El silencio después
(The silence that follows)
2 Soloists (Mezzo, Tenor) & Symphony Orchestra
2.2.3.2. – 4.2.3 – Perc. (Timp. +2) – harp – strings (15 min.)
Music by Juan J. Colomer
Text by Javier Bonet Silvestre.
Premiered November 17th. 2023
Maite Beaumont (Mezzo); Joan Martín-Royo (Baritone)
Orquesta Nacional de España; Josep Pons (conductor)
Recorded live at Auditorio Nacional (Madrid) on Nov. 19th., 2023
This piece is about suicide. It uses texts by Javier Bonet Silvestre, that were discovered posthumously by their family.
I wanted to write this piee both as a homage to him and to bring awareness to a subject that tragically affects many lives.
The title refers to 3 specific silences:
1. The long-awaited mental silence of those who suffer from some psychological disorder, the need to banish the existential noise that corrodes, distorts and prevents enjoyment;
2. The silence of those who remain, a void where sound barely propagates, and everything is perceived as filtered through a veil of unreality;
3. The gag that we impose on ourselves, out of stigma, out of helplessness, out of not knowing how to react, and it makes us talk about it in an aseptic way, with neutral terms, out of fear of hurting, of being insensitive, for not knowing what to say.
The strength of the text is given by its honesty, a sincerity that comes from the depths and allows us to clearly access the inner world of the writer. It also has the rawness of being real, and reflecting a situation that is repeated thousands of times each year, more lethal than a virus and difficult to detect, since the stigma associated with mental illness and the need for help make those who suffer from it try to hide it or overcome it on your own.
Consequently, I have tried to present the music as naked as possible, chords and melody, with a simple orchestration, avoiding elaborate sound textures or other elements that were not strictly necessary to develop the musical discourse.
Notes by Juan J. Colomer
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