A soundscape poet

Since Tumblebird Contrails (2014), the sounds of nature (especially those of California’s Pacific coastline) have been a core theme underpinning Gabriella Smith’s creative world. From an early age, the composer cultivated a practice of attentive, systematic listening to the natural environment around her. Her music, with its rhythmic vitality, inexhaustible inventiveness and intelligent use of form, encompasses everything. Her work also reveals a keen sensitivity to the spatial dimension of music – one of the great contributions of the avant-garde, embodied in R. Murray Schafer’s concept of the soundscape. Indeed, the semiotic richness of her work stems from her remarkable ability to absorb specific perceptual experiences and transform them into music, drawing on an extraordinarily diverse range of musical styles.

The many currents that flow into Smith’s aesthetic lend her music both rigour and freshness. The influence of John Adams, whom she acknowledges as an early mentor, is clearly perceptible in her absorption of certain elements of American post-minimalism. However, her music also displays an effortless command of classical forms, as well as the deep imprint of popular and non-classical musical traditions. In this sense, she is a shining testament to our time: a composer who has moved beyond disciplines, manifestos, schools and prejudices to weave musical mosaics of striking beauty from fragments brought together in surprising and unexpected ways. If a traveller from another era were to suddenly appear among us, Smith’s music could help to explain the world we inhabit. Her work bears witness to its cultural context and, for that very reason, aspires to endure beyond it.

Bioluminescence Chaconne and f(x)=sin²x−1/x, both from 2019, are ideal pieces for gauging the captivating richness of the Smith’s orchestral music.

LA-OBC-014 | RELEASE DATE: september 4, 2026

L'Auditori · Gabriella Smith: Orchestral Works

Works

Bioluminescence Chaconne

(2019)

Commissioned and premièred by the Oregon Symphony, Bioluminescence Chaconne calls for a large orchestra with an extensive percussion section, and for good reason. The extraordinary timbral diversity of the underwater world forms the dramatic heart of the score, inspired by the composer’s experiences of diving beneath the surface. The idea of bioluminescence, or the natural ability of certain organisms to emit light, came to Smith at the beginning of the creative process through memories of night dives around the Channel Islands off the Californian coast.

Thanks to her mastery of orchestral writing and musical form, together with a rich command of contemporary compositional techniques, Smith succeeds in translating her experiences of nature into sound. The memory of iridescent green plankton flashing around her during a night dive, intertwined with the resonances of the sea, transforms the orchestra into a thriving ecosystem, each section becoming a biotic element in constant interaction with the others. The sounds Smith creates draw on this experience, evoking a unique atmosphere of extraordinary acoustic diversity. Layered textures and timbral indeterminacy play a key role, with string tremolos at the beginning giving way to isolated percussion colours at the close. Chance also plays its part, particularly in the rhythmic approach to the percussion, mirroring the unpredictability of the underwater world itself.

The work’s formal essence lies in its reference to the chaconne, a dance form characterised by continuous variations on a repeating harmonic progression. Here, the circular biological cycle is expressed through Smith’s loose approach to a musical form built on repetition, gradually stripped back until it dissolves into a homogeneous texture. Yet each return is transformed rather than repeated identically, reappearing through shifts in colour and texture. A long crescendo accompanies this cyclical, evolutionary process across three sections that move from the higher to the lower register, without ever adhering to a fixed or fully defined narrative. The work descends into the density of darkness before returning to the luminous, tranquil atmosphere of the opening.

Smith’s music evokes a contemporary form of impressionism steeped in a long tradition of aquatic inspiration and complemented by the dramatic force of an ecological soundscape that stirs the listener.

f(x)=sin²x-1/x

(2019)

f(x)=sin²x−1/x is a striking example of expressive concision and a unique piece within the composer’s output. The surprising title contains the work’s structural key in the form of a mathematical function: here, Smith begins with concepts and structures that only later coalesce into sound. The function itself, with the oscillation generated by sin²x, traces a curve that shapes the work formally over time, reflecting the beauty of mathematics as a language of nature. In a sense, the piece also offers an ironic interpretation of forms inherited from the classical tradition.

