Track 1 - MODELAGEM XII (1999), for Orchestra. Performed by the Sinfonia Cultura Orchestra (Lutero Rodrigues, conductor). Impact! A gigantic chord synthesizes of a frozen tension. Is it a sound or a feeling? This gigantic chord is sliced, revealing its internal movements. Afterwards, these slices are warped to create a variety of shapes, and eventually they are granulated, creating different types of textures. What can escape from the strength of this impressive (and beautiful) mass of events? Modelagens is a series of 13 works that Edson Zampronha composed in the 90s. The Sinfonia Cultura Orchestra, conducted by Lutero Rodrigues, recorded this work for Cultura Television (São Paulo, Brazil), which was broadcasted in January 12th, 2003. Edson Zampronha took an active part during the rehearsals and recording sections. This is a thrilling performance! It is plenty of energy, and shows a deep comprehension of the musical language by the conductor and all members of the orchestra. Track 2 - MODELAGEM II (1995), for piano. Beatriz Balzi, Piano. How far can a piano go? Is it possible to produce new sounds using just conventional playing techniques? Can the piano produce impressive mass textures and delicate ornaments that go beyond the known limits? This piece offers that… and more! It invites the listener to enter into a new world of sensations. It is highly exploratory and enlarges the piano resources using conventional techniques in an original way. And Beatriz Balzi admirably performs it! Just a few performers achieve this high level of admirable performance. This is a unique experience that offers a very especial and brilliant moment. Track 3 - O CRESCIMENTO DA ÁRVORE SOBRE A MONTANHA (2003), Electroacoustic music. “The Growth of a Tree on a Mountain” was composed when Edson Zampronha was a guest composer at the Gabinete de Música Electroacústica (GME) in Cuenca, Spain, where he could use the historical analog synthesizer Synthi 100. The sounds that this synthesizer could produce were very musical and original indeed! They established a rich dialogue with some sounds that Edson Zampronha created using equations from chaos theory at that time. These two very different musical worlds were then connected. However, history and novelty are connected in another way. The late Beethoven is the background for this work. You will not listen to Beethoven’s music here. Beethoven is recreated in this work in a very sensitive and contemplative way. The work is like a series of variations, but the theme is absent! It is an imaginary theme that does not exist. In this work, the theme is the echo of the variations. Track 4 - MODELAGEM III (1995), for flute. Celina Charlier, flute. Open the box and see what it contains. Oh! I have been looking at the box all the time! How can I see what it has inside? Break it! A musical note is the box. It is not a sound; it is a box that contains rich sounds inside. What Modelagem III does is exactly this: it manages to break the box. But it is not easy! Once it is broken an incredible diversity of sounds is revealed! Now you can listen to this diversity, you can listen to the flute, the air, the performer’s voice, and to a sustained sound (not a note!). All of that is achieved due to the marvelous performance of Celina Charlier. She is a highly gifted performer! Her perfect technique, virtuosity and musicality outstand, showing a profound understanding of this work. Track 5 - MÁRMORE (2001), for tuba and electroacoustic. Jesús Jara, Tuba. Can you listen to a sound inside a marble block? Which music can we find there? Mármore (Marble) expose the strong contrast between the crude, solid and cold marble with poetic sound images found inside it. This is similar to a marble sculpture that blends crude marble and clear forms. Here the marble block sounds together with polished musical designs to the construction of a single and unique experience. Jesús Jara (tuba) performs this work touching perfectly the blending between the marble sounds and the melodic lines, and all extended techniques required to perform this work (singing, improvising, producing multiphonics and so on) are accomplished with an admirably excellence. Track 6 - MODELAGEM VIII (1996), for percussion and computer. Eduardo Gianesella, percussion. The computer projects the score on a screen. The score is always different. The percussionist reads the score but it is impossible to memorize this work! It is an ever first-sight reading! This work contains another performance concept: you always play by reflexes, always fresh. It is not an improvisation! The performer must play what is written! This new concept deeply connects sounds and performance: the performance is similar to the brute actions for sound production. The performer reacts to the score the same way a drum reacts to the stick. Only a great performer would perform like that, and Eduardo Gianesella is this performer! His admirable performance extracts, by pure reflexes, an impressive musicality from a small set of instruments. Track 7 - FRAGMENTATION (1999), electroacoustic music. Animal sounds from a rainforest, instrumental sounds, synthesized sounds, all together blended to form a single picture. That is the feeling of freedom offered by a fresh musical language! A complex beat unifies all sounds, melting what is perhaps impossible to be melted. Then a mass of synthesized sounds, pure morphologies, moves toward an inevitable collapse. However, this is a happy collapse! That is like a play inside a play that crashes when both plays collide. Freedom of imagination, of new realities, and of feeling fresh inside a new musical language! This work was composed at the Sound Language Lab of the Post-graduated Studies on Communication and Semiotics (PUC-SP), São Paulo, Brazil.