Itinerâncias #1

Pyramids was composed using the same material as another work I wrote for orchestra in 1991, called Tessares. Both these pieces are inspired in fractal geometry. A fractal is a kind of structure that retains certain properties no matter to which level (microscopic ou macroscopic) we observe it. Consequently, certain characteristics that are important in its overall shape are also present in its smallest details.
This piece is structured around certain harmonic combinations generated by specific intervals and notes. These harmonic structures are used continuously in the piece repeating themselves in different occasions and levels (microscopic or macroscopic), but its musical surface is always different each appearance. It is the combination of these repetitions and its interaction in time that suggests to the listener’s memory certain structural relations and a specific path in the listening and understanding of this work.

Pyramids

This composition was born out of a metaphorical idea: what if the rough, hard, noisy sounds that I had just recorded from instruments made out of wood—such as the cello and the acoustic bass—would represent reminiscent screamings of dead trees (as if the instrument’s woods had preserved the memories of the trees they were made of). 
That idea must have come from the life-changer book I was reading at that time  “The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman” in which the author interviews one of the nowadays most important indigenous leaders. It has been a transforming experience reading it, especially in a moment that several indigenous groups and the Amazon forest itself are being attacked in my home country, Brazil. 

After going a little deeper into this metaphor, I realized how intrinsically connected are the history of music and trees. All western music tradition is somehow dependent on wood, not only for producing instruments (wood, strings, percussion) but also for preserving and enabling its language development through the use of paper (scores). Consequently, trees have been providing us two of the most important things we need to survive: oxygen and music.

All sounds contained in the piece are tree-related. Birds, as Yanomami puts, are tree’s inseparable companions. There are several sounds of closing of books, page turnings, instruments made of wood, and some instrumental gestures allusive of falling trees (or screaming trees) to reinforce this dialectical situation.

Itinerâncias #1

DanielBarreiro

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