On poems by Gustavo Adolfo Becquer
Ensemble: fl. cl. / pf. / vla. cello.
First performance: 07/05/2012, Ensemble L’Itinéraire, Jean Deroyer cond., Heloise Labaume sopr., Auditorium Reina Sofia, Madrid
Starting from the Bécquer’s Rimas, the piece is build around the three most recurring words in the works of the Sevillian poet: “luz”, “ojos” and “mundo” (light, eyes, world). Each term correspond to one of the three sections of the work; in each section, the text is build by sewing fragments of different poems according to syntactic, semantic or phonetic proximity.
Each of the three keywords is musically explored with respect to the concept of proximity and perception of distance (in space and in time): light (“próxima a expirar”, “about to fade”) is seen in its closeness to eyes in order to see and focus; eyes are seen as a first means to approach the world; the world itself is seen as a factual representation of time and space. Text is often treated by phonetic resonance (with a special care to [θ] and [x]), or by semantic subtraction, where words (such as “world”) are absorbed into musical images, pointing to an “elsewhere”, a “non-place” where musical gestures become symbols.