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High over the distant horizon

for piano, electric organ, cello, four players in movement (flute, bass clarinet, percussion, violin) and electronics
(2018)

Title of the work:  High over the distant horizon.
Composer: Javier Torres Maldonado.
Year of composition: 2018.
Instruments:
 flute, bass clarinet, percussion, electric organ, piano, violin, cello.
Duration: 12 minutes.
Publisher: Edizioni Suvini Zerboni - Milano (for a free copy of the score please contact me or send an e-mail to my publisher).
Dedicatee: New Arts and Music Ensemble Salzburg.
First world performance: 08.12.2018, Solitaar Saal, Mozarteum of Salzburg, New Arts and Music Ensemble Salzburg.
Score (only with authorizatin)

High over the distant horizon

program note

Commissioned by the Mozarteum in Salzburg to mark the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the Electronic Music Studio of the institution, High Over the Distant Horizon for piano, electric organ, cello, four players in movement (flute, bass clarinet, violin  percussion) and electronics will be the closing work on December 8 of the Festival Crossroads 2018 organized by the Institute for Contemporary Music of the Mozarteum, and will be performed by NAMES (New Art and Music Ensemble Salzburg). On the same day the composer will hold a conference in which he will present the new work in the Conference room of the Electronic Music Studio of the Mozarteum. High Over the Distant Horizon was written during the first year that Javier Torres Maldonado belonged to the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte in Mexico. The composer tells us: «High Over the Distant Horizon is based on the idea of creating music where the acoustic instruments are not amplified or treated electronically, but despite this their integration with the electronic part seems “natural”. To obtain this result it was necessary to carry out various experiments that gave rise to two basic principles: the decomposition of the sound objects through a principle of spectral complementarity, and the association of the spatial position of the players with the physical location of the loudspeakers. The conception of the spatialization depends mainly on these principles, that is to say, the function of the musicians of the ensemble is not traditional but depend on their movements in the space, carefully specified in the score. For the static instruments like the piano, the spatial integration is made more simple thanks to two loudspeakers placed in front of the opening of the lid. The integration of electronic sounds within the trajectories of the players who move does not exclude the use of electronic sounds when they are close to a loudspeaker. With regards the sound materials, the starting point of the piece is the spectral decomposition of two multiphonics of the saxophone, an instrument not included in the ensemble of the work. In fact, this basic material is never heard throughout the piece, but nevertheless provides the basis for the rhythms and verticalities (whose ambiguity oscillates between timbre and harmonic field), while the form (divided into two blocks of 8 and 7 modules, respectively) reflects the various “states” of the basic material and its transformations».

ESZ News No. 77, October 2018
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