Although the orchestra is smaller than in Bioluminescence Chaconne, it is highly precise and meticulous in its structural and technical detail. This is evident in the string glissandi and col legno techniques (both battuto and tratto) as well as the frullato in the winds. Once again, the percussion plays a decisive role. The musical form is articulated along two axes: the horizontal axis – x – expressing time, and the vertical axis – f(x) – expressing energy and dynamic content.
The music builds towards an initial climax, then recedes before setting out once again towards a culminating point that ultimately dissolves into silence. Following a continuous variation approach, the movement gradually broadens and its energy intensifies, moving ever closer to a loss of control. Like a theogony, it begins in a state of absolute indeterminacy before collapsing into a negative value (−1/x) as x approaches zero. In f(x)=sin²x−1/x, the mathematical expression gives rise to a narrative that takes material form in the acoustics of longitudinal waves, which require space and time to spread. Edgard Varèse famously claimed that “each of my works discovers its own form”, emphasising that musical form is never pre-existing. The same can be said of the mathematical equation in Smith’s score: it is an idea that generates tensions and releases within the dynamics of the musical process itself. With a singularity as its starting point, the work unfolds according to the irreversible nature of time, as described by thermodynamics and non-equilibrium physics. f(x)=sin²x−1/x presents an irreversible process with an open future. In Smith’s hands, music becomes the physical and mathematical science envisioned by Rameau, while remaining a living, sonic organism of profound conceptual depth and emotional power.

DIEGO ALEJANDRO CIVILOTTI

GABRIELLA SMITH

Gabriella Smith (1991) is a composer whose work invites listeners to find joy in climate action. Her music comes from a love of play, exploring new instrumental sounds, and creating musical arcs that transport audiences into sonic landscapes inspired by the natural world. An “outright sensation” (LA Times), her music “exudes inventiveness with a welcoming personality, rousing energy and torrents of joy” (NY Times).

Lost Coast, a concerto for cello and orchestra, written for her longtime collaborator Gabriel Cabezas, received its world premiere in May 2023 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. This work joins her organ concerto, Breathing Forests, written for James McVinnie also premiered by the LA Phil, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Other current projects include a large-scale work for Kronos Quartet, commissioned in celebration of their 50th anniversary season, and an album-length work for yMusic featuring underwater field recordings. In December 2023, her work Tumblebird Contrails was performed on the Nobel Prize Concert by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Her first full-length album, titled Lost Coast, was recorded with Gabriel Cabezas and producer Nadia Sirota at Greenhouse Studios in Iceland and named one of NPR Music’s “26 Favorite Albums Of 2021” and a “Classical Album to Hear Right Now” by The New York Times. Gabriel and Gabriella, as a cello-violin-voice-electronics duo, have performed together around the world, including in Reykjavík, New York City, and Paris.

Gabriella grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area playing and writing music, hiking, backpacking, and volunteering on a songbird research project.

OBC BARCELONA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Ludovic morlot

Bioluminescence Chaconne

FIRST VIOLINS: Jaha Lee – Associate Concertmaster, Raúl García – Assistant Concertmaster, Jordi Salicrú, Lev Mikhailovskii, Ana Galán, Sei Morishima, Ícar Solé, Walter Ebenberger, Ivan Percevic, Laura Pastor, Eugènia Ostas, Kàtia Novell, Francina Moll, Octavi Martínez | SECOND VIOLINS: Emil Bolozan – Assistant Principal, Melita Murgea, Patricia Bronisz, Clàudia Farrés, Patricia Bronisz, Jana Brauninger, Francesc Puche, Alzy Kim, Antònia Escalas, M. José Balaguer, Arturo Seijo, Ivan Launes, Vladimir Chilaru | VIOLAS: Ewelina Bielarczyk – Guest Principal, Rocío Gómez – Guest Assistant Principal, Josephine Fitzpatrick, Sophie Lasnet, Miquel Serrahima, Andreas Süssmayr, Franck Heudiard, Christine de Lacoste, David Derrico, Oreto Vayá | CELLOS: Jose Mor – Principal, Charles-Antoine Archambault – Principal, Marc Galobardes, Vincent Ellegiers, Irene Cervera, Blai Bosser, Lourdes Duñó, Elena Gómez | DOUBLE BASSES: Christoph Rahn – Principal, Dmitri Smyshlyaev – Assistant Principal, Matthew Nelson, Anna Grau, Apostol Kosev, Nenad Jovic | FLUTES: Francisco López – Principal, Beatriz Cambrils, Ricardo Borrull – Piccolo | OBOES: Rafael Muñoz – Principal, José Juan Pardo, Dolors Chilalt – Assistant | CLARINETS: Pedro Franco – Guest Principal, Francesc Navarro, Alfons Reverté – Bass Clarinet | BASSOONS: Silvia Coricelli – Principal, Pablo González, Slawomir Krysmalski – Contrabassoon | HORNS: Juan Conrado Garcia – Assistant Principal, David Bonet, Pablo Marzal – Assistant, Artur Jorge | TRUMPETS: Mireia Farrés – Principal, Sergi Serra, Biel Pelfort | TROMBONES: Gaspar Montesinos – Assistant, Carlos Fluixà, Raúl García | TUBA: Moisès Hidalgo | TIMPANI: Fernando Llopis – Principal | PERCUSSION: Joan Marc Pino – Principal, Juan Francisco Ruiz, Ignasi Vila

