Shalom Aleichem, for solo guitar. Gloria Rodríguez Gil

The idea behind Shalom Aleichem was born during the 2010 Entroido, after the composer had been unable to write during 2009 due to a serious illness. In February 2010, her teacher, Albert Sardá, encouraged her to compose a piece to be premiered by the group Tactum in May 2010, during the 25th Concerto Series by the Contemporánia Music Foundation of Barcelona. This is how Gloria Rodríguez Gil composed three pieces based on Piano Concerto in G major by Maurice Ravel, a piece she had listened to repeatedly as she laid on bed. Each of the pieces includes an implicit acknowledgement: “farewell.” The first of them is called Chiva and it is a concerto for piano and four instruments, based wholly on Ravel’s work, except for the coda (that is, A-B-A). It premiered in Barcelona on 31st May 2010. The second piece, Mzungu David, was composed for tenor and piano. It is based on Chiva but it does not include its central part (that is, A-A). It premiered on 28th December 2010 in A Coruña. The third and last one is Shalom Aleichem for guitar, based on Mzungu David but excluding one of the parts (it only has an A). It was finished in April 2011 and premiered on 5th July of that year in Lugo, performed by the guitarist Ramón Carnota during the XVI Concerto Series of the Galician Association of Composers.