For 2 Pianos

Duration: approx. 15:45

In 2014, the Fort Worth Youth Orchestra announced its involvement with a state composition contest and asked me to participate. Applicants had to write an orchestral piece with architecture as its inspiration—I immediately thought of the Salt Cathedral in Colombia. The cathedral began as a small chapel for workers at a salt mine but the chapel soon grew to be a large tourist attraction and it was expanded into a grand underground cathedral. Ultimately, the youth orchestra did not to apply for the composition competition because of time restraints and scheduling. Regardless, I started work on a two-piano sketch to later orchestrate on my own time. The piece is very cinematic and visually inspired. It begins with a flyover of the city of Zipaquirá, Colombia where the salt cathedral is located. We next enter the city’s central plaza where a big festival is taking place. This piece is very inspired by Stravinsky—it is rhythmically driven and has several instances of bitonality. It incorporates native Colombian rhythms and beat patterns as well as the sonority of open guitar strings. After crossing the plaza, we begin our climb up the hillside to the entrance of the salt mine. To further recreate the atmosphere of a cave, the pianists use a reverse pedaling technique where the dampers are used to quickly hit all the strings of the piano at once creating an echo effect. Here the cathedral theme is presented. On our journey down to the sanctuary, we pass the Stations of the Cross. Consequently, this piece has a mini Passion with the three falls of Christ represented by three loud crashes on the piano. After the crucifixion and taking down of the body, we begin entering the sanctuary bringing back the cathedral theme. The piece ends with a synthesis of the cathedral theme and previous melodic and rhythmic motives.