Q&A with Adrián Demoč and Manuel Zurria about Flute
"His (Adrián’s) music fascinates me for the power of the emotions it produces through apparently simple structures that, in fact, reveal very complex and well-ordered mechanisms." ー Manuel Zurria
"I am sincerely fascinated both by Manuel’s performance skillsーprecision, beauty of the tone and the overall musicianshipーas well as creative solutions." ー Adrián Demoč
Harmonium (excerpt)
YZ: Manuel, how did you decide to realize Adrián's scores with the flute(s) and bottles? What specifically intrigues you about his compositions? Manuel Zurria (MZ): I believe that sometimes each of us grows attached to a stylistic signature that makes one’s work unique. Many years ago, I began a collaboration with the great Estonian composer Arvo Pärt to create a special version of Pari Intervallo, his famous piece for organ (then on 'REPEAT!' released by Die Schachtel in 2007). On that occasion, I used the sounds of the flutes and bottles, which I felt conveyed the mystical atmosphere of the organ’s sound, but with greater vitality, probably due to the presence of human breath.
That event opened up a deeper exploration that later led me to use this timbral palette in subsequent works I developed with other composers, from György Kurtág to László Sáry, to Louis Andriessen, to Jürg Frey, to Giuliano D’Angiolini, and, of course, to Adrián Demoč. I find Adrián to be a composer who has something to say, which is not necessarily an axiom for a composer—indeed, I find it a rare quality. His music fascinates me for the power of the emotions it produces through apparently simple structures that, in fact, reveal very complex and well-ordered mechanisms. I am always very attentive to the formal aspect of music. There is no music without control of form, only sound. Music needs breath, just as it would be impossible for an architect to conceive a cathedral without a solid and accurate design. Without it, the structure would not stand for even a second. In this sense, Adrián is a sculptor of sound and an architect of great talent.
Manuel Zurria
YZ: You created astonishingly complex and mysterious layers of sound with the flutes and bottles in these pieces by Adrián. The sounds never become muddled; they remain clean and airy with transparent clarity that reveals the music's structure without becoming analytical. It feels organic, as if the music merges with the air and silence. Your realization of Adrián's work struck me as a masterful balance between the polyphonic beauty of classical music and a contemporary edge stemming from your unique sensibility.
What kind of details did you focus on when performing Adrián's score, and what kind of musical result did you aim for? MZ: Thank you for your kind words, Yuko! Yes, of course, everything begins with the music. In this case, as always, I tried to establish a correspondence between music and sound. This, as we know, is the great mystery of music, but also its greatest fascination: namely, that it lives on the page as a sign, yet cannot in the slightest represent its true essence, which resides in sound. All this can naturally lead to different interpretations. But the graphic sign—the score—remains an indication of what is and what always remains in the composer’s mind. For it to unfold in its full completeness, a process of transduction is necessary, through the hands of a performer, an ensemble, or a symphony orchestra. A piece such as Gebrechlichkeit, for example, might prompt one to seek a dark, compact, and harsh sonority, due to the continuous presence of low sound agglomerates and, at times, clusters. Contrary to this possible reading, I chose to follow my instinct and reveal in the piece an ethereal, almost mystical presence. A mysticism born of contemplation, since every sound can possess extraordinary energy through meditation as well as through listening. This is the greatest lesson I have received in my work from two figures who have profoundly marked me, both humanly and artistically: Alvin Lucier and Salvatore Sciarrino. The path I followed in Adrián’s music corresponds exactly to the idea I gradually formed through his work, his artistic representation (and not a personal one, given that we have not yet met).
Manuel Zurria’s home studio
YZ:How did you come up with the idea of using bottles as your instruments besides flutes? MZ: As I told you, the main aim of these “recording experiments” lies in exploring sounds that can blend with those of my flutes, in order to expand their timbral and expressive possibilities. Having a home studio and working with “creative” editing has allowed me to go beyond the logic of the performer who simply carries out his work conscientiously. Today the performer has extremely sophisticated tools to place at the disposal of the composers he or she works with; it is a mutual exchange of ideas and skills that raises the collaborative relationship to another level—much more creative, much deeper. I bought my first bottle at a street market in Noto, Sicily. It is a large 5-liter oil bottle and, when empty (therefore producing its lowest sound), it sounds an A below the cello’s low C, with an incredible purity and richness of tone. Since then my collection has grown with other bottles that I pick up wherever I happen to find them, each with its own timbral characteristics. Contrary to what one might think, it is not so simple: you have to take care of the attack (which can be very sharp and percussive), and you can tune these sounds by slightly changing the angle of the embouchure. Then of course there is the care of intonation (p.s.: by filling the bottles with water, the pitch becomes higher), which makes all the difference—when these “instruments” are in tune, they are celestial. YZ:You did all the recording, mixing, and mastering for this album yourself. The result sounds perfect to me. You have a great ear. Which important aspects of the sound engineering process did you focus on to achieve the final sound? MZ: When I began my recording projects, I immediately felt the urgency to do everything myself. None of my present or past projects could ever have existed if I had not invested energy in learning recording and editing techniques. I must acknowledge that all of this takes on a very ritualistic character. Exploring a composer through work of this kind—shared through a sort of “collective obsession” with achieving a satisfying result—lends itself wonderfully to a series of small ritual gestures, domestic and private. It is a laboratory of sound that I conduct in the field, allowing me to understand and reflect on what I am doing, on my limits to be explored, and on the gaps to be filled. This work does not always lead to a tangible result: for example, my work with Kurtág on the Játékok went on for years and never reached a finalization, despite being extremely important for me, providing vital nourishment for other projects that began later. Sound, at the beginning of the process, is raw and formless and must be carefully sculpted. At first in an aggressive way, then, as one approaches the final phase of the process, with increasingly lighter, more evanescent gestures. In the last days with Adrián we were seized by a very similar fever: we were constantly changing parameters—reverb, panning, everything—in order to reach a sense of fulfillment that matched our level of perfectionism. All of this is deeply stimulating.
