Onda (soyuz/Licht) for ensemble

Onda (soyuz/Licht)

for saxophone, quarter-tone accordion, electric guitar, percussion, keyboard, violoncello and light projection (ad libitum), 2020–21

Commissioned by soyuz21, Zurich

First performance April 20, 2021, www.soyuz21.ch, in collaboration with Georg Lendorff

Onda –with the initial title soyuz/Licht– was conceived as an acoustic-visual piece in collaboration with video artist Georg Lendorff, but can be performed in a pure concertante version.

The definitive title refers simply to the wave as the basic form of both light and sound. As a formal device it works at different constructive levels: from the alternating disposition of intervals in micro-tonal space, over the structure of oscillating rhythmic patterns, to the sine waves at the bottom of the synthesis modules performed by the keyboard. As a symmetric alternating sequence («plus-minus») it can rule so diverse events such as dynamic profiles, the alternating chords between keyboard and accordion, the modulations of the electric guitar signal, accelerando-ritardando figures, or the different qualities of instrumental vibrato and bisbigliando. It is also present in the manyfold beatings that result from micro-tonal friction in both instrumental and electronic sound. Even the tempo exhibits a full oscillation period along the macro-form through acceleration («fließend») and deceleration («senza misura») of the initial tempo.

Accordingly, the piece develops following a movement of condensation and dissolution / detachment from temporal grids, that leads to a state imagined as «darkness»: the per se fragile quality of the sounds moves in the temporal continuum at the border of brittleness. Descending, self-generating chord sequences – extensively explored before in Trazos for piano, string trio and electronics, and Trazos II for large Orchestra – redeem this almost static state and bring the music back in a bright, articulated and pulsing state.

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