In focus

Photo: Patrícia Sucena de Almeida

>> Patrícia Sucena de Almeida · Playlist

Questionnaire/ Interview

· Describe your family, sound/ music, and cultural roots, highlighting one or various essential aspects defining and constituting who you are today. ·

Patrícia Sucena de Almeida: My parents have always been the main agents. Simultaneously with the general education, they encouraged me to have contact with the various artistic areas. It started at a day boarding school where, apart from regular classes, I also had Piano, Music Education, Music Ensemble, and Ballet classes. I then continued my music education at the Conservatory of Coimbra with the pianist Jorge Ly, who encouraged me to study not only the instrument, but also Music Analysis and Composition Techniques. Later I intensified my studies with the pianist Miguel Henriques in Lisbon, and with the composer João Pedro Oliveira in Aveiro, first at private lessons and then at the University, starting to plan my path in Composition.
Here I must stress the difficulty in providing an appropriate music education, sometimes for each student, as it wasn’t easy to find competent professionals, either at the musical or pedagogical level. And this made the artistic path difficult. Despite this, all the experience was and is important for one’s growth. What one is in the present is also in constant change, just like the world and the daily circumstances. We need to adjust. Making decisions leads to either positive or negative, associated consequences. My ‘motto’ has always been not to give up the way of being and thinking, and to fight, to keep this posture and attitude towards life; to be persistent, resistant, always with a critical spirit.

· Which paths led you to composition? ·

PSA: The interest in composition, encompassing various aspects, such as orchestration, composition techniques, analysis, and free creation, has appeared progressively and almost by chance. Some teachers were essential as they instilled this necessity while studying the instrument (piano), analysing, and researching. This allowed me for a better understanding of the aesthetic/ stylistic/ compositional aspects, supporting a more interiorised and deciphered performance.
Through the harmony, rhythm and other tonal-composition parameters, the mechanics of these constructions (pieces) also made me later appreciate the various 20^th-century styles, which I began to explore following the indications of some of my teachers, but also on my own initiative. I think that it’s important to mention the significance of university studies within this exploration. They gave me access to 20^th-century repertoire, scores and recordings, which I listened to and analysed compulsively. The option to follow the Composition course was taken on the advice of various teachers. I’ve given up the Instrument/ Piano course also because I’ve understood that I have the capacities within creation and technique/ analysis. This moment also coincided with an initial contact with electroacoustic music and composition during the Music Teaching course (Licentiate) at the University of Aveiro. Then there was the development and deepening of orchestration during the Master Composition course at the University of Edinburgh, and the Doctorate programme at the University of Southampton, supervised by the English composer Michael Finnissy. Apart from the more formal education, I’ve always considered essential to participate in seminars, private lessons, courses, workshops with ensembles, working with soloists and conductors. Here I shall mention composers such as Emmanuel Nunes, Jonathan Harvey, Luca Francesconi, Hilda Paredes, Gérard Grisey, Brian Ferneyhough, Mauricio Kagel, Pascal Dusapin, Luc Brewaeys; and experimental workshops and concerts with the Arditti Quartet, the pianist Ian Pace, the Gulbenkian Orchestra, L’Ensemble Itinéraire, the Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble, the Remix Ensemble, OrchestrUtópica, as well as with the conductors Guillaume Bourgonge, Pedro Neves, Pedro Amaral, Pedro Carneiro.

· Do you follow your path according to a plan (for example, knowing that within ‘x’ years you will meet the ‘y’ goals)? Or perhaps the reality is too chaotic to create such determinations… ·

