Violine (dobradesdobra)

The title of the piece is a neologism, combining two words in Portuguese: dobra (fold) and desdobra (unfold), with the second word having a double meaning, as it can evoke development as well as undoing or a recursive movement in relation to the first word. They are combined into a single word: dobradesdobra.

This meaning encapsulated in the word reflects the writing or scriptural (as I prefer) techniques developed throughout the composition, which are based on numerous compositional procedures and personal techniques that I have been developing for decades: cyclic modules, proportional projections, dynamization of harmonic density (a specific elaboration of variation in the intervallic densities of the structures), simultaneous directionalities, rhythmic rotations, interpolations of profiles, and others.

Written from late August 2024 to mid-January 2025, the work was completed in the centenary year of two important references for my work: Pierre Boulez and Luciano Berio. Not least, there is a veiled reference to Boulez in the title of the piece, which recalls, in a way, the title of one of his capital works – Pli selon pli, whose title is derived from Mallarmé and, in Portuguese, would be translated as dobra sobre dobra (fold over fold) –, just as the initial texture reminds us of pieces like Linea or O King, by Berio.

These are just reminiscences, references that are neither textual nor literal, and that only reflect my respect and recognition for these masters with whom I was able to relate in different ways.

Briefly, dobradesdobra is based on a cyclic module constructed from a symmetrical harmonic entity present in some of my works: Mahler in transgress, Crase, Quaderno and so on. This harmonic entity, however, is never played as such and only appears in the form of melodic profiles that undergo various interval compressions through my proportional projections, until the original scope of the main profile is reached, made up of the original notes of the cyclic module.

In addition to this harmonic entity that generates the cyclic module of the profiles, 7 other harmonic entities emerge from the start, coming from different works: Gefäss des Geites, Ritos de Perpassagem, …donde solo las plantas suenan…, Pulsares, Oposicantos. It’s from the various interlockings between the notes of these harmonic entities that the whole initial construction of dobradesdobra takes place, as well as its ending.