Zeruan - María Eugenia Luc

Zeruan (Basque for “In heaven”), completed in 2020, is dedicated to the saxophone quartet Ensemble du Bout du Monde. In this work, María Eugenia Luc explores the unique sonic potential of the saxophone with the aim of shaping an initial conceptual idea: the sky as infinite, an unfathomable space of unlimited possibilities.

The piece opens with a recurring pattern built from three contrasting timbral gestures: a short, low attack (tongue ram) in the lower instruments of the quartet, a high sustained soprano note that gradually dissolves into a bisbigliando, and an aeolic sound on the baritone saxophone. This pattern reappears in various transformations throughout the first part of the work. Over time, its elements detach from one another, evolving into independent layers of percussive sounds (slap, tongue ram, key strokes), harmonic textures (bisbigliando, trills, tremolos, multiphonics, arpeggios), and breath-based effects.

Zeruan thus unfolds through a process of deconstruction, breaking apart the initial pattern so that each component gains autonomy and develops a distinct identity. After a brief yet forceful baritone cadence—an improvised creation by Don-Paul Kahl of the quartet, based on a pattern suggested by the composer—the score concludes with an expansive coda in which noise once again takes center stage.

(Program note written by Mikel Chamizo, edited by Don-Paul Kahl)