Schlagzeug (In utero)

In utero (2022) reflects in music the development of a new human being and the sounds it perceives through its mother's womb, from conception to birth, in a descriptive piece for percussion and accordion. This fact is concretely reflected in many elements of the piece, such as form and proportions, pitches, durations, timbres, melodic-rhythmic motifs, and playing techniques. Thus, there is a direct correlation between the sound events of this musical work and the morphological development of the embryo, and later fetus, as well as of the sounds grasped by the perception of the latter. Hence the title In utero, which in Latin means "In the womb".

Throughout In utero, the accordion uses most of the available performance techniques, both extended and conventional, and employs bellows shakes, clusters, microtonal and tempered glissandos, ricochet, air-valve sounds, percussive sounds, timbral and conventional trills, fingered tremolos, changing vibrato styles, etc. For its part, the percussion used in In utero comprises instruments such as bass drum, suspended cymbal, tam-tam, and vibraslap, played with friction mallets, bow, soft mallets, and drum sticks.

Dedicated to my brother and my mother, who were one of my sources of inspiration, In utero is the third work for accordion and other instruments that I was commissioned by the Accordion Class of the Higher Conservatory of Music of Navarre thanks to the initiative of Nekane Iturrioz, being the two previous ones Euskal Oroipenak (2018) and Astor in Astorga (2017), also published by Universal Edition in Vienna. Therefore, in 2022, I composed In utero with both artistic and didactic intent while keeping in mind the teaching guides of the mentioned institution. In utero will be premiered by Inés Carlos (percussion) and Adrián Martínez (accordion) in Pamplona on 15 April 2024 at the Fernando Remacha Auditorium of the Higher Conservatory of Music of Navarre.

Dr. Jan Emanuel Abras, Ph.D.

(born 1 February 1975 in Stockholm, Sweden)

www.janemanuelabras.com