New Colombian Music for Saxophone Quartet
Performed by SIGMA Project
JUAN ANTONIO CUELLAR (b.1966)
Cuatro artificios (2025) 19:16
1. I. Fanfarrias 3:51
2. II. Cantos 6:30
3. III. Danzas 4:29
4. IV. Tocatas 4:26
5. CAROLINA NOGUERA (b.1978)
Cánticos del Azar (2025) 18:26
6. RODOLFO ACOSTA (b.1970)
Pidiendo agua, traían leña (2025) 22:38
Since their founding in 2007, the Madrid based saxophone quartet SIGMA Project has premiered more than 85 works and introduced hundreds more to audiences from Teatro alla Scala in Milan to Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Their commitment to commissioning new works is the saxophone quartet’s parallel to the Kronos Quartet.
Juan Antonio Cuéllar’s Cuatro Artificios is a four-movement work that follows the classical structure of the quartet or symphony (Allegro-Adagio-Scherzo-Allegro Finale) and draws on both Baroque and early 20th-century techniques. Each movement is an artificio: a skillful and inventive creation. From Fanfarrias (Fanfares) and its rhythmic ostinatos and canon to Tocatas (Tocattas), a dizzying moto continuo culminating in an explosive finale.
Carolina Noguera Palau’s Cánticos del Azar utilizes extended techniques to evoke the chirimías caucanas (flute-led ensembles from Cauca), but also introducing dance-like rhythmic patterns that evoke Cali’s vibrant dance culture and are emphasized by expressive markings in the score such as con sabor (with spice), sonero (in the style of son music), or movido (swinging).
The title of Rodolfo Acosta’s Pidiendo agua, traían leña (Asking for water, they brought firewood), is drawn from The First New Chronicle and Good Government, a 1615 Peruvian chronicle describing how chapetones (newly arrived Spaniards) and Indigenous Peruvians were often caught in linguistic misunderstandings. The piece’s form is conceived as a series of unrelated episodes that challenge monothematic development. Instead, the episodes function as what Acosta calls “single isles” that one must “visit” without pretending to understand them through the same logic. They are meant to be grasped in their uniqueness.
The collaboration between the Spanish ensemble SIGMA Project and the Colombian composers featured on this album evokes the narrative behind the work. This collaboration is a 21st-century update of the encounter between the Spanish and the Abya Yala people (the Americans) — an encounter rooted not in conquest, but in mutual recognition and respect for difference.
All first recordings, composer supervised. Liner notes in English and Spanish by Sebastián Wanumen.