Particles

Evis Sammoutis ' Particles (2015) for Flute (doubling Piccolo and Alto Flute), Violin and Cello. – Particles was commissioned by the 2015 Milano EXPO for the musicians of the Divertimento Ensemble. The composer was one of 50 finalists selected after an International Competition by Expo 2015’s Italian Pavilion. The competition was organised by Divertimento Ensemble, in collaboration with the City of Milano, the Region of Lombardia, MITO SettembreMusica and Sentieri selvaggi and all composers had to create compositions inspired by the theme 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life'. The composer decided to concentrate on exploring the notion of “Particles” (the smallest basic unitsof matter and energy), as the means of creating the main formal profile of this composition. This notion extends to all formal devises (texture, figure and gesture). To use an analogy, listening to this composition should feel like looking at a mosaic from an extremely short distance, one’s eyes almost touching the intrinsic small tiles that create the larger picture. From this alternative perspective, one begins to observe completely different patterns, which went unperceived as part of the greater picture, just as a closer look at a mosaic might reveal intricate bands of colour that would have been unnoticed from a greater distance. When this happens one can really appreciate the tiny details and nuances of the composition. Seen from afar, these “particles” create different textures than they do from a closer distance or through a microscope exploration, different matters and different qualities of energy. This composition brings into foreground microscopic “pictures” of the particles that constitute the totality of the work, while simultaneously and unavoidably giving, in its totality, a larger formal picture over the course of time. Whilst the music is constructed into noticeably different blocks of sound, each segment nevertheless originates from the same source, from the same particle.