Friday, February 21, 2014

Exhibitions | Marcelo Toledo "Northern Skies" at The Gabe M. Wiener Music & Arts Library


An exhibition at the Music & Arts Library at Columbia University presented original music scores by Marcelo Toledo.  Containing excerpts from a larger work entitled  "Northern skies, the notation of the music" is derived from the shapes of 21 constellations from the skies in the northern hemisphere.
One excerpt, "Notturno", is scored for clarinet, saxophone, trumpet and trombone, while a second, Luminous emptiness, is scored for flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, percussion, violin and violoncello,

Central aspects of the composer’s approach to instrumental writing include the exploration of new instrumental techniques, the use of complex sounds, the relationship between expression and sonic structure, and the dynamic and interactive process between sound material and its visual representation.

The clear representation of visual materials re-injects new possibilities into the compositional process. A permanent back and forth between sound material and its notation occurs in the representation of musical ideas.  The flexibility of the mechanism of representation expands the musical materials and opens--in an almost rhizomatic way--the intermediate states of the sound/image relationship.
Elizabeth Davis
See the library website for location and hours
"Luminous Emptiness" audio excerpts