PSA: The professional planning and planning at other levels, has followed different paths. Embarking upon composition has happened almost by chance, as I mentioned earlier, and for this reason it hasn’t been planned. What came next started being more defined, since I’ve made the decision to follow the path of research, finishing my Postdoc in 2013. Since then, I haven’t followed what I’d planned before, due to various, institutional constraints. Teaching at University would probably be the most indicated choice. However, due to various difficulties in a country not engaging their researchers in the institutions where they’re developing their projects, I’ve been made to cross ‘mountains and valleys’, never moving away from music teaching. Mentioning the situations that sometimes involve forced decisions, makes it possible to somehow explain the creative process and its connection with the life of each one of us, balancing between the chaos and the organisation, essential for the final equilibrium. For me, the chaos is the beginning of the total process. It’s constituted of a turmoil of impulses emerging from various sources, and which I’ve already referred as the sources of inspirational impulses. This chaos is different from the life’s outer chaos. The organisation of the former one – mental/ creative – is essential at a certain moment. One needs to choose the essential. Even if things could still be changed, it’s necessary for the creation of an ‘artistic object’. In the latter case – human/ world – it’s impossible to aspire to this organisation. As individuals we don’t possess this kind of capacity. Thus, I think that it’s important to distinguish between these two types of chaos. The individual one doesn’t have to be in consonance with the collective one. I think that there’s also another type of ‘chaos’ – the one that leads us to the lack of time and mental space for the creation, being in this case in consonance with the outer one. What is imposed to us, at a certain moment, in ‘life’, doesn’t give us the time and space to be peaceful, in ‘silence’, and creating, which demands total concentration and dedication.
It's strange if someone has a planned life. One shouldn’t have to many expectations.

· What in your opinion can a music discourse express and mean? ·

PSA: The music discourse with or without the coexistence of ‘other parallel discourses’ interacting between each other, is indissociable from the person who’s writing, from his or her life. They are connected and ‘live’ simultaneously, creating a whole. This discourse is modified during each path, according to the experiential circumstances, the ‘state’ of alert and not stagnation, along with an inner development. It’s a mean for transmission and expression of emotions and thoughts, during our stay in this world in a given time. However, it’s a discourse/ ‘other discourses’ requiring a study and maturation throughout time, being coordinated with the thought, research, and invention, so that it becomes a personal discourse. Thus, we can’t put this discourse/ ‘other discourses’ on the same level with the daily direct, and spontaneous forms. We can use them (the direct forms) as a base for exploration through a refinement, using a discourse – music in my case –, with or without ‘other parallel discourses’.

· Are there any extra-musical sources influencing your music in a significant way? ·

PSA: I’m not indifferent to other artistic areas, for example, painting, sculpture, installation, photography, literature, film, or dance, among other ones, even when the aspect explored in a creation is purely instrumental. Furthermore, I must mention some music history periods that keep influencing me, such as the baroque, romanticism, and the 20^th and 21^st centuries. Here I can refer Stravinsky and his polyrhythmic structures, motivic development, the use of traditional forms, and serialism; Schoenberg and the development of atonality, dodecaphonic techniques, and the hexachord inverse combinatory practice, the invariances, the aggregates, the derived series, the Sprechstimme; Lutosławski, and the texture construction, using small interval groups, or rhythmic desynchrony; Penderecki and the use of modern and unorthodox, instrumental/ vocal performance techniques, graphic notation, cluster textures; Ferneyhough and his rhythmic complexity, his tendency for material creating systems and formal delimiters, complex notation; Kagel and the involvement with the instrumental theatre; Stockhausen and electronic music, spatialization and scenic music. There are always historical, aesthetic, and stylistic convergences, etc., between the various areas, and thus my interest in their exploration. I don’t treat them only as sources of inspiration, but they can be fundamental elements in a creation, marking their presence, and interacting with each other. Thereby, in the introductory notes for each creation we can find indications concerning the theatrical performance, scenography, choreography, photography, text, …, among others.

· When it comes to your creative practice, do you compose your music from an embryo idea or after having elaborated a global form? In other words, do you start with the microform moving towards the macro one, or is it the other way round? How is this process developed? ·

