for eight instruments.
Written for the ensemble EMROC of the Haute École de Musique de Genève as a part of my doctoral creative research in the SACRe / ArtSearCH program.
Duration: 13 minutes.
Instrumentation: Flute / Alto Flute, Clarinet in A, Trombone, Piano, Vibraphone, Moog, Violin, Cello.
This piece stems from an in-depth exploration of timbre as a poetic and semiotic field. Rather than treating timbre as a mere sound quality, the work approaches it as a bearer of meaning, affect, gesture, and cultural memory. Certain timbral choices are shaped by psychoacoustic considerations, specifically, how human perception responds to particular sounds. This aspect has been supported by targeted research into scientific literature on auditory cognition and perception.
Another central element in the compositional process is the use of computer-assisted orchestration with the Orchidea software. By analyzing target sounds and generating orchestration proposals, this tool enabled me to integrate spectral thinking into the construction of the musical material. It also opened creative pathways that bypass cultural bias and stylistic preconceptions, offering algorithmic suggestions unconstrained by human habit.
The composition unfolded as a critical and reflexive experience. I did not treat the computer simply as a generative tool, but as a creative interlocutor, constantly evaluating its outputs through the lens of my own artistic sensibility. This tension between the computable and the intuitive lies at the heart of my current musical research.
A major asset in the development of this piece has been the opportunity to workshop ideas in multiple sessions throughout the year. These working sessions were invaluable in allowing me to test, refine, or discard material in real time, pushing my compositional practice further and allowing for a greater degree of risk than is often possible in a standard professional context.