Pacífico (2009-10)

This piece was developed as a collaboration with the Chilean poet Raúl Zurita who provided me with a poem that he regularly reads in poetry recitals. I then re-arranged parts of the text and asked the Chilean singer Cecilia García-Gracia to record it using different types of intonations and reading styles. The piece aims to capture the musicality of the Spanish spoken in Chile by concentrating on particular aspects of the text like the use of open vowels and specific consonant letters. The piece is structured based on rhythmic and phonetic aspects of the poem that are translated into percussive and tonal textures using a dreamlike background of natural and synthesised sea sounds.

This work is dedicated to the composer Roger Marsh.