ELOGIO DE LA LOCURA

INTRODUCTION
Synergy is a term of Greek origin, «synergía,» which means «working together.» Saint Paul, in his epistles, was the first to use this concept, referring to the result of the collaboration between man and God.
In 1925, the German biologist Ludwig Von Bertalanffy was the first to use synergy in a non-theological context with the General Systems Theory. This theory explained a system that basically consists of a set of elements that relate to each other in order to achieve one or more objectives.
In physiology or biology, synergy is the act in which several organs or muscles move with the same purpose, with the same objective.
In medicine, the synergistic effect is the interaction between medications, which achieve a different result than they would if administered independently.
In the SYNERGEIN Project, synergy is the combination of the capacities and skills of its members (Sisco Aparici, Juanjo Llopico, Marc Moreno, Luís Azcona, and Iván Ferrer) since its foundation in 2014. This combination of talents is capable of pushing the next development of percussion beyond its current limits musically, technically, and pedagogically, addressing sound in its entirety. A sound that provokes reflection in the general public.
Their work is based on microscopic treatment of sound through analytical processes using new techniques, modification of instruments, and construction of new sound objects, as well as a rethinking of classical techniques by reviewing and cataloging them based on the results with their multitude of possible variants. All this through close collaboration with composers.
Their repertoire focuses on the 21st century and the second half of the 20th century, maintaining a strong commitment to musical artistic creation with a large number of commissions from internationally renowned composers such as Pierluigi Billone, José Luis Torá, Hugo Morales, Javier Quislant, Voro García, Adrian Borredà, Clara Olivares, Carlos Fontcuberta, etc.
The members of the SYNERGEIN Project consider themselves artisan researchers of sound, capable of spurring, inciting, and provoking composers to approach the creation of new physical sound natures.
SYNERGEIN Project, through its activities, claims the role that percussion ensemble training had in the 20th century for the 21st century, as a redefiner of a new concept of the percussion instrument and the percussion ensemble as a leading vehicle to new sound entities.
SYNERGEIN Project aims to introduce actions into our society that lead to reflection on life, building connection channels with the listener. One of these actions is the recording series called RESISTÈNCIA SΩNΩRA, launched in 2021 with the CD «RECONSTRUCTION OF THE COURT.» This series of recordings aims to resist time by recording commissioned works and/or works never recorded or important in their trajectory.
«ELOGIO DE LA LOCURA» is the second RESISTÈNCIA SΩNΩRA. This work contains pieces ranging from 1993 to 2022. On one hand, there is the most primitive visceralism combined with madness in Ramón Ramos’s works «El Tumbao» and «Tratado de la locura.» The originality of the Mexican composer Hugo Morales with «LÜ» for prepared vibraphone and «Wireless» for three stringless guitars. The timbral delicacy of the Valencian composer Voro García with «Liquid Times» and «Immagine sonora di Tarab.» Concluding with <41> by Manuel R. Valenzuela. A work for 2 apprehension engines with electronics. This piece revolves around the idea of intertextuality through the simulation and combination of various sound sources.
PROGRAM
EL TUMBAO
El Tumbao (1993) for percussion solo by Vicente Ramón Ramos Villanueva.
Information about both the aesthetic and formal style of the piece can be found thanks to the research work of composer Héctor Oltra. Ramón Ramos composed this work for percussion ensemble in his most mature period, inspired by the Latin rhythm of tumbao, merging with the more structural and stochastic music of composers like Iannis Xenakis. It represents a transgression of this basic rhythmic pattern of tumbao, giving it a more contemporary vision resulting from this inspiration in Xenakis’s music. The cell-organized writing method used in the piece highlights the peculiarities in structuring the metric measure and the distribution of musical figures in each system, being deeply related to Iannis Xenakis’s percussion work Psappha (1975).
The choice of instruments is inspired by Latin American sounds such as bongos and congas, to which instruments like Chinese boxes and others from the traditional drum set, such as the pedal bass drum and tom-toms, are added. Additionally, instruments of Eastern tradition like the Chinese cymbal or opera gongs are included.
