2006, rev. 2021 — three solo percussionists and orchestra
23 [looking east] was commissioned in 2006 by the Montevideo Percussion Festival, with the support of AGADU, and is dedicated to Perceum, the percussion ensemble of the EUM. The orchestration was completely revised for its premiere in 2021. The piece uses the same types of materials as maldita luna for percussion and electroacoustics from 2002. It is based on hierarchically organized multi-level metrical structures that, unlike tonal metrical structures, present irregular levels, in this case with durations based on the numbers of the Fibonacci series. Extended to higher levels, the same metric structure becomes the formal structure of the piece, with its various sections and subsections. As for the pitches, a single symmetrical nine-note scale is used, from which a limited set of chord typologies is extracted, forming two families, each of which is used in the two main parts of the piece. The three percussion soloists play exclusively on so-called “keyboard” instruments (i.e., instruments that produce tones of definite pitch), and no extended techniques or instrumental effects of the kind often used in contemporary percussion music are employed.
Premiere: 2021-10-21, Solís Theatre, Montevideo. Jorge Camiruaga, Ricardo Gómez, Marcelo Zanolli, solo percussion, Montevideo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Ligia Amadio.