Etorkiz eta izatez (2017)
Data
For “live” trio: txistu, accordion and percussion and ensemble of 27 digitized folk instruments.
Duration: 10 min.
Published at BabelScores / Paris.
Commissioned by the Department of Culture of the Basque Government.
Musical Informatics: GRM Studios / Musical Research Group / Radio France
Commentary
This work is the first work that I composed with a new composition method, created with the composer José Luis Campana, whom we call “World Timbres Mixture”. This method is based on using a new sound material, chosen for aesthetic reasons, and mainly consists of the mixture of classical orchestra instruments with instruments of oral tradition from different cultures and countries.
After a research work on the sound characteristics of instruments from different popular traditions, such as the aulos, aztec, pungi, didgeridoo, di, erke, kena, launeddas, shakuhachi, orlo, jubus, n’goni, oud, vina, etc, we created a “sound palette” that allowed us to colour classic instrument timbres with oral tradition timbres and vice versa.
Regarding the mix of timbres, we discovered an “unusual, unexpected and unlimited” world of new sounds for our chamber and orchestral scores.
None of the 27 timbres that sound in audio support in this work, have been modified by sound transformation programs. Thanks to sound processing programs, sometimes I extended the range of certain instruments, towards the high or low, but always staying close to their timbre. I also created “halos” to colour the absolute silence, so that different sound planes can be heard.