del Águila - Pacific Serenade for Clarinet and String Quartet

Written in 1998, Pacific Serenade was commissioned by Pacific Serenades Ensemble who premiered it 1998 in Los Angeles. The ensemble’s name helped inspire this work as well as its theme: a romantic serenade, meant to be performed at night under the stars. The main “singer” here is the clarinet. In general the music is extremely quiet, delicate, sensuous and sentimental. The sensuousness is created by the use of South American folkloric idioms, especially the Brazilian “choro”, which is at times combined with Blues melodies and Jazz harmony. Miguel del Aguila: “In an age of boom boxes, media bombardment and an increasingly aggressive pop culture, I felt the need to write just the opposite.

Instrumentation:

• Clarinet
• 2 Violins
• Viola
• Cello