Patrick Cohën-Akenine commissioned me to set to music four sonnets attributed to composer Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741). These are the same sonnets, which he used as the basis for his series of violin concertos entitled The Four Seasons (1725). The idea of the commission was to perform these new pieces as preludes to each of The Four Seasons, thus creating a concert program which mixed baroque and contemporary music, thematically unified by the sonnets. I composed the song cycle Paesaggi Corporei (Body Landscapes), with the same instrumentation used by the Folies françoises to play The Four Seasons: three first violins, three second violins, two violas, two cellos, one double bass, and continuo (Italian harpsichord and archlute). Additionally, all of these instruments are period instruments. In Paesaggi Corporei, the soprano sings and sometimes recites the sonnets.

In this song cycle, the string orchestra often has the function of articulating polyphonic textures that serve as a sonic metaphor to the notions of foliage and nature. The two violas often create the impression of movement in the middle register of the orchestra. Inspired by Vivaldi's masterpieces, I sometimes explored the possibilities of several violins playing as soloists. At moments, the archlute leads ensemble subsections of plucked strings that contribute to the timbral richness of the composition. The use of metal and wood mutes on the strings, as well as the use of prepared harpsichord also create timbral richness.

As to the relationship between text and music, the intention of Paesaggi Corporei was to differentiate each season by setting each sonnet in a different way: sections that explore the phonemes of key words, sections where the text is read, or sections with an intimate and lyrical singing of text. Using the technique of “word painting,” I created sound images of certain words by manipulating their phonetic and rhythmic characteristics.

“Arder Aprender” (2nd piece of the “Dos son un Jardín” cycle) was inspired by “Coda,” final poem of Octavio Paz’s book “Árbol Adentro” (1976 – 1988). In some of Paz’s brighter verses, he expresses the learning behind all communication, and especially, in any love bond. The nomadic pathway through the world; the silence between the beings; the gaze that learns to discover. All that might help to communicate and love. To the other’s gaze that seeds as a tree’s roots in the poet’s heart, the poet corresponds with words.

The piece is written for countertenor, 20-instrument ensemble, and electro-acoustic sounds. The entire poem functions as the coda of the piece. However, the singer takes part from the beginning, uttering phonetic fragments of the poem, incomprehensible language and incomplete phrases, as efforts emphasizing the hardships in any communication—perhaps its impossibility.

The harmony provides structure to this work. The main chord bases on the combination of two multiphonic notes by the bassoon, and their progression toward the bass and treble registers. But these won’t be heard but almost till the end of the piece, just when the countertenor begins to enunciate the poem. For us to remain in the metaphor, we could say that these two multiphonics are the seeds from which the harmonic foliage develops.

“Arder Aprender” follows “Sin Nombres,” the first two pieces from the “Dos son un Jardín” cycle. Just as in “Sin Nombres,” the electro-acoustic part mostly complements the instrumental textures, enriching them, to achieve a new and blended soundscape.

———

CODA

Tal vez amar es aprendera
caminar por este mundo.
Aprender a quedarnos quietos
como el tilo y la encina de la fábula.
Aprender a mirar.
Tu mirada es sembradora.
Plantó un árbol.
Yo hablo
porque tú meces los follajes.

Octavio Paz, Árbol Adentro, 1976-1988

———

CODA

Loving is perhaps to learn
[how] to walk through this world.
To learn to settle down
as the oak and the linden of the fable.
To learn [how] to see.
Your glance is a seeding one.
It planted a tree.
I speak
for you rock the foliages.

Octavio Paz, Árbol Adentro, 1976-1988

The title "Sin Nombres" (Nameless) is comprised of the last two words of Octavio Paz's poem "Custodia" (Monstrance) from his book "Ladera Este" (East Slope).

The poem’s visual arrangement, in the shape of a monstrance, opens up the possibility for many different readings: a cyclic reading, in which he end leads up to the beginning; a slow or fast prosody; a secular mantra, etc. Such a musical interpretation leads to this work as one of the poem’s different understandings.

“Custodia” is a love poem that begins by opposing masculine and feminine nouns, for fusing them together later on in such a way that we can no longer tell each from its opposite: men and women reunite without any division or distinction into one single genderless being. Could it allude to the primeval androgynous beings Aristophanes tells about in Plato’s “The Symposium”? Could it refer to an (in)voluntary loss of a part of the Ego, leaving us in some frail situation? Austere and diaphanous sounds advocate this feeling. The inclination to composing for countertenor voice supports this process:an adult male voice sometimes singing in both mezzo-soprano and baritone. In different interventions by the electro-acoustics, the countertenor’s high register is illuminated, and the underlying prosodic character of the poem is emphasized as the voice multiplies.

The Tibetan prayer stones are identifiable from the beginning, among the selected percussion instruments. Chosen on account of their ritualistic meaning and unique sound, these stones commence a rhythm motif which later unfolds in varying ratios in the piece’s middle section.

Together with the masculine-feminine dichotomy, the poem’s monstrance-shaped lines brought a particular idea of symmetry to my mind, which inspired some of the harmonic colors I used in the piece.

“Toro Mata” is an emblematic dance of the Afro-Peruvian tradition, based on a specific rhythm known as “lando.” With my version for string duet, I tried to keep the strength and vibrancy featuring this dance, while also imposing my own inner personal view.