This unique combination (bass flute, baritone sax, guitar and viola) inspired me to create an image of a solid and metamorphic object like sapphire. All four instruments are voices that alternate between fast, rhythmical connections and voluptuous, relatively static harmonic cohabitation.

In this first case, the sense of motion and the excitation of activity are expressed by the interaction between gestures and lyrics tension. The rhythm, which functions as a sort of inner pulsation, a body structure, is responsible for most of the dialectic structures. Throughout the piece we can sense that the rhythm has a polar attraction towards motion. All the lines and gestures submit to a sort of rhythmic law. In the second case (at the beginning of the piece, for example) different identities join together in a quest for harmonic cohabitation. Sometimes just one of the four expresses what the whole ensemble has agreed to express, like the struggling viola line (that appears towards the end), which is supported by the complicity of the other three instruments.

Zaffiro, which could not have been written without the generous support of Aargauer Kuratorium, is dedicated to the brilliant performers of Cattral Ensemble.