f(x)=xsin²x-1/x

FIRST VIOLINS: Jaha Lee – Associate Concertmaster, Raúl García – Assistant Concertmaster, Pedro Rodríguez – Assistant Concertmaster, Walter Ebenberger, Sarah Bels, Kàtia Novell, Yúlia Tsuranova, Pilar Pérez, Natalia Mediavilla, Aria Trigas, Laura Pastor, Ana Galán, Anca Ratiu, Ana Kovacevic | SECOND VIOLINS: Ivan Percevic – Principal, Emil Bolozan – Assistant Principal, M. José Aznar, Patricia Bronisz, Melita Murgea, M. José Balaguer, Clàudia Farrés, Clara Vázquez, David Olmedo, Paula Banciu, Jana Brauninger, Oleksander Sora | VIOLAS: Aine Suzuki – Principal, Pawel Krymer – Guest Assistant Principal, Josephine Fitzpatrick – Assistant Principal, Andreas Süssmayr, David Derrico, Christine Delacoste, Adrià Trulls, Franck Heudiard, Sophie Lasnet, Oreto Vayá | CELLOS: Charles-Antoine Archambault – Principal, Audun Sandvik – Guest Assistant Principal, Vincent Ellegiers, Joan Rochet, Marc Galobardes, Manuel Martínez, Lourdes Duñó, Yoobin Chung | DOUBLE BASSES: Christoph Rahn – Principal, Dmitri Smyshlyaev – Assistant Principal, Jonathan Camps, Apostol Kosev, Matthew Nelson, Albert Prat | FLUTES: Christian Farroni – Assistant, Ricardo Borrull – Piccolo | OBOES: Dolors Chilalt – Assistant, Pau Roca | CLARINETS: Víctor de la Rosa – Guest Principal, Francesc Navarro | BASSOONS: Silvia Coricelli – Principal, Noé Cantú | HORNS: Juan Conrado Garcia – Assistant Principal, David Bonet, Pablo Marzal – Assistant, Joan Aragó | TRUMPETS: Mireia Farrés – Principal, Adrián Moscardó, Andreu Moros | TROMBONES: Gaspar Montesinos – Assistant, Vicent Pérez, Raúl García | TUBA: Daniel Martínez | TIMPANI: Víctor Segura – Principal

PHOTOS: May Zircus | SOUND ASSISTANCE: Toni Vila, Alejandro Parra, Oriol Baulenas | MUSIC PRODUCTION: Matthew Bennet (Bioluminescence Chaconne) and Nacho de Paz (f(x)=sin²x−1/x) | RECORDING ENGINEER: Hugo Romano | MIX AND MASTERING: Santi Barguñó and Nico Roig | GRAPHIC DESIGN: Lorena Alonso Noblom | EXECUTIVE PRODUCTION: Mireia Pacareu | EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Santi Barguñó

Album recorded in July 2023 (f(x)=xsin²x−1/x) and July 2024 (Bioluminescence Chaconne) in Pau Casals Hall 1, L’Auditori de Barcelona.