The Three pieces for clarinet and piano were written at the request of my friend Cristo Barrios, to whom they are dedicated.
They are a coloristic and virtuosistic approach to this chamber music formation. Entitled Fractalization of Pi, Farey, and Samdhi, their source material comes from mathematical procedures. These are only compositional artifacts completely transparent to the listener. However, they provide a unified framework for the whole piece.
Fractalization of Pi is build on a numerical sequence based on the digits of the number Pi (3.1415926…), which is then transformed into musical parameters. The word fractalization refers to the mathematical discipline that studies Fractals, infinitely complex forms where the part resembles the whole and viceversa, musically accomplished as an Escherian temporal mosaic.
Farey is constructed from a numerical method based on the work of mathematician and geologist John Farey, hence its name. Of a contemplative nature, it employs the extreme high register of both instruments, giving the clarinet the melodic line while the piano murmurs in a crystalline and faraway dimension, as wishing to capture the beauty of numbers.
Samdhi, Sanscrit word meaning “fusion” or “mixture” ends the cycle. It is an incessant and febrile scherzo, where motives from the previous pieces emerge fragmented, apparently disjointed, as materialized from an unconscious, turbulent, and impalpable tangle. Samdhi starts with a guffaw in dreams and ends with a sudden, abrupt awakening.