Sculpting Sounds and Colors: Works 2008-2013

Abstract

This dissertation contains seven works from the last 5 years, from solo works to large ensemble, as well as works with electronics. Composing for me is the result of an imaginative attitude, an alert intuition and a suitable use of technique. It originates from reality, followed by singling out one or more musical ideas, and ends up, as Gustav Mahler puts it, in "building a new world with every available technical means." What drives my compositional interests, and represents the core of the works presented here, is the desire to shape and reify these musical worlds. I strive to find and detail the qualities of these worlds through an approach to composition that is based on "sculpting" gestures, figures and colors, contextualized in a form that is as controlled and thoughtful as possible. I also pursue a distinctive vision of the relationship between microtonal and tempered harmony, mixing the two in a harmonic domain that produces an extremely attractive and worth exploring musical ambiguity, enriched by a systematic approach to timbre. This dissertation offers different examples on this exploration, where musical parameters from an ever-changing palette as well as extra-musical element such as visual arts and literature contribute in offering an image of the gradual unfolding of my "voice," a search that is the core of my daily composing and represents a never-ending process. N.B. One of the works, Winds, is a solo electronic multi-channel soundfile, and a paper version of the works does not exist and cannot be included.