Lamento de Tanlajás for Piano and Bass Trombone

Lamento de Tanlajás (2025) I was commissioned to write this piece by Bass trombone virtuoso Juan Saldívar. It is an homage to Maestro Saldivar’s late grandfather. It is serene and quietly profound. A piece with layers of shades depicting nostalgia and longing. “There you'll find the place I love most in the world. The place where I grew thin from dreaming. My village, rising from the plain. Shaded with trees and leaves like a piggy bank filled with memories. You'll see why a person would want to live there forever. Dawn, morning, mid-day, night: all the same, except for the changes in the air. The air changes the color of things there. And life whirs by as quiet as a murmur...the pure murmuring of life.” ― Juan Rulfo, Pedro Páramo