Chamber Ensemble

The piece is inspired by falling stars – meteorites on the night sky. As seen from the earth, their short life is initially perceived as an illuminated line, which disappears in space.

In reality, they are debris from a comet or asteroid, which disintegrate as they enter the atmosphere. I combined both perspectives and pictured the night sky as a dome of stillness full of tiny scattered stars, colors, shapes of lights, and nebulae where flashes of lines are passing through.

The idea was initially stimulated from the accordion’s wide range of sound qualities, colors and dynamics – later distributed to all instruments and sections; from thick chords and an imposing low register to lively melodic lines and a delicate high whistling.
The piece is organized in three sections: meteorites (birth and death of chords), journey in space (playfulness in fast dialogue) and entering the atmosphere where high register pitch sets in the accordion or clarinet interact with sets of cello harmonics to create layers of constantly overlapping harmonies…until they eventually disappear.

The formation of concentric circles on the surface of the water is one of nature’s mechanisms that stimulate my musical interests – pattern and repetition. The circles’ symmetrical formations and densities in relation to their distance from the center (more dense around the center and sparse as they move away from it), inspired me to structure the piece in two dimensions, the macro and the micro:

1 – a slow metamorphosis from a densely structured dialogue among instruments interrupted by full chords, to a more widely spaced texture interrupted by chords of fewer tones and periods of silence.

2 – rhythmic figures based on symmetrical modes follow a palindromic formation of fast –slower – slow – faster – fast etc. as these figures travel from one instrument to another imitating the flow of water and the continuity of circular formations.

Commissioned by the soundSCAPE festival.

“The path that shines” was inspired by the journey of the snail and the trace that is formed by the slime it leaves behind. The path encounters the light of day and through its shine it becomes visible. Organized in three sections, the first utilizes a motif structured on wide intervals, which gradually transform and decrease. The process imitates the snail’s body movement, which is visually clear at a close distance and becomes less evident as it slides away. Inspired also by its shape where head and tail are almost identical, a palindrome formation of harmonies and temporal units imitate the repetitive movement of its body.

At an overall slow tempo, an incremental transformation of the primary motivic material is set against repetitive harmonic and melodic figures as well as constantly reoccurring musical ideas. In other words, a co – existence between forward – moving and static time gradually becomes evident.

Orchestrated in a rather jazzy instrumentation, Rencontres departs from such an ambience and explores common musical material in terms of melodic and rhythmic motifs, intervallic relationships as well as playing techniques. At times, the saxophone is used percussively in increments of the primary motif, the vibraphone journeys upon variations of previously stated lyrical lines, the double bass abruptly appears in fast and short arco fragments interrupting its pizzicati as well as the brilliance and the metallic timbre of the soprano saxophone, vibraphone and crotales. The constant dialogue among their different personalities and the exchange of material reflect a quest for common musical elements as they travel together through the four sections.

Idées fixes first began as an attempt to create a complex and a long development of motivic material. Since the time required for completing the piece was limited, I restructured the piece on three primary pillars: Effort, interruption, retry. Similar musical ideas in terms of register, intervallic structuring and rhythmic gestures flow constantly and freely among instruments until they are interrupted either by short solo and duet sections or passages of a more percussive character. Then the dialogues start again giving the impression of a never – ending effort to evolve and expand.

Inspired by the mechanisms of the hourglass, this duet identifies each instrument with each chamber of the hourglass. The dialogue in the first two sections between violin and horn refers to all tones of the mode utilised by the horn; they are gradually reduced to represent granules that empty from the upper chamber. Accordingly, the violin part demonstrates an accumulation of tones used from the horn’s mirror mode, a process which mimics the filling of the lower chamber.

Through lyricism and playfulness the first two sections reflect a child’s exploration and experimentation with the hourglass, while the last section reveals its function and purpose. Here, the violin’s melodic line resembles theme and variations, symbolising change and evolution. The horn imitates the ticking of the clock, with staccato crotchets.

The music connects short contrasted and fragmentary passages of symmetrically structured tonalities whose continuous permutations create a global sound that resembles a diversely designed mosaic highlighting areas of different colors, shapes, harmonies, dynamics and tempi. The ensemble is utilized more as an orchestra concealing the dialogue among individual voices. Broken down in short fragments placed one after another a division between sustained harmonies and passages of a dominant percussive character is evident throughout while the overall style departs from conventional instrumental writing, which could otherwise be more characteristic for these instruments, treated individually or as an ensemble.