, S. Tchirkov, X. Pestova, M. Bernat, D. Vassilakis and D. Kientzy among others; at festivals like Festival Internacional de la Imagen (Colombia), Synthese (Bourges), IDKA – FYLKINGEN (Sweden), Primavera Electroacústica en la Habana, CIME 2011 (Greece), Musicacoustica (Beijing), Audio Art (Krakov), Forum Wallis (Switzerland), Florida International University, Center for the Arts Casa das Mudas (Madeira), Deptford Town Hall - London University, Akousma (Canada), among others. He has been invited as speaker at international festivals such as Architectures Contemporaines (Marseilles, 2011), Sonoimágenes (Argentina, 2014), Tetramatyka (Ucraine, 2015) and Visiones Sonoras (México, 2017).
He has been awarded in various awards such as Arts Price granted by Instituto Andaluz de la Juventud in 2003, Miniaturas Electroacústicas- Confluencias (Huelva, 2008), XXII Premio Jóvenes Compositores SGAE Fundación Autor-CNDM (Madrid, 2011), Musica Nova (Prague, Czech Republic, 2012), Luigi Russolo (Annecy, France, 2012), Fundación Destellos (Argentina, 2013). His works are edited by Molenaar Edition, Impromptu Editores, Piles Editorial de Música, Babelscores, Tot per l'aire ed. and Brotons&Mercadal Edicions musicals.
Since 2016 his is Professor of Musical Technology at Conservatorio Superior de Música Joaquín Rodrigo de Valencia where he teaches Sound and Electroacoustic Composition and at MA Composition with new technologies at UNIR (International University of La Rioja).
Other works for winds include:
• Preludes for piano (first book) Claude Debussy, transcription
• Sri, for symphonic Wind Band and electronics, 8’
• Chinese garden, for symphonic Wind Band, 17’
• Scherzo grotesque, for symphonic Wind Band, 5’
• Alegrías (pasodoble), wind band, 6’
More on Carlos D. Perales
