Guillermo Lago wrote Energía as Trio Abril’s first commission. Its three movements give musical expression to wind, sun and tides, moving from a whirlwind of virtuosity through repose to a musical climax.
Concert notes · Arno Bornkamp
Guillermo Lago (1960) was the first composer to accept Trio Abril’s invitation in 2022 to write a new work for saxophone and piano trio. In “ENERGIA”, he pays a very special tribute to the natural sources of energy in our lives: wind, sun and the tides of the sea.
The Dutch composer Guillermo Lago (the pseudonym of Willem van Merwijk) is a master at developing musical material through melodic, rhythmic and harmonic turns, creating remarkable feats of musical architecture.
In the first movement, “Eolica”, a whirlwind of virtuosity seems almost literally to blow the listener off their feet. The middle movement, “Solar”, is a moment of repose in the composition, where the languid sun seems to invite a good glass of something or other. In the final movement, “Mareomotriz”, Lago gives musical expression to the ebb and flow of the tides, carrying the work towards a musical climax.
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