Instrumentation: Flute in G / Flute in C, Alto Sax in Eb / Tenor Sax in Bb, Violin and Piano
Duration: a.c. 6:20 minutes
Year of composition: 2015 – 2016
Premiere: April 23, 2016, Institut Français Barcelona
Francesc Prat (Director)
Observations: Dedicated to the Ensemble Barcelona Modern Project.
Program notes:
This work is composed within the framework of the II Composition Course carried out by the Ensemble Barcelona Modern Project, on this occasion, under the tutelage of the composer Hèctor Parra.
This work is inspired by a poem by José Ángel Valente entitled “El Ángel”. Reading this poem has suggested different sound images related to the concepts of memory and shadow. I have used the first from a structural point of view: the gesture at the beginning corresponds to moments before the end of the piece, as if it were a flash of what is going to happen later.
The second element (the shadow) I have used as a tool to build the instrumental framework, since the sound objects are accompanied by their shadow, as if a dark transparency accompanied the sound discourse, in such a way that it in turn enriches it and ends up merging with the.
EL ÁNGEL
Al amanecer,
cuando la dureza del día es aún extraña
vuelvo a encontrarte en la precisa línea
desde la que la noche retrocede.
Reconozco tu oscura transparencia,
tu rostro no visible,
el ala o filo con el que he luchado.
Estás o vuelves o reapareces
en el extremo límite, señor
de lo indistinto.
No separes
la sombra de la luz que ella ha engendrado.
José Ángel Valente (1929-2000)