PSA: It is necessary to define the various phases of the creative process. In a first phase (with an already defined idea, or still not defined), one initiates a work that can include not only research in music, but also more general artistic research. They are the ‘sources of inspirational impulse’. These sources can become essential advocates of ideas and their development, or they can be present as interventions, interacting with the music or vice versa, thus characterising the work as interactive. In a second phase, one applies a process involving the relation with the title, to define the sonic, rhythmical, and formal plans. The titles are written in Latin, as one’s intention is to go to the roots of the Portuguese language, and to find the exact intended meaning. What emerges is the connection between the titles’ words and the sonic material, defined for every creation with specific methods, implying invented rules that transform the Latin words into a musical code (composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Schumann, Maurice Ravel, and Alban Berg, etc., showed interest in codes and numbers). The methods used for the development of the melodic material can be related with the serial practice, though not integral serialism, but rather associated with the existence of a scale with a certain number of related notes and intervals, generated by means of the process referred earlier (letters of the title), and the chromatic transposition. When it comes to rhythmical processes, these ones involve transformations of diminution and augmentation of values. They are used in accordance with the form and the development of the ‘narrative’, also involving the direct transposition of ideas to gestures, based on sonic, visual, or other ideas. Within the formal plan, one conceives a pre-delineation, with key, climatic (arrival), and resolutive points, whose initial scheme can naturally be subject to changes during the composition process. I define a general form with sections/ parts – macro form and subsections also dividing the general structure, and which are related with the various development phases of the ‘narrative’, but which can function as a ‘scenario’ not only for the ones who ‘write’, but also for the ones who ‘read’. My intention is not to have a closed interpretation, but also not the one that gives margin for a ‘rampant’ escape. I aim at a rigorous interpretation and in this sense at a detailed writing at various levels, complementing the associated performance notes.
In a third phase one initiates and develops the writing process, which’s quite time consuming. When the writing is finished, in the last fourth phase, it’s being revised, finalised, and complemented with everything that’s envisioned.
As I refer, various elements interacting with each other can coexist within a work, and they characterise it as disciplinary and interactive. What’s also necessary is a performance script, accompanying the creation and which’s being equally constructed, so that all the elements work as a whole – the scenery, the light, and the action, etc.

· How in your music practice do you determine the relation between the reasoning and the creative impulses or the inspiration? ·

PSA: The so-called inspiration doesn’t emerge without activating our interior, what always implies research, work, and awareness. Each one of us has inspiring-impulse sources, coming from other artistic areas (or not), or even from everyday life situations, or the world. We can’t just remain seated waiting for the inspiration to knock at our door. It’s obvious that it exists and gives impulse to the whole Human activity. However, it is necessary to invest our time to initiate the creative process, in a definite, and as-rational-as-possible manner. As I mentioned, in my case this process involves diverse phases. After ‘collecting’ and selecting the sources of inspirational impulses, it’s necessary to activate the rationality, to organise the various levels of a new creation. For me the inspiration is also a kind of ‘strength’ which makes us follow the path within every creation, without giving up, and, if necessary, changing it according to what we intend as a result.

· To what extent do the new electronic and digital instruments open for you different paths, and when can they become constraining? ·

PSA: Despite having studied electroacoustic music it wasn’t a path that I was interested in following, and presently I keep the same attitude. According to each project, I continue to preserve the interaction between the instrumentalist/ composer, or other interveners.
The possible use of other, non-instrumental sonorities is never discarded. It can involve the recording of sound, perhaps its manipulation, but letting it ‘sound’ as it is, without its complete transformation. The electroacoustic world hasn’t surprised me yet; from one work to another it feels to me like ‘copying’ and being deprived of the originality of the one using these means. I don’t feel that this sonic tool is explored, but rather included as a ‘remedy’. Everyone’s way of writing can also influence (or not) the opening of these paths, just as the influences that we’ve had within our path.
I don’t find these instruments constraining. The result of any creation can be constraining. The use of the extended techniques can still be constraining, even in this century. The involvement of instrumentalists in actions that imply being an ‘actor’ and having other functions, is still constraining. To go to a concert with 20^th and 21^st century repertoire is still constraining. All this obviously not from my perspective, but from the perspective of the present world (still).

· Do research, experimentation and invention constitute to you indissociable elements of the music creation and, generally, of the Art? ·

PSA: The referred situations are not only indissociable, but also essential. The research continues at various levels, either a musical or a general artistic one. Just as being aware of the world that surrounds us and its mutations, the research takes us to certain paths. We can’t walk away from the world even if the creation is at a certain moment an ‘individual’ and private act (though also collaborative in certain circumstances). We can’t walk away, or otherwise we’ll be stagnated as ‘artists’ and as human beings. There’s always a research phase that can be continued throughout creation, either for a specific work or proliferating for other, future situations. The experimentation can have two meanings implying the writing and, parallelly, exploratory attempts within situations that can personally be new; and still, when being put in practice (concert), there’s the experimentation of certain situations that haven’t even been written, but which can work in the most efficient way or even be directed towards the intended result. The invention is associated with these two items. It results from the previous situations, being related with the imagination which constantly needs stimuli, such as research and experimentation.

