Abysses

Commissioned to Franco Cesarini by the “Eensgezindheid” Fanfare of Maasbracht-Beek (the Netherlands), this composition has been played for the first time in 2001 during the 14th World Music Contest in Kerkrade. The piece is about the sea and its creatures and consists of three movements that follow each other without interruption.

In the first movement, Luminescent Creatures, the composer describes the environment of the sea at a depth of more than 1000 meters, where there is no light and the ocean looks like an ink stain. In order to catch their prey, very rare in such dark waters, abyssal creatures use luminescent organs. Huge mouths, as well as dilatable stomachs, give the fish an ancestral look, allowing it to exploit to the utmost the scarce alimentary resources of this part of the ocean.

The deadly fight between the two most powerful predators of the sea – the sperm whale and the giant octopus – is the subject of the second movement, Leviathan against Kraken. It is well known that giant octopuses get into huge fights with sperm whales: but who is the victim and who is the aggressor? The sperm whale, that can swim at a depth of 3000 meters for two hours, is a creature that eats octopuses, while the giant octopus has been accused of being responsible for the round-shaped scars that often cover the heads of sperm whales. Since other species of whales plunge to the same depth as the sperm whale, and have no similar scars, it can be assumed that the aggressors are the sperm whales.

The title of the third movement, The Blue Whale, refers to the beautiful blue whale, the biggest living being on earth. A play on words concerning the term “blue” relates to the danger that oceans and their inhabitants constantly have to face because of biological and industrial waste that gets thrown into the ocean. This waste often contains chemical substances that can alter and break the food chain. Crude oil poisons the sea and excessive fishing has brought some oceanic creatures on the verge of extinction.  It is estimated that at present between 6000 and 14,000 blue whales still live in the oceans.