Topographies

(orchestra)

The title of this piece, Topographies, refers not only to the slopes in the land but to those of the mind. Just as topography shows variations in altitude, the mind also fluctuates through different stages of activity in peaks and valleys. For this piece I took the visual content of a defined number of landscapes and translated it mainly to pitch, texture and density in the orchestral materials. The sections of this piece are based on a group of harmonic spectra that are used as foundations for other parameters in the piece. The creative process for this piece consisted on a thorough listening of the open fourth string of the double bass, its underlying harmonies (overtones), and their evolution in time. This piece is dedicated to my friend and first composition teacher, Ulises Ramírez.