Abalorios
Birmingham New Music Group with funds provided by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.
Premiered by Birmingham New Music Group conducted by Clement Power.
April 7th 2024 at the CBSO Centre, Birmingham
Abalorios is a 21st-century guide for young people to the contemporary ensemble and new instrumental techniques of our time.
At the heart of Abalorios, meaning glass bead in Spanish, is the idea of a glass bead wind-chime, reflecting the ensemble movements and sounds. Imagine the sound of the chimes gently colliding, led by the wind and introducing the listeners to different possibilities of playing each instrument of the ensemble. Each solo or duo defines the shape of the work and invites young people to become aware of new ways of playing instruments and producing new sounds.
An introduction led by the sound of wind instruments and percussive sounds, introduces pitch gradually.
The first solo is played by the cor anglaise and it is followed by a stereophonic duet between the flute and the clarinet who have placed themselves at different extremes of the stage for this section.
While this happens horn and trumpet move at either side of the audience to prepare for their duo in the section that follows. This dialogue between the brass instruments is constantly interrupted by glissandi in the strings and trombone which becomes the link between the brass and the strings. The glissandi material gradually takes over for the next part and leads to the next duo between the bassoon and bass clarinet.
Harp is the soloist in the penultimate section of the work which ends with the percussionist being in the foreground and gradually pulling the rest of the instruments into a percussive tutti which ends the piece.