· What does the term ‘transdisciplinary’ mean to you, and what is the importance of this approach in your path? ·

PSA: The work I develop can include the coexistence of various, interventive, and artistic facets, interacting between each other, and characterising the result as interactive. In an article written for the Glosas journal, I’ve explored a concept defining who I am and what I do – Transversal Multi Art, which has emerged from a study of the terminologies regarding interactive artistic practices. In this sense I refer John Cage and Performance Art, Mauricio Kagel and Instrumental Theatre, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Scenic Music.
Some of the 20^th and 21^st century creations that I include within the transversal multi art practice, aren’t defined with terms such as ‘theatrical’, ‘musical’, or ‘opera’. They are rather characterised with the convergence of disciplines for a unity and cohesion. This practice claims this unity, and it’s based on an organising thought. It seeks to stimulate the comprehension of the totality, with the articulation of elements moving between, beyond and through the various disciplines. Its attitude is empathetic and open, not only meaning the disciplines’ collaboration, not implying addition, but rather organisation and coexistence. Thus, to frame the transversal multi art, it’s indispensable to retake some contents regarding the referred individualities and their respective practice, since they act as conducting lines to comprehend this phenomenon.
Cage – making part of the Experimental Music category, which is considered to be the impulse for this transversality path, influenced by the artistic, interactive movements of the Performance Art, such as Futurism, Dadaism/ Surrealism, and Happening, and by the practical experimentation at the Black Mountain College and New School for Social Research –, provided means of reflection and creation for new artistic models and concepts, not only with the valorisation of the ‘creative-composer’s act’, the ‘performance-musician’, the ‘perception-audience’, but also with the development of the attitudes coming from the chance and indeterminacy operations. He made contribution with concepts/ practices concerning the language confluence; the functional importance of the material elements (scenery, props, costumes, make-up, lighting); the fundamental parameters (space, time, body); and the singular and coordinated relevance of the creator’s, performer’s (musician’s, actor’s, dancer’s, etc.), director’s, choreographer’s, technical team’s, and the audience’s attitudes.
Kagel – making part of the Instrumental Theatre category, which is a designation used by Heinz-Klaus Metzger in 1958 at the Düsseldorf Gallery to refer Cage’s “Music Walk” (1958). It was applied by Kagel, with theoretical substantiation and definition, in the 1960s. He was influenced by the 1950s Bauhaus (Buenos Aires), having joined the integral serialism with aleatory techniques and live electronics; he was inspired by the Fluxus, questioning the limits of music, composition, of art and the creative process. Despite being considered a multifaceted artist, one can distinguish here guidelines, based on the composition as a process and not a product, referring to the outside and related with it. Despite giving attention to the structural cohesion and stylistic consciousness, he takes the technical composition, the style, and the creative result, as means for intellectual inquiry, where music isn’t conceived as an objective, autonomous structure, but it acts as a social and cultural commentary. Kagel made his contribution with concepts/ practices concerning the reconstruction of the traditional performance totality; the theatrical quality within the music performance of visual and cinematic nature; the oscillation between roles (duplicity) making part of the instrumental performance; the inexistence of the role, symbolic time, and narrative representation: the reference to a reality outside itself through metonymy and not representation.
Stockhausen – making part of the Scenic Music category (which is a designation used by the composer himself to define his research in the field of music and theatre), enhances the creation in various dimensions (sound, texture, gesture, text, image, space, etc.) and their connection. He subjects them to a specific global organisation, obeying the principles ruling the structure of the sound matter, the subjective vision of the director, and the personal version of the spectator. He appeals to all the senses, proposing the development and perfectioning of the sensibility and the capacity for comprehension. Within these perceptive extensions the spiritual side is characterised by the (always increasing) plurality of meanings. This interaction certainly evokes the idea of Gesamtkunstwerk, with the unification between music, theatre, dance, and plastic arts, being a synthesis culminating in the total work of art. However, one doesn’t intend to include Scenic Music in this aesthetic concept, since it carries historical connotations from the end of the 19^th century, and it can be considered the prehistory of Scenic Music’s creative directives. Stockhausen made his contribution with concepts/ practices concerning the composition by means of formulas (Formelkomposition); the inexistence of narrativity; the de-hierarchisation between music and text; the relationship between sound and image; the necessity for research by the musicians as ‘actors’; the adaptation of the space with the specific and precise, mise-en-scène indications.
After the approach focused on these three, interactive practices, my path is headed towards transversal multi art. It equally implies the creation with interactive molds, where all the facets are ‘explored’ simultaneously, at the same level/ plan of parallel lines, using the information/ content of every aspect. To culminate in a transversal result there’s study/ research, and this transversality creates various interpretative angles.

