Works

Instrumentation (detailed)

Percussion

4 Marimba

Performer(s) Notes

Trained in traditional composition but connected to new technologies from an early age, José Alberto Gomes has worked on multiple fronts, including music written for classical instruments (almost always accompanied by electronics), pure electronics, functional music for theater and cinema, and sound art (sound sculptures or installations). No Moon falls into the first of these categories, linking up with other pieces for percussion and electronics, such as Proyector I, for vibraphone and tape (2009-14); NI, for multi-percussion and electronics (2014); Tríptico, for marimba and tape (2015); and Proyector II, for multi-percussion and electronics (2016). Percussion is clearly one of the main focuses of his compositional work, resulting not only from his interest in the timbral possibilities of this instrumental group, but also from collaborations he has developed with instrumentalists such as João Tiago Dias, Nuno Aroso, and Jorge Lima.

No Moon shares several characteristics with some of these pieces: a contemplative and immersive atmosphere, almost ritualistic, far removed from the typical directionality of Western classical music; the use of electronics as a more continuous layer that serves as a backdrop to the instrumental component, giving it greater depth; and the ambiguity between instruments and electronics, in which, due to the use of recorded sounds of the instruments in the electronic part, it sometimes becomes difficult to know whether what we hear is played by a human instrumentalist or released from a computer.

The piece also has more particular features. Perhaps the most notable is the approach to the marimba quartet as if it were a single (large) instrument spread across the space, in the sense that we do not hear the instruments individually, but rather a rhythmically and timbrically rich whole in which the four instruments merge as if they were one. These textures are generally very continuous and oscillate between static and contemplative moments (longer) and frenetic and hyperactive moments (usually shorter).

Here and there, echoes of minimalism, Ligeti, or Michael Gordon can be heard, among other references and quotations from more distant languages, such as Messiaen's.

Work	Type	Date	Organization/Event	Venue	Town	Country	Performers	Notes	Inv Row
No Moon	Premiere	2017/Jun/02	Percussão Extraordinária	O'culto da Ajuda	Lisboa	Portugal	Drumming Marimba Quartet: Pedro Gois, marimba André Dias, marimba João Dias, marimba Miguel Bernat, marimba	Notes	estreia em Portugal
estreia em Portugal

Documents
	Type (+ sub-type)	Cover/edition title Document title	Authors	Referring to	Publisher	Date
	Audio	Portuguese Marimba Quartets  José Alberto Gomes· No Moon		no moon José Alberto Gomes	Drumming - Grupo de Percussão	2025 2025