Regarding compositional style, Ramón Ramos uses the golden ratio and the Fibonacci sequence for his structural creation.
TRATADO DE LA LOCURA
Tratado de la Locura (1998) by Ramón Ramos for solo percussionist with accompaniment of three percussionists, written during the composer’s maturity and consolidation phase.
The author himself wrote for the program notes of its premiere on March 12, 1998, at the Palau de la Música de Valencia: “Probably Tratado de la Locura is a restless dream in which there are glimpses of madness, abysses of threats, unfulfilled dreams, and conflicting impulses of the destruction of reason and the constant search for a partially unmasked vision in some sections of the composition (in the ‘remedios (vals) para la locura’). The theme addressed in the work is always conceived as an individual psychological dialogue understood through a deeply hallucinated and hysterical sensitivity, but always profound, penetrating, and real” – Ramón Ramos (PALAU DE LA MÚSICA, 1998: [s.p.]).
Reflecting this inner struggle, the piece presents an opposition between reason and order shown by the melodic lines performed by the three percussionists and the brutal, virtuosic, and dramatic character of the solo percussionist’s part. Instrumentally, this contrast is also evident between the use of instruments with determined tuning (vibraphones, marimbas, tuned bottles, voice) by the accompanying percussionists and the use of indeterminate sound instruments (wood drums, talking drum, waterphone) in the soloist’s setup, forming a very intense and heterogeneous timbral display.
IMMAGINE SONORA DI TARAB
Immagine sonora di Tarab (2009) for tenor saxophone and percussion by Voro García, is based on the term Tarab (in Arabic «arrebato,» also «ecstatic state,» «mystical enchantment»), which gave rise to the word troubadour. Tarab was used in al-Andalus to designate singing.
It is not a sonic recreation of past times and spaces, taken in this case from Arabic culture. Instead, it uses rhythmic patterns (wazn) to develop the sound plot: Malfouf, regularly used in Raqs Sharqui (Belly Dance) compositions to enter and/or exit the stage; and Samai, widely used in classical Arabic music.
The goal is to develop a grammar that has the acoustic perspective as its central theme and to create a continuously «evolving» soundscape. In other words, the creation of a sonic discourse through the deconstruction of another. Not aiming for literality, but rather as a source of inspiration that, in the final sonic result, may completely differ from the primary stimulus.
LU
LU (2011) for prepared vibraphone by Hugo Morales. This work focuses on some inherent possibilities of the instrument. On one hand, the use of performance techniques that explore the articulation of sound in relation to the vibration of its components and, on the other hand, the physical alteration with simple aluminum objects that extend the vibraphone. The piece is built on a recurring figure of three pitches from which a series of techniques progressively accumulate, exploring relationships between consonance, resonance, vibration, and complex sounds. «LÚ» is a romanization of the sound of the word «aluminum» in Taiwanese.
LIQUID TIMES
Liquid Times (2018) for solo snare drum by Voro García. This work incorporates the Augustinian concept of time as a measure of movement. Time as a fluid and organic mechanism, where present, past, and future coexist (the past and future in the mind).
The starting point for the creation of the sonic discourse of this piece was a characteristic gesture in the drum part of Rachmaninoff’s Scheherazade. The first measure of the piece contains the representative sound object, and the following measures the «skeleton of time» as a metaphorical expression of the Augustinian concept. Luis Azcona demonstrates his virtuosic and timbral skill in the recording of Liquid Times.
The work is a commission from the VII Percute Festival (2018), sponsored by NP drums, to be a mandatory piece in the IV International Drum Competition.
WIRELESS
Wireless (2019) for 3 stringless guitars by Hugo Morales. This work plays with some sonic characteristics of the guitar without using strings, transforming them into percussion instruments. Two acoustic guitars prepared with internal speakers serve as resonators of their own physical qualities when struck on the fretboard with metal picks, generating different tones depending on the fret struck, while the opposite hand filters the sound coming from the speaker by covering and uncovering the guitar’s mouth. As a third instrument, the electric guitar amplifies the electromagnetic field generated by four different voltage transformers placed on the pickups and controlled with switches by the musician. The piece develops through fluctuating and precise passages; an electric bolero, reprocessed and performed by a trio of stringless guitars.