· If you hadn’t followed the path of a composer, what alternative paths would you have taken? ·

PSA: Contradicting slightly this question, my path is not the one of a composer, but as a human being in the world, trying in some way to sustain a facet that doesn’t have objective explanation. It is thus necessary, and even enriching, to have other parallel activities, for example as a teacher, but also interconnecting other areas either as a ‘composer’ or in creative collaboration in areas presently regarding image and text. There are implications of having various, simultaneous activities, such as the lack of time (sometimes ‘mental’) to materialise the projects that require creation. The best way to face this situation is to think that every experience, independently of what it is, can be enriching and makes us ‘evolve’. It’s almost impossible to lead a life dedicated only to ‘composition’. There’s no solid structure making it possible to survive solely from this activity, due to the lack of regular commissions, organisation of concerts and festivals as a way of diffusion and exchange. In this sense the path to follow needs to bypass this situation, requiring our adaptation and acceptance.

· What is the importance of space and timbre in your music? ·

PSA: As I mentioned, the practice integrated in the transversal multi art implies considering the various elements where one includes the space and its study, and the resulting timbre/ sound/ its origin. When a creative project is proposed, I immediately think of all these elements, and how they can be united. Even if purely instrumental, we can have specific annotations in the performance notes about the various elements which we find essential beyond the music discourse. There’s always an underlying organising thought, articulating elements that coexist in the time and space.

· Which of your works do you consider turning points in your path as a composer? ·

