Shades of Light, theme-less variations (Op.2b)

Op.2 – SHADES OF LIGHT, THEME-LESS VARIATIONS (2025) – ca. 6′
Commissioned as part of the concert and recording project “Sartoria per Ottoni”, Darfo Conservatory

I. Introduzione, misterioso e nobile, II. Più vivo, III. Deciso, IV. Giocoso, a modo di danza

Instrumentation: BRASS SEXTET

Op.2a: 1 PICCOLO TRUMPET (in Bb), 3 TRUMPETS (in Bb), 1 TENOR TROMBONE, 1 BASS TROMBONE
Op.2b: 1 PICCOLO TRUMPET (in Bb), 2 TRUMPETS (in Bb), 1 HORN (in F), 1 TENOR TROMBONE, 1 BASS TUBA

Premiere (Op.2a): 24 Oct. 2025, “L. Marenzio” Conservatory auditorium, Darfo Boario Terme; Darfo Conservatory brass ensemble; Marcello Manfredi Bassi (piccolo trumpet), Angelo Cavallo (I° trumpet), Simone Carolfi (II° trumpet), Giuseppe Mercieri (III° trumpet), Giacomo Domenighini (tenor trombone), Alessio Brontesi (bass trombone); cond. Federico Biscione

Recordings (Op.2a):
– studio recording, 15 Oct. 2025, Brescia; Darfo Conservatory brass ensemble; cond. Federico Biscione
– live recording, 25 Oct. 2025, Salone da Cemmo, “L. Marenzio” Conservatory, Brescia; Darfo Conservatory brass ensemble; cond. Federico Biscione

Publications:
– Casaccia, Alexandre. Shades of Light, theme-less variations, Op.2a. Score and parts. Self-published edition, October 2025. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17423852; also available on IMSLP
– Casaccia, Alexandre. Shades of Light, theme-less variations, Op.2b. Score and parts. Self-published edition, October 2025. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17425241; also available on IMSLP

Discographic publications:
– Shades of Light, variazioni senza tema. In Sartoria per Ottoni. Darfo Conservatory Brass Ensemble; cond. Federico Biscione, CD in preparation (Brescia, 2026)

Catalogue references:
– CIDIM catalogue entry: Shades of Light, variazioni senza tema, Op.2 (Italian National Music Council, UNESCO partner)

License: © 2025 Alexandre Casaccia (SACEM). Released under CC BY-SA 4.0


PROGRAM NOTE

Shades of Light is a brass sextet born of alpine stillness and symbolic resonance. Premiered at the heart of the Italian Alps by the Darfo Conservatory brass ensemble, the piece was composed for the “Sartoria per Ottoni” contemporary brass performance & recording project, overseen by composer Federico Biscione in conjunction with famed performers, trumpeter Angelo Cavallo and trombonist Alessio Brontesi.

With Shades of Light, Casaccia sought to compose theme-less variations—the original working title of the piece. Using a simple, repeated four-note motive, the sextet marked the composer's first attempt at prioritizing the framing of the idea over its conventional development—a technique Casaccia would later refer to as distortion. While the motive itself could be analyzed as a theme, in the germinal grundgestalt schoenbergian sense, there is little evolution of its features, no clear development, and no beginning or end to such process, other than the confines of the piece itself. Instead, the composer presents a continuum of varying states—testing the boundaries of permanence and change—the only organizing principles being the endless repetition of the motive and the gradual intensification of tempo and dynamics.

The work’s oxymoronic title emerged during the composer’s stay in Capo di Ponte, a town renowned for its Iron Age petroglyphs—particularly the enigmatic Camunian rose, an ancient solar symbol of Italy’s earliest civilization. On the morning of the piece's first rehearsal, as sunlight crept over the summit of Mount Concarena, scholar Paola Farina’s interpretation of the Camunian rose—as a symbol of light, life, and good fortune—struck the composer as deeply resonant with his four-note motive, with its ascending shape, symmetric geometry, and tonal ambiguities. Hence the title, Shades of Light—a name that evokes not only light itself, but also the veiled, fleeting mysteries within it, mirroring the nature of the four-note motive and its theme-less variations.