Oscuro

Growing up in Buenos Aires, Pablo Ortiz took piano lessons from his mother and learned Gregorian Chant at the Universidad Catolica Argentina, where he also studied composition with Gerardo Gandini. At the age of 27 he came to the United States where he studied under Mario Davidovsky. After moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1994 he developed a particular fascination with Mexican culture, eventually employing texts by the famous Chicano poet and Mission artist, Francisco Alarcon for a collection of children's songs and the title work on this disc, Oscuro. Ortiz's output, comprising chamber music, vocal, orchestral and electronic works, has received international recognition and performances by the Arditti Quartet, Speculum Musicae, Les Percussions de Strasbourg and Continuum. During the early 1990s, Ortiz embarked on a series of works that find a connection between tango and memory. Although this exploration represents only one of many strands within his varied oeuvre - one that is well represented on this CD - Ortiz's association with the tango is apt, for he shares its Argentinean roots, its thoroughly cosmopolitan history, and its ability to mirror social interactions with controlled, dramatic flair.