PSA: When referring the works that I find important, I consider various implicit factors (and not only the results in itself): the sources of the inspiring impulse, the instrumentation, the ensemble, or the soloist, to whom it is written and in which circumstances, as well as the experience that the composition provided, the involvement with the performers, and the public presentation.
In this sense I should mention: the orchestration/ composition of works originally written for chamber ensemble, experienced directly with an orchestra during the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th Gulbenkian Workshops for Young Portuguese Composers (Lisbon), conducted by Guillaume Bourgogne; the experience with the New Music Studio Ensemble from Moscow conducted by Igor Dronov, which performed the work “Solitudo” (1998-1999) for flute, clarinet, viola, cello and piano, chosen for the Gaudeamus Muziekweek 2001 in Amsterdam (this was one of my first experiences outside Portugal); studying in the UK and the beginning of a new compositional phase with British composers, as well as with the Belgian composer Luc Brewaeys; the composition of the first string quartet “Dulce Delirium” (2005) for the Arditti Quartet in the framework of the Centre Acanthes workshop in Metz (2005), posteriorly performed by the same quartet at the Atlantic Waves Festival in London (2006), as well as at the Rectory Auditorium of the University of Aveiro, and at the Belém Arts Centre in Lisbon in the context of the Aveiro International Festival (2007); the composition of the second string quartet “Nocturna Itinera” (2008) also for the Arditti Quartet, integrated in the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt (2008), with the possibility of a day-by-day experimentation and composition during intense rehearsals at the 2nd Blonay Workshop for Contemporary Quartet Music (2008); the composition, until today, of five piano pieces, including “Fatum Hominis” (2003-2004) for piano and two actors, “In Occulto” (2009) for piano and actor, and “Reditus ad vitam” (2013) for piano, actor, dancers/ film, performed by the pianists Filip Fak at the ISCM World New Music Days 2005/ 23^rd Music Biennale in Zagreb, and by Ian Pace at the Ny Musikk (Oslo, 2005), the York Late Music Festival (2006), the Momentum Concert Cycle (2009), New Music Festival – Transit (2009), and at the concert season of the City University of London (2010); “Vacuum Corporis” (2016) for piano and film presented at the Transit Festival, Leuven (2017) in Belgium; “Desperatio” (2017-2018) for piano and film performed at the City University of London (2018) and the SPAutores in Lisbon (2019); the experience of composing a miniature to become part of a collective work by 25 Portuguese composers, “Sublime Volans” (2010) for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello and piano, in the framework of the 25^th Miso Music Portugal’s anniversary, performed by the Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble at the French-Portuguese Institute in Lisbon (2011), during the Sond’Ar-te International Forum for Young Composers at the Goethe-Institut in Lisbon (2011), at the Korea Foundation – Cultural Center Gallery, Seul (2011), in Guimarães – European Capital of Culture 2012, and by the MusicaQuLacoza ensemble in Nagoya, Japan (2020); the composition and revision of the performance/ film notes of the work “Tempus Fugit” (2010) for chamber ensemble, photography and film, premiered by the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble conducted by Guillaume Bourgogne (Montreal, 2015); the composition of “Instabile Tempus” (2016) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, voices and scenery, and the various presentations of the work enabling not only a revision of the scenery, but also the evolution, from concert to concert, of the performance, presented by the Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble (Lisbon, 2016, and 2021 in Coimbra and Caldas da Rainha); the composition for a specific and challenging space of “Imaginis umbra est” (2019) for guitar(s) and voice(s) (Lisbon, 2019), based on the theme “Em Louvor da Água” (“In Praise of Water”). The original request was to write a solo guitar piece, which was then expanded to two performers, whose roles are being confused to explore not only their various facets as multifunctional artists (instrument, voice, body, action), but also the acoustic and architectonic qualities of the Mãe D’Água space in Amoreiras. The intended result is the ambitious formula of a ‘total work’, due to the interaction not only with the space and its qualities but also with the audience, exploring the performers’ role up to its limits. The guitarist becomes a multifunctional performer not only at the level of traditional instrumental performance, but also through the exploration of extended techniques (just to mention the percussion sounds within a scale chosen by the musician according to prior indications), the use of the voice with words/ phrases and specific, established ‘sonorities’ (breathing, hiccup, shouting, among others), the use of the body moving in the central square, on the sides and in the area surrounding the audience. The singer is the guitarist’s collaborator being a mutually merging extension, a ‘double’, and who also uses a guitar, the voice, and the body. When it comes to the ‘story’, it is a structural element of the total discourse, being divided into various sections, intimately and jointly related with the movements in the space. The characters (Echo and Narcissus) are represented by the two always exchanging performers. They can be considered a unique character, where one performer is the duplication of the other, that is, in auditive terms, Echo is the example of the ‘repetition’ of the sound, and Narcissus, the reflection/ ‘repetition of the image in the water’.
Apart from the previously mentioned elements – the inspiring-impulse sources, the instrumentation, the group/ soloists that premiered a piece, its dedicatees and the circumstances of writing, the experience provided by the writing, the involvement with the intervenors, and the public presentation – recently the explored direction has encompassed the music research implying the study of works by other composers and their use at different levels (structural, melodic, rhythmical, …), allied with a personal discourse of ‘disguised quotations’ (‘to modify the manner or appearance of a reference or allusion’, as I mention in the introduction to these works). Within this group I can mention the work “Ludi Aeterni” (2022) for flute, piano, scenery, performance, and video. It includes a selection of fragments from pieces by Bela Bartók and John Cage, which have integrated, in a shredded and ‘reorchestrated’ manner, a personal discourse. They function as pillars of a musical and theatrical construction with a cyclical component (common to the compositional process of the already written pieces). This component is related with the repeatability of the human experiences and the children ‘games’. They are reproduced and evolve on a daily basis, appearing almost imperceptibly in the passage/ discourse with the whistling wind and the noises of the swing strings squeaking when triggered, forward and backward in a children park. Another work in this group is “augurium #1”, which’s being presently composed, and which can probably multiply to other works. It has emerged from the research on the music of Olivier Messiaen, being integrated in the “Trio de Damas” project, paying tribute to the three Portuguese pianists of great importance for the 20th century culture: Helena Sá e Costa, Nella Maíssa and Olga Prats. The piece will make part of the concert programme by the pianist Taíssa Poliakova Cunha. In this case there are various elements which work as inspiring-impulse sources, and which are sonically explored – scenery (steep, carved with peaks and stone blocks), the flight of the birds (quick and gentle), the birdsongs (its variants), the tragic shout (aggressive), and the angel’s song (ethereal). These elements build a landscape where a song, a shout, as well as the birdsong emerges within a formal organisation divided into seven sections. The climax is achieved in the fifth section, with the quick and gentle flight of the birds and the tragic, aggressive shout, which’s repeated and developed in relation to its first appearance in the second section.

