Canto
(2022)
for percussion quintet
Program notes
This work was born out of the idea of approaching drums as not just resources for rhythm, colour and accent, but also as melodic instruments in their own right. I challenged myself to focus intensely in the sonic possibilities of the tom-toms, looking beyond the apparent simplicity of the instruments with the aim of developing an organic and quasi-melodic approach to their writing. In essence, I wished to try to make the tom-toms sing — or actually, as a more accurate statement, I wished to try to make the tom-toms try to sing —, something that is referenced in the title of the piece 'Canto', which is the Spanish word for 'chant'.
Clash, disruption, exchange, control and failure are very important concepts in my creative thinking, and the percussion setup used by Les Percussions de Strasbourg for their performance of Xenakis's Pléïades, consisting of three concentric circles of keyboards, skins and metals helped me envision a clear scenario and dramaturgy for their integration: physical effort against light easiness, damaged expressivity against measured rigidness, blind attempts at coordination against ruthless simplicity. An encounter with an ending determined from the start. Desperate half-songs drowning in a sea of resonance.
Premiered by Les Percussions de Strasbourg in LAC (Lugano. CH) as part of the 2022 International Young Composers Academy in Ticino.
Duration: c. 8'
Instrumentation
2 players
4 tom-toms, 2 bongos (each) — playing with soft mallets and hands
3 players
vibraphone (each) — playing with hands and prepared vibrators
Performance
3.07.2022 – IYCA Ticino 2022, LAC (Lugano, CH)
Performers: Les Percussions de Strasbourg (Minh-Tâm Nguyen, François Papirer, Thibaut Weber, Hsin-Hsuan Wu, Yi-Ping Yang)