Cel nu

Cel nu (Naked Sky) has received the financial support of the Oficina de Suport a la Iniciativa Cultural del Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya, and it is dedicated to Joel Bardolet and Marc Herèdia.

During the month of August 2023, I took a hermit retreat of fifteen days in the Sant Elies cave, in the Monegros desert. I devoted myself to silent meditation and the study of one of the oldest pieces in the Koten Honkyoku repertoire for shakuhachi, Koku (Empty Sky). As the days went by, the blue sky, serene, bright at noon and starry at midnight, permeated my existence as I delved into the study of Koku, with its long notes that evoke an infinite and unreachable sky.

The two opening notes of Koku (Tsu-Re) became the generative seed of a new composition for violin and piano, inspired by the omnipresence and impossibility of a blue sky that is always present, like a barrier without a door that must be crossed, like an intangible ideal that transcends human limits, but that welcomes us at all times and everywhere.

I have developed the work with the absence of beat and pulse to dissolve the perception of time. The performers interact freely and the absence of directionality evokes the idea of the aimless pilgrim. The violin oscillates and modulates the pitch with slight inflections.The piano's lively figurations unfold fast, with inner nerve, and becomes the oceanic substrate that supports the ecstatic and dilated notes of the violin that fly on a higher plane of sound.

The performance must break the barrier of usual discursive expectations and enter a meditative and timeless perceptual dimension.

—Ramon Humet