Yasirah

Yasirah, a name with a strong Arabian sonority, gives title to this work for soprano-saxophone and piano. The work has a symmetrical formal structure, being written in a single movement consisting of four themes. It starts in a sensual mood and develops toward a lyrical central section going through moments in which the rhythmic element is emphasized, as if it were itself transforming and crossing diverse states of mind. In terms of the harmony, the work is based on the superimposition of two scales that include intervals of augmented seconds at different degrees in each opposed scale. This mixture gives the work an original sonority, at times subtlety ambiguous.

The work begins with a theme of a sensual character, with an accompaniment characterized by the syncopated rhythm, which further emphasizes the sinuous profile of the melody developed by the saxophone. A brief interlude connects this part with the second, which is of an essentially rhythmic character. The saxophone and the piano abandon the texture of the melody and accompaniment as they become involved in a contrapuntal weave of three or four melodic lines. Both arrive together at the central part of the work, with an unexpected nostalgic and lyrical character, based on an intimate dialogue between the two instruments. The piano initiates the second part introducing a new theme of great personality. Immediately after this the saxophone comes in to accompany and ends up recovering the second theme of the first part but with a still more elaborate texture, as another melodic line is added. Finally the initial theme appears again, and it concludes the work.

Yasirah is a work that requires great expressiveness and much rhythmic precision. The dialogue established between the saxophone and the piano is the most gratifying part of the work from the interpretive point of view, since I have tried to maintain a balanced participation and an integration of the timbres of the two instruments in a single texture, never in opposition but rather one complementing the other.