Instrumentation:

• Alto Flute

• Alto Saxophone

• Bass clarinet

• Cello

• Piano

Duration: 13’

Written for: Uusinta Ensemble

Year: 2018

Programme notes

…frente a la obscura lumbre… belongs to a period of my music characterised by a profound introspection and meditation, in which the quest for succinctness and simplicity play an important role. Despite that, the dramaturgy of the piece does not remain static throughout: the music flows to certain climaxes, always returning to the initial character. 

The present work is pregnant with poetic implications, but fundamentally it may be understood as a meditation on the Dark, the Uncertain. Death, time, consciousness, transcendence, spirituality... these essential worries of the human being conform the poetical core of the piece.

The title, ...frente a la obscura lumbre… (translated into English as “…in front of the dark flame…”), alludes to that dark knowledge, representing it through the metaphor of the flame. It is a flame that does not illuminate with apprehension but brings even more obscurity. Nonetheless, and in the same way that fire itself, the dark flame captivates our intellect, attracting us inexorably to it.  

The piece is dedicated to mi close friend and musician Sergi Ramis, whose fire vanished in December 2017.