BASIC SERIES Vol. 15 (Digital Edition)

Janas draws inspiration from the eponymous figures of Sardinian legend: tiny, mysterious creatures associated with ancient dwellings carved into the rock, guardians of treasures and highly skilled weavers. Benevolent and radiant in some tales, mischievous and unpredictable in others, the janas inhabit a world suspended between play and enchantment, nature and magic, memory and mystery.
Written for a youth ensemble, the composition grows from a three-note generative cell: a small musical thread that runs throughout the entire piece, emerging both in the themes and in the accompaniment. Presented in its original form, through inversion or retrograde motion, and often superimposed upon itself, this brief figure gives rise to a constantly evolving musical texture.
Two principal characters alternate and echo one another: one rhythmic, lively and playful; the other more melodic, spacious and song-like. Their encounter gives rise to a succession of episodes that are at times playful, lyrical or more austere, evoking the changing nature of the janas and the many stories handed down about these fascinating figures of Sardinian mythology.