Ymarxa (tenerife)
Ymarxa, a Guanche word meaning 'brilliant', 'new', refers to a place in what is now La Esperanza forest in the island of Tenerife. Once covered by the dense laurel forest, there was a lagoon that was a place of worship for the Guanches. Ymarxa is inspired by the constant modulation of light, realized musically through orchestral colors. It is not a descriptive work, but contemplative as well as strongly dynamic.
The compositional language of Ymarxa exploits the nature of timbre, the spectral decomposition of sound, and the harmony-timbre ambivalence through the use of appropriate orchestral combinations. As with other pieces in the cycle, algorithmic processes are present throughout the work, elements that include mathematical models, computer systems, evolutionary methods, etc. These processes constitute an underlying layer that is completely transparent to the listener's conscious listening, but which nevertheless brings unity and coherence to the work. This yields a musical discourse that is extremely complex yet cognitively accessible to the listener.
Ymarxa was commissioned by the XXVII Festival de Música de Canarias and given its first performance on February 12, 2011 at the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium in Gran Canaria by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under maestro Charles Dutoit.
