Quatuor Diotima ALBERTO POSADAS Liturgia Fractal

Liturgia fractal is a cycle of five string quartets in which each quartet is based on a different fractal model. Working with a fractal model, as something of an allegory of the way waves move, is based on the concept of a cycle as a “natural entity”. The combination of the idea of self-similarity (fractal) with that of spreading-out (wave) reflects the search for a sound which develops organically, as if it were just another part of nature.

The cycle consists of altogether five quartets, but it is also possible to perform two or three in various combinations without losing the balance achieved within the overall collection. One of the quartets, Arborescencias, can even be interpreted as a single, independent work.

Ondulado tiempo sonoro..., the first quartet, functions as a seed for the rest. This work presents the most important musical material and parameters around which the rest of the collection revolves.

Each quartet adds new material to that which was used before, and this material then appears in the following quartets as well. In this way, each of the pieces seems like a sort of “transformed overall sum” of the one before.

The cycle Liturgia fractal was commissioned for Quatuor Diotima by the festival Musica Strasbourg, the Casa da Música in Porto and Spain’s CDMC (Centro para la Difusión de la Música Contemporánea). (Alberto Posadas)

Ensemble Intercontemporain / François-Xavier Roth ALBERTO POSADAS Oscuro abismo de llanto y de ternura - Nebmaat - Cripsis - Glossopoeia

Patience, exactitude and determination: Alberto Posadas is aptly characterised by these three human virtues, thanks to which he has succeeded—without haste, but also without pause—in claiming for him- self a prominent place in the European music scene. His industriousness and honest dedication have given rise to a catalogue of works which, though not excep- tionally extensive, know neither breaks nor setbacks. His strict and extremely precise way of constructing time and form in a highly complex manner, without ever neglecting to preserve a certain degree of free- dom for his unequivocally craftsman-like intuition, has made him one of the most exciting composers of his generation in Spain. 

Due to the style in which he combines and joins his sonic material, Posadas’ compatriots often refer to his music as “Francophile”. Beyond the Pyrenees and above all in Francophone countries, where many doors of opportunity were opened to him (including by Festival d’Automne in Paris, Agora Festival (IRCAM), Strasbourg’s MUSICA and Brussels’ Ars Musica), the opposite is true: there, he is viewed as a genuinely Spanish composer due to the power and aplomb that emanate from even his more transparent masses of sound. His sober and deep-reaching formal architec- ture could easily lead us to join this chorus, content with concentrating only on his “Spanishness”. But to those who look beyond such regionalist stereotypes, his œuvre reveals trace elements which are entirely reminiscent of his mentor Francisco Guerrero—in the sense of a Spanish tradition derived from Edgar Varèse’s attitude toward art and science and/or from Iannis Xenakis’ postulates. One can also make out a certain subliminal affinity with Giacinto Scelsi when he orchestrates his parametric crystallizations in tem- poral stasis, as well as a certain handling of timbre that seems somehow akin to French Spectralism. (José L. Besada)