[K], for tenor saxophone (2021)

Composer: Mateo Servián Sforza Saxophone: Jonathan Chazan www.jonathanchazan.com Recorded on 09/04/2022 at the Hochschule Konstanz (whom I kindly thank) - The words we use to describe the sounds we hear are misleading and insufficient, just as the terms we use to describe the colors that constitute our visual perception. Words limit what we hear/see. Words limit how we perceive that which we can actually hear/see. When the “timbral” aspect of sound is not hastily approached through the bias of our verbal language, but through concrete knowledge of the actual physics of vision and of color, a new musical dimension can arise, discovering the microscopical dimension of miniscule gradations of acoustic energy that are perceived by us as “colors of sounds”. In the piece [K] for tenor sax, I approached this musical dimension through a focus on the so-called “alternate fingerings” of the saxophone, seen as a means to unleash the enormously rich sonic potential of this instrument. A meticulous work of study and classification of the sound of different fingerings (both through spectral analysis, both through the study of the mechanics of the saxophone) allows the graphic representation of timbres through the colors used in the score, which represent the energetic characteristics of each sound. The hands of the player continuously manipulate sound; it is in fact a human hand that which was originally represented by the pictogram from which the letter K was derived. This sonic dimension – which for many is seen as an initial stage, instrumental to something – is for me sufficient for composing music, without the need of recurring to other means. If composing is mostly about building the relations between materials, “colors of sounds” are the only materials I need. Just like beauty, color is in the eye of the beholder. And in its hands. - The colors used in the score correspond to different timbral categories that were established according to two basic principles: the fundamental of the fingering (i.e. the length of the tube) and the gradual opening/closing of partials of the spectrum. The indicated fingerings are a personal selection of mine and therefore can be modified by players (if required by technical reasons), while respecting the timbral categories determined by the colors. For the present recording, Chazan implemented his own set of fingerings, as can be seen in https://www.dropbox.com/s/782cto2si94...