DUALITIES (2015)

for flute, cello
large ensemble and electronics

Premiere performance:

International Ensemble Modern Academy
Gaudeamus Muziekweek
TivoliVredenburg, Hertz
Utrecht, the Netherlands

10 September, 2015

Other performances:

Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Kleiner Saal, Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
International Ensemble Modern Academy
Prüfungskonzert IEMA-Ensemble 2014/15

16 September, 2015

“DUALITIES is a piece for flute, cello, large ensemble and electronics composed for the International Ensemble Modern Academy 2015 (IEMA). The basic idea of this piece stems from the sonic properties of hissing sounds. The harmonic and/or gestural pallet of the piece incarnates hybrid sonic clouds constructed by microtonal instances of characteristic pitches along with concrete sonic objects (noise), highlighting the artificial depiction of a high frequency, “quasi hissing” landscape. My goal for this project was to realize, musically, high frequency gestures and sonic streams deriving from the visceral contribution along the soloists (the flute and the cello) the electronic sounds - fixed media or live processing of the soloist duet - and the ensemble. The piece is governed by the idea of dualism that is expressed via the following relationships: The flute with the cello, the soloist duet with the electronics, the soloist duet with the instrumental ensemble and the multiple combinations along the duet, the electronics and the large ensemble. The texture is treated as a fabric of superimposed elements that correlated within a multidimensional space of sounds and gestures. Aiming for precision and strict articulation, the piece is a virtuosic display of sonic plasticity projecting different instances of an artificial hissing landscape, sculpted, filtered and sonically modified in numerous unpredictable ways. The piece highlights a continuous and gradual blending among the generated spectra of the soloist duet towards the illusionary impression of a hybrid stream of a single “mega”, perceivably homophonic, gestural line (voice) that characterizes the entire piece.