HIGH STRANGENESS (2026) – ca. 19′30″
I. Tempo d’Attacco, II. Tempo di Mezzo, III. Arioso, IV. Finale
Instrumentation: WOODWIND & PIANO QUARTET
FLUTE, CLARINET (in Bb), BASSOON, PIANO
License: © 2026 Alexandre Casaccia (SACEM). All rights reserved
PROGRAM NOTE
High Strangeness, quartet for piano and winds, navigates the subtle boundary between classical form and dreamlike disintegration. Structured in four movements, the piece unfolds as a dialogue between order and its erosion—which the composer refers to as a process of deformation. Unlike traditional variation, where a theme evolves internally through melodic, harmonic, or rhythmic transformation, here the emphasis lies on transforming the context in which musical ideas appear. Musical materials may recur almost identical, yet sound altered or re-signified due to their new surroundings—producing an effect that is at once surreal and familiar.
High Strangeness thus dances along the faultline of perception—lucid, haunting, and impeccably strange—offering a meditation on repetition, perception, and the instability of meaning. The result is a kind of musical hallucination: structured, detailed, but always threatening to drift out of frame. The title itself, borrowed from the vocabulary of paranormal studies, gestures toward this duality: High Strangeness evokes something undeniably real yet faintly impossible. In this piece, classical conversation meets the surreal logic of dreams, and the listener is invited to inhabit both worlds at once.
SCORE & PARTS
PERUSAL SCORE available below
SCORE & PARTS available upon request