Residual | 2019

for ensemble and electronics
duration: 15’
première: 21.11.2019 | Hermes Ensemble, @ Concertgebouw, Brugge (BE)

program notes:
Residual is a piece for ensemble that works on two different layers of sound. In the foreground, the cello and the percussions, acting as a sort of soloists. In the background, the rest of the ensembleResidual is a piece for ensemble that works on two different layers of sound. In the foreground,– violin, clarinet, flute and viola – acting as a choir, questioning and commenting on the subtle weave of the events. To emphasize the perception of these two different layers, cello and percussions play with contact piezoelectric microphones, a specific kind of microphones that make the perception of sounds closer; moreover, they are amplified through their own loudspeakers, placed next to them. The piece articulates a catalogue of actions and gestures that explores different degrees from almost pitchless to more pitched sounds. Peculiar materiality of sound, quite unstable and unpredictable, emerges from the gestures played with the piezoelectric microphones. Its residual feature is the fragile point of contact between the soloists and the ensemble.