Wireless is a commission from SYNERGEIN Project and premiered on August 23, 2019, at the San Sebastián Music Fortnight.
<41>
Written for instruments constructed and redesigned by the composer himself, Manuel R. Valenzuela. These instruments are based on the original model by composer Mark Korven. The “apprehension engines” are essentially wooden resonant bodies to which various sound objects are added and amplified through contact microphones. These amplified sounds are then transformed through live digital effects. Some of these sound objects include a type of hurdy-gurdy, a three-string electric guitar, a reverberation tank, various springs, music boxes, metal rods that bounce at different rhythms, etc.
The piece revolves around a broad idea of intertextuality, through the simulation/combination of music/sound recordings (samples) and a personal idea of honesty in the creation process that the composer has been developing in recent years.
COMPOSERS
RAMÓN RAMOS
Vicente Ramón Ramos Villanueva, better known as Ramón Ramos, was a Valencian composer and teacher considered today as an essential reference for understanding the last thirty years of contemporary musical creation in the Valencian Community and Spain. He was born in Alginet, Valencia, in 1954. His musical studies began at the Conservatory of Music of Valencia, later moving to Düsseldorf where he stayed for ten years. During his training period, he worked with composers such as Mauricio Kagel, György Kurtág, György Ligeti, Gérard Grisey, Hans-Peter Haller, Helmut Lachenmann, Wolfgang Rihm, Salvatore Sciarrino, Tristan Murail, and Brian Ferneyhough.
Upon returning to Spain in April 1983, he came into contact with Valencian musical groups and actively and decisively contributed alongside composers like Enrique Sanz-Burguete, César Cano, José Antonio Orts, Rafael Mira, Joan Cerveró, Emilio Calandín, and Gregorio Jiménez, among others, to the dissemination and consolidation of contemporary music in a Valencian society that was then very alien and distant from new musical languages. In 1998, he moved to the «Joaquín Rodrigo» Higher Conservatory of Music in Valencia, occupying the Composition Chair.
Ramón Ramos represents a figure of transcendent relevance and influence for Valencian contemporary music over the last 30 years: he served as an artistic medium bringing the new musical languages of Central European avant-gardes of the late 20th century to Valencia and contributed to the consolidation of contemporary music.
HUGO MORALES
Hugo Morales Murguía, Mexican composer. After completing his studies at the Center for Research and Musical Studies (CIEM) in Mexico City, he moved to the Netherlands to continue his postgraduate studies with the support of «The Netherlands Organization for International Cooperation in Higher Education» (Nuffic), NL, «Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes» (FONCA), MX, «Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds» and «Fonds Podiumkunsten» (NL). He holds a master’s degree in Musical Composition from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, a master’s degree in Sonology (with «Distinction») from the Institute of Sonology in The Hague, and a doctorate from the Contemporary Musical Practice Center (CCMP) at Brunel University, London.
VORO GARCÍA
Graduated in various specialties, he studied at the Higher Conservatory of Music of Valencia. He expanded his training with Mauricio Sotelo and José Manuel López, among others. He holds a doctorate from the Polytechnic University of Valencia.
He has received commissions from various institutions and performers, such as INAEM, JONDE, CDMC, IVC, Auditorio Nacional, Festclásica, Ensems, Rafel Festival, Festival Mixtur, French Ministry of Culture, Spanish Brass, and Ensemble Ascolta. Among his awards are the National Youth Institute Award (2004) and the Méliès d’argent. His works have been programmed in festivals and sound spaces worldwide, performed by prestigious performers and groups.
Founder and creator of the Ensemble Espai Sonor in 2003. As a director, he has premiered numerous works both absolutely and in Spain.
He has been a resident composer for Grup Instrumental de València (2001/02), JONDE (2006/07), MNCARS (2009), JOGV (2009/10), SOMELGRUP (2013), Godella Festival (2016), SBALZ (2018), and AGORA (2019). Artistic director of the Mostra Sonora de Sueca (2005-2017). Currently, he is a composition professor at the Higher Conservatory of Music of Valencia and artistic director of the Ensems festival.