· How do you listen to music? Is it a more rational (analytical) or emotional process? ·

PSA: To Listen/ to See as a whole and facing the diverse styles and typification of the presented work, is also a process involving an emotional and analytical posture, possibly different than in the case of someone without a musical/ artistic background. The two processes are joined together since it’s impossible to ‘escape’ from the analysis inherent to the thought/ emotion. Even if it’s out of the need for research and getting information to share with the students, or for one’s own benefit to enrich or develop the creative work, the habit of analysing music historically is the ‘price to pay’ for someone with a musical/ artistic background, sometimes feeling the need to enjoy it without any explanation.

· In the Interview given to the MIC.PT in 2016, the composer João Madureira said that ‘music is philosophy and politics, which is a way of inhabiting the world’ ¹. Do you feel close to this affirmation? ·

PSA: It is a way of inhabiting the world and a way of surviving for the ones who have the need to join their experience/ existence with their creative being, communicating the result through the music and/ or other areas. In this case it is a means allowing to preserve a personal discourse, being transformed throughout life, communicating (or not) what one feels in a specific moment. While listening/ seeing everyone can feel affinity with this communication, and it’s simultaneously a rational and an emotional experience.

· Do you prefer to work isolated in the ‘tranquillity of the countryside’ or in the middle of the ‘urban confusion’? ·

PSA: It depends on the phase of the composition work. It depends on the day. Almost every day there’s a change in the attitude according to what life asks of us. There must be a constant, day-to-day adaptation. The inner silence is more important than the outer one. But I also need silence around me. But I also (purposeful repetition) can work in the turmoil. Thus, I can’t define it. In the first phase, the ‘communication’ with the exterior and the research is fundamental, and in this sense, the inner ‘confusion’ is permanent, independently from the exterior. The second phase already requires more definition and decision, and for this reason an inner and outer tranquillity is extended towards the third phase. This one, since it constitutes the moment of writing, is a long path being completed in the fourth phase, with revisions and finalisation. Summing up – each phase has its particularity allowing it to be more, or less tranquil. The important thing is to define the inner and the outer ‘space’ in this process.

· Try to evaluate the current situation of Portuguese music, referring to the situation of the composers and pointing out your main concerns. ·

PSA: To evaluate the present situation, I need to mention again, as it happened in a previous interview, that it’s quite unequal at various levels, so there needs to be a reflection on the various aspects: Teaching, System, and Means.
TEACHING. When referring to any artistic situation, it’s essential to analyse its teaching, the professionals involved and the audience, which will define the present and future situations. The number of students following the secondary music education continues to be reduced, not only because it’s an area that doesn’t provide sustainability, but it also reflects the influence of the parents when it comes to the ‘life’ decisions of their children. Thus, there’s a constant concern (beyond what has been aforementioned) to spread as much as possible among the students, the 20^th and 21^st century music panorama, not only during classes, but also through the organisation of moments with external intervenors, aiming at the human/ artistic development, always synchronised with the critical spirit. It’s our duty to discover, encourage and guide the students’ diverse potentials, directing them towards a possible artistic field. It’s necessary to reshape learnings, to meet new ideas in accordance with the present.
SYSTEM (concerts). Unquestionably, the possibilities of change always carry the counterreaction, such as the overload for the one who aims at putting in practice ‘innovative’ or unconventional projects. It is a tremendous resistance/ persistence battle. What remains is the difficulty in organising concerts with programmes dedicated to 20^th and 21^st century music, and thus it is even more difficult when these programmes include interactive and interdisciplinary projects, requiring not only instruments, but also other conditions for their presentation. The problematic acceptation by the public, still not sufficiently ‘educated’ to adhere to this kind of projects, influences the mainstream ‘choices’, which remain in the pre-20^th-century repertoire, and this one, at the start, has audience and necessary support to meet the requirements at all the levels, without expenses, and with profit.
(festivals and commissions)
When it comes to festivals (including the ones with new commissioned works), their organisation is necessary to provide a continuous exchange of knowledge and experience not only for the creators, but also, more generally for the public. Without festivals or commissions providing some stability (for the creator) in the period of composition and presentation, the creators will continue to write only when they have time (since they need to have a job to survive) or as a creative necessity. It’s obvious that we can’t compare our reality with the other ones, but the existence of Contemporary Music Festivals in some countries is clear. When they’re international, the participation of composers, musicians or simply of listeners (according to the possibilities) is essential as it enables the contact and work within other artistic realities, and with other professionals. Only in this way, and not remaining an ‘island’, we will manage to make our choices and follow a path, which, nonetheless, can always have detours.
HUMAN RESOURCES. When it comes to human resources, there’s an urgent need to valorise the individuals (creators) from the generations that now feel capable of sharing and forming ‘schools’ in Portugal, in view of the solidification not only of the knowledge, but also of the sensibilities.
I can refer to the situation of the scholarship holders, which has affected me personally. They’re involved in research projects, but don’t feel any kind of encouragement to dedicate themselves to their country, for various reasons. They’re ‘recruited’ to teach during their research project, in view of a future workplace, and this takes away their time for the individual research. They are left without professional security when the research is over.
There are also empty ‘spaces’ of knowledge which need to be filled and which could be occupied by highly qualified people if the door was opened to them, bearing in mind the formation and creation of knowledge and artistic currents. Without neglecting the previous centuries, these ‘spaces’ should cover contents directed towards the contemporaneity either at the instrumental, theoretical, or compositional levels.

