Guararey (2025)

Guararey is a loose reimagination of the changüí standard El Guararey de Pastora. Drawing on melodic motives from the original tune, I fragment and reshuffle them into a fast, jazzy scherzo. The piece opens with a timid piano introduction, followed by a sustained pause. From there, the flute and tres enter into a playful dialogue, with the piano punctuating the harmony through syncopated jabs and stabs.

Midway through, the piece shifts abruptly into a slower, lyrical section centered around the tres. The flute joins for a brief duet, then takes a short solo before transitioning back into the groovy interplay established earlier. In the final section, the dialogue between flute and tres returns—this time with the tres taking a more active role, weaving counter-melodies and mirroring the piano's angular gestures.

The music closes with a coda full of scales and sequences that evoke the original folk tune, but never fully reveal its core melody. My father, who knows the original song well, once remarked that the piece always feels like it's building toward the original melody—but it never quite gets there.

I premiered Guararey as part of my Master's recital at the Setnor School of Music in Syracuse, NY.