He publishes his works with Babelscores, SB Edicions, and Ed. Piles.
www.vorogarcia.com
MANUEL RODRÍGUEZ VALENZUELA
Manuel completed his composition studies at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki (Finland), and the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus (Denmark). He currently lives in Potsdam, Germany.
His music thrives on diversity, alternating between very different compositional techniques, instrumental, and multimedia means. He also enjoys organizing chaos into unexpected combinations. Recently, his discourse has focused on intertextuality, reinterpreting pieces from the past, and a personal idea of honesty in the composition process. He has been awarded residencies at “Künstlerhaus Schloss Wiepersdorf,” “Künstlerhof Schreyahn,” “Künstlerhaus Salzwedel” in “Schloss Hundisburg” (Germany), Casa Baldi-Villa Massimo and Fondazione-Casa Orfeo (Italy), and the Visby Centre for Composers (Sweden). He has received the “Tremplin” award from the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the musical composition award from INAEM and Colegio de España, the “Progetto Positano” award from the Ernst-von-Siemens Musikstiftung, and the BBVA Leonardo scholarship.
He was a resident composer for the Sampler Sèries festival in Barcelona. His music has been performed by, among others, Curious Chamber Players (Sweden), Ensemble Intercontemporain (France), Ensemble Mosaik (Germany), Ensemble Manufaktur für Aktuelle Musik (Germany), Ascolta Ensemble (Germany), Aarhus Symphony Orchestra (Denmark), members of Klangforum Wien (Austria), Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lorraine (France), ¡Avanti! Chamber Orchestra (Finland), echtzeitEnsemble Stuttgart (Germany), SWR Radio Symphony Stuttgart (Germany), CrossingLines Ensemble (Spain), Grup Instrumental de Valencia (Spain), Susanna Mälkki, Enno Poppe, etc. And has been programmed in festivals such as Maerzmusik (Germany), Rainy Days (Luxembourg), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (England), Donaueschingen Musiktage (Germany), Musica Nova (Finland), Klang Festival (Denmark), Tzil Meudcan (Israel), etc.
COLLABORATOR
PABLO GONZÁLEZ
An international soloist, Pablo is a Valencian saxophonist trained between Bordeaux and Basel, dedicated to chamber music. He is a founding member of six active groups currently: Klexos, Concept Store Quartet, Anlauf Duo, Vértex Musikae… groups that are undeniably the main thread of his artistic career, with Pablo being the musician he is today in large part thanks to his trajectory with them, performing numerous world premieres: Andreas-Eduardo Frank, Jorge Sánchez-Chiong, Marko Ciciliani, Mike Svoboda, Manuel Rodríguez Valenzuela, Hannes Seidl, Gonzalo Navarro, Pedro González, and David Moliner, among others.
He has toured and performed in Europe, America, and Asia; performing in prestigious auditoriums such as the Auditorio Nacional, the Royal Palace of Warsaw, the Zacatecas Auditorium, the University of Lima, and the Concert Hall of Shanghai. Additionally, he often participates as a guest teacher in saxophone and contemporary music festivals. His solo debut was in 2016 with the Kammerorchester Basel, performing Heitor Villa-Lobos’s Fantasía. Notable opportunities include performances with ORCAM, Banda Municipal de Barcelona, JOGV, Orchestre d’Harmonie Municipale de Bordeaux, and Sinfonierorchester der FHNW; as well as with prestigious contemporary music ensembles Mosaik, Nadar, Proxima Centauri, Phoenix Ensemble, Sigma Project, and Synergein Project.
Awarded in more than 20 competitions and a Selmer artist, Pablo currently combines his concert identity with teaching, as a professor in Professional and Higher Education institutions, and annually developing the international saxophone and composition course KlexosLab (Plasencia-Valencia). Additionally, this season he is fully engaged in presenting his first album Lou Cabridan alongside pianist Sinforosa Petralia, with concerts in Spain, Switzerland, and Italy. This album has been featured on RNE, ÀPunt, and Melómano magazine.