Espai sonor V

Josep Maria Mestres Quadreny treated his scores as a work of art. Retaining their formal beauty and highly conceptual and experimental nature, they were referred to as ‘visual music’. Such is the case with Aronada (1971) – a word derived from Sanskrit and referring to the ‘circle of audible sounds’ –, a targetshaped score that can be played by any instrument for an indefinite length of time. Written by his friend Joan Brossa, Suite bufa (1966) is a theatrical action of linked sequences between a piano, a soprano and a dancer. In Quartet de Catroc (1962) – the title is again by Brossa –, a graphic score in three movements can be played at different tempos chosen at random by the musicians, thus providing an infinite combination of sound textures. Tres cànons en homenatge a Galileu (1965) uses live electronic media, in which the performer plays a piece that is recorded on tape, and which is then played back introducing different delays, so creating a perfect threevoice canon. Doble Concert per a Ones Martenot (1970) is the first work in Spain – and one of the first in the world – to be written entirely by computer.