Celephaïs (2005)
in memoriam Wolfgang Stryi
The idea for 'Celephaïs' emerged during conversations with Wolfgang Stryi (who at the
time was the clarinetist / saxophonist of the Ensemble Modern) long before his tragic death.
Although I was biased against the slightest possibility of a piece for contrabass clarinet and electronics
(due to the unbelievable and unlimited tonal richness of the instrument), I finally agreed to proceed in
that direction. The single reason I had for this decision was my desire to make of the piece a
'solo with accompaniment'.
I used Wolfgang‘s extraordinary improvisational talents as the material for the electronic:
I recorded him in my studio and filtered, cut, looped and edited his improvisation which was about
twenty minutes long. The result (my composition) would give him a basis upon which he could
're-interpret', live, what he had already played, thus making the piece into an interaction between two
worlds (composed / improvised). The limits of these two worlds disappeared or became very unclear.
All sounds on the piece are contrabass clarinet sounds.
'Celephaïs' is named after a short story by H. P. Lovecraft
Wolfgang Stryi, contrabass clarinet
Héctor Moro, electronics
© héctor moro