Prisma was composed during the summer of 2009 while I was taking part in the first edition of the Atlas Academy in Amsterdam. The Atlas Academy is an annual gathering of musicians from different parts of the world. In it instrumentalists and composers collaborate and learn from each other’s traditions with the goal of creating new intercultural repertoire.

Prisma is an exploration of the new timbral possibilities made available by a unique combination of instruments. The ensemble, composed of a solo oboe, shakuhachi, sho, sheng, zheng, koto, erhu and strings, presented the challenge of putting together instruments from vastly different characteristics and musical traditions. The oboe, with its unique color, acts as a bridge between them.

The piece is in two sections: in the first the instruments are blended together to create a unified fluid timbre, while the solo oboe hovers above. An intense climax leads us to the second section where the timbral unification is dissolved and we hear glimpses of the personality of the different instruments (for example forceful glissandi in the zheng and koto, slides in the erhu, and pizzicati in the strings) always under the ever-evolving frenetic oboe line.

Prisma is dedicated to Ernest Rombout who performs in this recording with the Atlas Ensemble (Artjom Kim, conductor.)