Ex essentia machinae

Instrumentation:

• Tenor Saxophone

• Percussion

  Piano

  Electronics (fixed media)

Duration: 9’

Commissioned by: CrossingLines Ensemble

Year:2016

Programme notes

Ex essentia machinae is a piece of an electric character where, through the use of extended techniques and amplification, the instruments and the electronics share a common realm.

The use of the electronics and such a characteristic trio as the formed by saxophone, piano and percussion, had aroused veiled references to non-classical music such as experimental forms of jazz or electronic music. This constitutes an important part in my current artistic research: how we assimilate what is coeval with us, particularly in music; how can we recognise our influences from non-classical music and which strategies can we follow to let those permeate our classical-contemporary context without creating a pastiche of styles.

Poetically, Ex essentia machinae arose as a critical vision on certain aspects of contemporary western societies: trends, shallowness, the whish of immediacy and the behaviors guided by the social mass. It is impossible to transmit these concrete ideas through pure sound, nor is intended. Nevertheless, several aspects of the piece can be related to this way of thinking: it requires of a very active listening, having a high level of detail and sound complexity.