Vaivén, comissioned by the Pierre Boulez Saal, premiered on February 19, 2026.

Program notes

Vaivén is grounded in the idea that tradition and modernity form a single continuum. Textures, harmonic fields, and rhythmic codes shape the work’s structure.

The music explores the trio’s expressive range, as acoustic and electronic elements blur timelines and create a sensorial space that feels both familiar and uncharted. At the Pierre Boulez Saal, this dialogue extends into the room through a multichannel sound design, with a three dimensional realization of the onstage electronics created specifically for this space (translated through forty speakers), in collaboration with electronic musician Gilbert Nouno.

The piece also draws on the music of Carlo Borbolla (1902 - 1990), an overlooked figure in Cuban musical history whose pioneering work has served as an important blueprint.

Son is a foundational Cuban musical form that has continually evolved as it moved through different instrumental formats and contexts. Central to this music is the relationship between son clave (the heartbeat and rhythmic framework upon which everything is built) and the back and forth (vaivén) of its harmonies.

In this cycle, not all of the works were conceived strictly as sones, though each maintains a direct or indirect connection to the form. Some pieces also draw on punto, guajira, contradanza, danzón, and mambo, remaining in conversation with son through history, rhythmic designs, harmonic fields, and abstracted montunos.

David Virelles | piano, UDO Super 6 synthesizer, pump organ
Vicente Archer | acoustic bass
Eric McPherson | drum set and percussion
Gilbert Nouno | Sonic System*

* Sonic System is a live, adaptive sonic architecture activated through listening, memory, and transformation.