On this one-of-a-kind album, the outstanding Danish ensemble Mathias Reumert Group presents three of Cuban composer Louis Franz Aguirre’s strongest pieces, including the large-scale composition for percussion ensemble and flute soloist, Orula (Liturgia de la Adivinación), a journey in extreme sonorities, complex polyrhythms and searing microtonal melodies.

“I come from a culture where rhythm is the rationale for life and death. Where the drums are a means to worship, to communicate, and to call the Orishas to come down to Earth”, says the composer.

According to percussionist/conductor Mathias Reumert, “learning these works took years and left us forever changed. Listeners will understand”. A quote from musicologist Dr. Iván César Morales best sums up the experience: “Aguirres music has the power of an exorcism!”

Louis Aguirre (b. 1968) is a Cuban composer resident in Denmark. Aguirre was educated as a composer, violinist and conductor at the University of Arts in Havana, Cuba, under the guidance of Harold Gramatges and Roberto Valera. When he was 27 years old, he became the artistic director and chief conductor of the Symphony Orchestra in his birth town, Camagüey, as well as guest conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Santiago de Cuba Symphony Orchestra. He also was a professor at the Camagüey’s Music Conservatory and artistic director and chairman of the International Festival of Contemporary Music (1996-2002) in Camagüey.

Louis Aguirre is an award-winning composer whose music has been labelled as “Music from hell” and “Not for the faint of heart”. He is one of the foremost Latin American composers of his generation, yet only a handful of recordings exists.