Title of the work: Figuralmusik I.
Composer: Javier Torres Maldonado.
Instruments: flute, Bb clarinet, violin, violoncello and piano.
Duration: 8'.
Publisher: Edizioni Suvini Zerboni - Milano (for a free copy of the score please contact me or send an e-mail to my publisher).
Year of composition: 1996.
First world performance: Milan, Auditorium Lattuada, 16.05.1997 - Ensemble Niccolò Castiglioni, cond. Tito Ceccherini.
Prize: "Nuove Generazioni", Nuova Consonanza, Rome, 1996.
Score (only with authorization)
Title of the work: Figuralmusik II.
Composer: Javier Torres Maldonado.
Instruments: Fl. - Ob. - Cl. - Fg. - Perc. [Vibr., Glock., 2 Ant. cymb. , 2 G . Jav, Tt., Ps., Fr., Bass drum] - Pno. - V. - Va. - Vc. - Db.
Duration: 10'-11'.
Publisher: Edizioni Suvini Zerboni - Milano (for a free copy of the score please contact me or send an e-mail to my publisher).
Year of composition: 1996.
First world performance: Siena, Palazzo Chigi Saracini, August 1996 - Ens. dell’Accademia Chigiana di Siena, dir. G. Garbarino.
Prize: First Prize, International Composition Competition "Ad Referendum II" of Montreal.
Score (only with authorization)
Title of the work: Figuralmusik II/a.
Composer: Javier Torres Maldonado.
Instruments: Fl. - Ob. - Cl. - Fg. - Perc. [Vibr., Glock., 2 Ant. cymb. , 2 G . Jav, Tt., Ps., Fr., Bass drum] - Pno. - V. - Va. - Vc. - Db. and electronics (CD stereo).
Duration: 10'-11'.
Publisher: Edizioni Suvini Zerboni - Milano (for a free copy of the score please contact me or send an e-mail to my publisher).
Year of composition: 2003.
First world performance: Siena, Palazzo Chigi Saracini, August 1996 - Ens. dell’Accademia Chigiana di Siena, dir. G. Garbarino.
Prize: First Prize, International Composition Competition "Ad Referendum II" of Montreal.
Score (only with authorization)
Title of the work: Figuralmusik III.
Composer: Javier Torres Maldonado.
Instruments: flute, oboe, Bb clarinet and string orchestra
Duration: 10'-11'.
Publisher: Edizioni Suvini Zerboni - Milano (for a free copy of the score please contact me or send an e-mail to my publisher).
Year of composition: 1998.
First world performance: Milano, Palazzina Liberty, 10.05.1998 - flute: Cristina Tasini, oboe: Fabio Rizzi, Bb clarinet: Anacleto Giandomenico, Orchestra Milano Classica, conductor: Fabrizio Meloni.
Score under revision for a new version.
Torres Maldonado's Figuralmusik is a trptych of works for increasing numbers of instruments: the first one is a quintet, the second existis in two versions (Figuralmusik II requieres ten players, Figuralmusik II/a is composed for the same 10 players and digital electro-acoustic support) and the last is for three soloists and string orchestra.
According to the composer, "The three-piece cycle Figuralmusik" (1996-1998) originates from the fascination that I have always felt for perceptive illusions, translated into impossible objects in physical reality, and, above all, for the results of the interlacing planes and perspectives used by Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Escher."
In all three pieces the composer seeks "the maximum reduction of elements" that can constitute a given object, comparing his own paring down process to that used in Escher's monofigural lithographs, which create entire pictures from a single "figure" or shape:oth musical notation and audio format.
For Figuralmusik I and II, Torres Maldonado draws his basic unit from three simples elements, he writtes, "grace notes, chords, resonance or absolute silence. By expanding, contracting, and transforming these basic materials, he alters the way we perceive the musical events as they unfold. The rapid juxtaposition and superimposition of different temporal schemes -fluctuations in tempo and meter, but also changes in the relative density or scarcity of sounds -allow Torres maldonado to achieve aural effects akin to those of an optical illusion.
Email: tmjavier[at]gmail.com
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