· What are your present and future projects? ·

PSA: I am divided between Composition teaching and writing. Regarding the teaching, I’ve been involved in the reformulation of the Analysis and Composition Techniques subjects, with the improvement of the essential learnings, including various facets such as the Analysis, Specific Composition Techniques, Free Creation, Orchestration, and a Parallel Project (one’s own invention), which includes two parts, the Contemporary Experimental Workshop and the Inteir’arte. It has been a complicated path, implying a total change and its challenging application. It’s possible to follow the path and the evolution of a student, and year by year it’s essential to adapt the situations that don’t work, or to introduce new ideas. Regarding the creation, I continue the interactive interdisciplinary path, even if some of the results could be only instrumental projects, relying on the research from the post-Doctorate period. It was focused on the analytical study of the already mentioned themes, and on the elaboration and application of new concepts in compositional models, having as inherent fundamentals the union between diverse artistic areas and music. Presently I am elaborating/ revising the work “Ludi Aeterni” when it comes to the video integrated in the piece. I’m also creating a teaser to be projected outside the concert hall. I’m also writing the solo piano piece “augurium #1” influenced by Olivier Messiaen’s music. It will probably be included in a cycle of pieces, with a future integration of video or photography. There’s also the writing of two pieces for chamber groups with different instrumental sets, and which also imply the research and influence of other composers (still to be chosen). I also emphasize the collaborative projects with photography, film, and text, within regular exhibitions of the Pescada Número 5 collective. They’ll be taking place during 2022.

· In one of the 2020 interviews the Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas said that ‘the new art creators act as yeast in the society’ ². What is, in your opinion, the role that art music plays in the society and how is it possible to increase the importance of this role? ·

PSA: Statement. “The composer’s role/ activity as creator is as important as all the other roles/ activities in the world. It doesn’t mean becoming someone intellectually or socially distinct, either in relation to other human beings or other ‘genres’ of composition, despite frequently feeling as such, due to the simple vanity or the status given to the composer for social/ historical reasons. A creator should be reflective and open towards the music panorama and other forms of art. This can lead to the development of new concepts and models, for future application in the work. Still, it doesn’t mean constantly putting emphasis on the ‘unique’ and the ‘new’, yet the questioning, research and discussion should always be present in the creative act and in the consideration of our role as human beings. Any kind of artistic act involves the duality of stability and change. The ceaseless exchange between these two realities enables the fluidity of the act, preventing stagnation. In this sense, and bearing in mind the detailed description above, the contribution of a creator/ educator is formative, creative, cultural, human, enriching and strengthening, in this case, the culture and education in Portugal.” (Patrícia Sucena de Almeida, interview from December 2015, © MIC.PT)

Patrícia Sucena de Almeida, June-August, 2022
© MIC.PT

¹ Interview with João Madureira realised by the MIC.PT in 2016: LINK.
² Interview with Georg Friedrich Haas conducted by Filip Lech in June, 2020, and available online on the Culture.pl website: LINK.

Patrícia Sucena de Almeida · Playlist