Instrumentation: Saxophone quartet

Duration: 13’

Commissioned by: Saxtronauts Saxophone ensemble and Suomen Säveltäjäin Sibelius-Rahasto

Year: 2019

Programme notes

A plerion or "pulsar wind nebula" is a type of nebula found inside the shells of supernova remnants which contain a central pulsar (a rotating neutron star that emits electromagnetic radiation). The present piece, alludes to one plerion in particular: SN 1054, better known as "Crab Nebula". Through a nearly constant mass of sound, the slow pace in the transformation of the material and its intrinsic quietness, the piece acquires a very contemplative and meditative nature. Plerion proposes an immersive, almost ritualistic, experience to the listener. 

Taking the supernova remnant as a metaphor, Plerion reflects on energy and its multiple transformations. These space phenomena are the echo of a star whose explosion produced a vast amount of energy; energy that remains and could potentially become something else. From the nature of supernovae and their ulterior remnants arises a mystical reflection on human existence, life, death, transcending the limits of our condition and the demolition those boundaries that apparently define us.

The quartet works throughout the piece as a sole body, without hierarchies amongst the instruments, thus representing the observation of the supernova remnant as a whole. Multiphonics are profusely used, creating through their battimenti a parallelism with the oscillation of the inner pulsar. The timbre of the instruments is particularly breathy throughout, making a simile with the texture of SN 1054 and the different gases and other elements composing its distinctive threads.