Desvar�os sobre "La botijuela" - a set of variations of a Costa Rica song through Latin American dance rhythms.
Performance time: 13 mins aprox.

Legend has it that the gamonales (landlords) used to keep their money in botijuelas (earthen jars) with the purpose of insuring it against the thieves. These jars were hidden in the thick walls or floors of the houses. As time went by, it so happened that the owners of the money usually forgot the place where they had hidden it and died without finding it. According to popular imagination, the soul of every person who dies having their money buried did not rest in peace until it was found. But on other occasions the owner of the money had been so greedy in life that, even after death, his spirit was still taking care of its capital, and lashed out against the person who dared to find it and take it away. To appease the spirit, it was necessary to invoke the sound of the dance "La botijuela", so that it would not take revenge and reveal the hiding place with the booty.
The work ?Desvar�os sobre La botijuela" (Deliriums on ?La Botijuela?) was inspired by this popular Costa Rican dance and legend. It is a really divertimento for solo piano, consisting of ten variations (or rather free reconstructions) of this Costa Rican folk dance. This musical theme is a danza criolla (creole dance), a rhythm that in Costa Rica is clearly related to other international dances such as habanera and contradanza. Some of the variations of this work make direct musical allusions to the style of composition of important figures of Latin American pianism, namely: Heitor Villa-Lobos, Manuel M. Ponce, Ignacio Cervantes, Astor Piazzolla, Ernesto Nazareth and Alberto Ginastera. Other variations, on the other hand, set rhythms present in the traditional musical imaginary of Costa Rica, even though they are not unique to the country. Such are the cases of rhythms such as pasillo, calypso, swing criollo (cumbia) and tambito. All these adaptations of the original theme are always made from a traditional tonal scheme. In this way, it demonstrates how a melody can be framed with extreme versatility in different rhythmic and stylistic patterns of the continent. That is why it is accurate to affirm that ?Desvar�os on La botijuela" is a composition eminently Latin American.

This arrangement of "The Mexican Hat Dance" is as played by the legendary pianist, Liberace. It has all of the signature runs and embellishments as played by Liberace. Now you can play this traditional Mexican folk song in the same fantastic style!

The Jarabe tapat�o, often referred to as the Mexican hat dance, is the national dance of Mexico. It originated as a courtship dance in Guadalajara, Jalisco, during the 19th century, although its elements can be traced back to the Spanish zambra and jarabe gitano, which were popular during the times of the viceroyalty. Female dancers traditionally wear a china poblana outfit, while the male dancers dress as charros.The standard music of the jarabe tapat�o was composed by Jes�s Gonz�lez Rubio in the 19th century

Mestizo is a piano piece inspired by the traditional ?Pasillo?, characteristic rhythm of the Colombian Andean region. This piece aims to exalt the romantic and also lively essence of this genre full of color and colonial charm. Mestizo receives its name from the syncretism of Spanish influence and genuinely Latin American colors. The form is given by the alternation of two main themes: one of melodic nature object of variations and the other of motivic construction for extension and development. The harmonic concept is given mainly by the inherent progressions of this autochthonous genre, however, the romantic language complemented by jazz sonorities are responsible for making the exaltation of this popular rhythm. Thus, Mestizo is a tribute to Colombia, its music, and its charm.

This is a collection of fifteen works for piano that usesa series of songs and dances that belong to the traditional Costa Ricanimaginary, as well as the Two-voice inventions (BWV 772-786) by JohannSebastian Bach. In a stricter sense, these pieces are parodies since they usefragments of existing works as the starting point for the creation of newcompositions. In this case it is a double parody process because they emulatenational melodies, and they are stylized in light of other compositions and musicalpatterns of the Baroque period. These inventions (understood essentially asnovel creations) do not follow a formal, harmonic or strictly scholasticcontrapuntal scheme and they are rather free reconstructions of the originalmelodies, with some fundamental features of the two-part Baroque works. As forthe thematic material, the original melodies correspond to anonymous works ofCosta Rican folklore and others whose authors are known -such as Pasi�nAcevedo, Rafael Chavez Torres, Julio Fonseca Alberto G�mez and H�ctor Z��iga,among others- all of them found in printed versions or sound recordings. Thetonal scheme of the compilation traces the order established by Bach in hiscollection of inventions. The purpose of the works does not go beyond offering anapproach for the pianists in training to different musical styles of theCentral European tradition from melodies of the Costa Rican own popularrepertoire.