Design for the booklet of “Made in BCN” (LMG-2154) by Jesús Llungueras
This is one of the most challenging works for baritone saxophone I know. In addition to its high technical difficulty, a copious amount of energy and performing skills are required to play this a such intense and complex work.
The composer
HÈCTOR PARRA (Barcelona, 1976) is an acclaimed Catalan composer based in Paris (France) since 2002. He studied composition in Barcelona, Genève (Switzerland) and at the Ircam Paris with J. Harvey and B. Ferneyhough, among others, and a Master in Aesthetics of Arts from the University of Paris 8.
Specially dedicated to the dramatic genre, he has written six operas in collaboration with writers as Marie NDiaye, Händl Klaus, theoretical physicist Lisa Randall and stage directors Calixto Bieito and Georges Lavaudant, among others. His music has always reached a great success of public and critics in all over Europe.
Click here to read more about the composer.
Details of the work
Publisher: Edicions Tritó, Barcelona (ESP)
Duration: Around 6:00
Range (written): A2 – G6 (or as treble as possible)
TECHNIQUES: Tonguing accuracy, diversity of articulations, slaps, ¼ tones, smorzatti, air sounds, wide intervals, multiphonics, extreme dynamics (ffff-pppp), flatter, extreme altissimo register, glissandi and portamenti, vibrato and oscillations, very fast excerpts, sudden changes of elements (register, dynamics, etc.) and expression.
PERFORMANCE: Playing with lot of intensity. Phrasing according to the big fluctuations in tempo from the rallentandi and accellerandi in the piece.
Meaning and structure
In the form of a study, TIME FIELDS I is structured following a strict rhythmic progression towards the final frenzy, but with constant interruptions that tense and delay the arrival. Thus, my intention at that time was that a sinuous expression arises that distorts our temporal perception, out of the dialectical relationship that these two contrasting sonorous worlds interweave with the changes of tempo and the permanent agogic processes. I believe that this study has been one of the starting points of my subsequent work in terms of the search for a language that integrates a detailed writing of strong gestural and expressive component in the small and medium scale with a vision at the same time spectrum-morphological It also covers a structural level, on a larger scale.
TIME FIELDS I requires a detailed and meticulous practice from the very beginning (the reading of the score is not easy at all). At the same time, you can add the specific character needed to play every bar, phrase or section. In this way, technical elements improve themselves while the ideas on the interpretation strengthen, since the interpretative energy is closely related to the technique, in my opinion.
Composer Antonio Velasco defined very well what is “New Complexity” music on his website: The works by these composers have a maximal technical requirement for their performance, at the edge of the impossible, which is not an addition (as the style of virtuoso music), but is a part of the work itself. Their extreme performing difficulties want to create a closer relationship between performer and piece, which exceeds the interpretative canons from the past.
Do you want to work on TIME FIELDS I with me? Don’t hesitate to contact me.
![15 Advanced Works for Baritone Saxophone [2]](https://joanmf.com/wp-content/uploads/elementor/thumbs/15-Advanced-Works-for-Baritone-Saxophone-2-owzu1k6vp9j1pgs202u7rvmosj08dgh5gf8mc59z9g.png "15 Advanced Works for Baritone Saxophone [2]")