Alam Hernández - Pleias: VI. Merope (Live at Korzo)

Merope: A night with the sky prospector
Dedicated to my dear friend Mara Olvera

Recorded live at the KC lab concert of the Koninklijk Conservatorium of the Hague, Netherlands.

Composer: Alam Hernández

Rui Braga Simoes - Piano
Porter Ellerman - Percussion

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"Merope" is the sixth movement of "Pleias", a 7 movement suite for piano and percussion inspired on the star cluster M45, better known as the Pleiades.

The score of "Merope" is a precise representation of the night sky, each note corresponding to the exact position of a star. The maps utilized to build the score depict the night sky as seen from Mexico City during the winter solstice of 2019.

The wandering character of the piece portrays the gloomy personality of the greek character of Merope, also known as "the lost pleiad". According to the myth, Merope was so ashamed of her husband's crimes that she hid her face in heaven, causing the seventh star from the Pleiades to gradually fade from sight.

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PLEIAS

This 2nd place winner in the 2021 PAS ITALY Composition Contest is a seven movement tour-de-force for an accomplished multi-percussionist. Seven movements, any of which could be played separately. Could be performed on an ensemble concert with different players each performing one or more of the movements. Challenging percussion and piano parts.

Number of players: 2
Difficulty: Advanced
Instrumentation: Vibraphone, glockenspiel, marimba (5 octave), 3 gongs, 4 toms, bongos, cymbal and bass drum.

Score available at:

https://www.steveweissmusic.com/produ...

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Star maps by staratlas.com