The Remora

Notes

This piece is one of the three fortepiano studies based on Jorge Luis Borges’ creatures from his faux-medieval bestiary The Book of Imaginary Beings. The Remora, a burdensome sea creature that was believed to have slowed down boats and changed fate of nations, is reflected in this piece with a set of paper wedges preventing the fortepiano dampers to operate properly. As a kind of opposite version of Ligeti’s Touches Bloquées, the fortepiano ‘preprogrammed’ pitches continue to resonate through the other short notes, creating different layers of sound.