QUASI UNO SPECCHIO, Isabel Benito Gutiérrez

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Picture: @Anna Guardiola

I love discovering and exploring “different” paths of musical expression, especially when they are mixed with other artistic disciplines as it happens in QUASI UNO SPECCHIO. This is a standard work to develop your interpretive creativity.

The Composer

Dr. ISABEL BENITO GUTIÉRREZ (Santander, Spain, 1981) studied piano at the Municipal Conservatory of music. Later, she studied theory and composition at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMuC, Barcelona) with Luis Naón and Mauricio Sotelo. She also attended seminars and master-classes by many other composers.

In 2013 she went to England to study at the University of Huddersfield (she did her PGCE, Postgraduate Certificate in Education) and the University of Liverpool (she studied a Masters in Research in Music Composition).

Her music is intuitive and artisanal and with a strong and magnetic nature. Many of her works have an interdisciplinary sense, mostly combined with painting, as she is very interested in this plastic art, while also in architecture, photography and cinematography.

Click here to read more about the composer.

Details of the work

Publisher: Aventino Music (ITA), coming soon
Duration: 3:00
Range (written): the lowest possible – the highest possible
TECHNIQUES: Flatter, air sounds (unpitched), use of voice, slaps, key sounds.
PERFORMANCE: To play with lots of expressive energy.

Here’s the video from my Youtube channel. Soon, you can listen to the new version I recently recorded in an album for the Italian label Aventino Music.

Meaning and structure of Quasi uno Specchio

During my search of connecting music and visual arts, I realised that conventional music notation was making this connection forced and difficult to be perceived by the listener/observer. At the same time, some of the parameters given of music notation were not relevant for me anymore. For that reason, I decided to create semi-improvised scores helping performers to follow a more open guidance, resulting in a more natural coordination of the visual and the sound elements in my pieces.

When meeting Joan Martí-Frasquier at Mixtur Festival 2018, we discussed one of my works, ‘Triptych’, for clarinet/bass clarinet, viola, cello and live painting. in one of the movements of this piece, live painting is indicated by graphic directions, and we exchanged some ideas about the graphic shapes and how these could be translated into baritone sax’s sounds. These were the first steps of ‘Quasi uno Specchio’, a score I “painted” for Joan to interpret. (Isabel Benito, 2021)

I really liked her approach to finding commonalities between music and painting. This could be one of the many goals of graphic scores. Conventional music notation not always give a clear idea to performers. So, why not a draw, a color or a no-music symbol could give better the thoughts of a composer?

Not all composers prioritize the same precision and accuracy of notes, rhythms, tempos and dynamics every time musicians play their works. Sometimes, performative energy and flexibility (aka “licenses”) can better transmit the message to the audience. Some composers prefer the diversity of versions (after all, the idea remains) rather than the millimetric repetition of their works.

Indications of QUASI UNO SPECCHIO are very clear: each color has its proper extended technique. The work goes from the lower to the higher register of the instrument, expressed in the horizontal axis. The vertical expresses dynamics: the wider, the louder.

Finished in 2020, I premiered this work in a concert in my hometown, La Ràpita (Catalunya) in June 2021. QUASI UNO SPECCHIO was a part of Suite Mixtur (read more here about this work). Remind that all the five pieces of this suite can be played separately.

Whether you want to play QUASI UNO SPECCHIO with the whole Suite or separately, I encourage to work on it. If you are looking for a work that awakens your creativity, this is your piece. You will enjoy playing it and surprise the audience. Furthermore, I always display the score in concert.