YZ: On Giuliano d'Angiolini's 2024 CD ')))(((' (elsewhere 033), you initiated the project and breathed life into Giuliano's work with your extraordinary sensitivity and flute playing. That album was a revelation for me, too. I was blown away by the diverse and evocative sounds you created with the flute.
MZ: Certainly, Giuliano (D’Angiolini) is a composer who interests me greatly, someone with enviable rigor who knows how to regenerate himself in a different way each time. I continue to work with him, as I do with other composers and friends.
YZ: I also listened to your release of Jürg Frey's 'Extended Circular Music' (Blume 2025). Your performances on the flute version of Jürg’s String Quartet No. 3 and Extended Circular Music series are extraordinary, stirring up a slightly edgy, unsettling atmosphere, yet at its core lies a calm tranquility that compellingly draws the ear. It illuminated the mysterious spell of Jürg's music with a bold and original approach, leaving me with a sense of awe and fresh surprise. How did you decide to record these pieces by Jürg? MZ: I met Jürg for the first time at the Via Lattea Festival in Switzerland. A commission had been made for a new piece, Toucher l’air, for bass flute, cello, and piano. Beautiful. I was utterly enchanted by this music, especially when, at the dress rehearsal, Jürg’s suggestions literally transformed our performance—positively, of course. After the concert, I sent him an email proposing a collaboration, but without a specific project in mind. Everything became clear when I listened to String Quartet No. 3, an extraordinary piece: long sequences of chords, triads, infinite spaces. Jürg immediately embraced the challenge; after all, his music, even for himself, is not inextricably bound to instrumental destinations. For this reason, despite the fact that the string quartet is an untouchable organism, I managed to convince him of the effectiveness of my intervention. Obviously, the two versions sound very different; they seem like pieces linked by a kind of brotherhood but are fundamentally quite different, even though there were no changes whatsoever to the sounds or pitches. The album also includes some of the Extended Circular Music, a series of pieces for fixed or free instrumentation, characterized by a hypnotic cyclicity.
YZ:Besides Adrián's, Giuliano's, and Jürg's works, which other composers' works are you interested in performing (realizing)?
MZ: I had already made, on another album (p.s.: 'Fame di Vento', 2024, ANTS Records), a version of ECM #9 for piano—an incredible piece of overwhelming beauty. At the moment I don’t have any precise ideas for new collaborative projects of this kind. However, there is a new album that should be released soon on a German label, featuring the latest (and astonishing) works by Rytis Mažulis, the Lithuanian composer with whom I produced a CD of this type back in 2008 ('Musica Falsa', 2008, Megadisc), which was perhaps the first realized example of this new collaborative pact. As you can see, nothing happens by chance, and after many years one ends up striking the same nail once again… I have a very strong relationship with Lithuania, and for many years I have collaborated with a group of extraordinary composers such as Rytis Mažulis, Justė Janulytė, Ricardas Kabelis, and Julius Aglinskas, among others. At the moment, I am curating a project that brings together early (Renaissance) and contemporary music, in which Renaissance music resonates like the most experimental music one can imagine, through the inventions of extraordinary authors such as Nicola Vicentino, Christopher Tye, and others…
YZ: Bringing together early (Renaissance) and contemporary music, in which the Renaissance music sounds like the most experimental one can imagine, is very intriguing. I also love Renaissance polyphonic music, which has a rich reverberation while maintaining a clean and transparent sonic space. I imagine that blending such music with a contemporary edge and sensibilities would sound amazing. I look forward to hearing your work in this direction in the future. I will also check out Lithuanian composers, too. What aspects of Renaissance composers' works intrigue you? MZ:Looking to the past in order to invent the future. This is my motto. I do not believe in wiping the slate clean in order to reconstruct a NEW music. That is what they tried to do in Darmstadt after the Second World War, and the results do not strike me as particularly good. The past, on the other hand, is extraordinarily rich in stimuli. The further back one goes, the more music becomes indefinable, experimental, free. Just think of the great figures of the Ars Nova or Ars Subtilior (Johannes Ciconia, Jacob de Senleches) to realize how stimulating their harmonic concatenations, their counterpoint, and their ideas of form and dance can be. But all the composers we have spoken about—from Adrián Demoč to Jürg Frey, from Giuliano D’Angiolini to Rytis Mažulis—are passionate connoisseurs of these musics (and that cannot be a coincidence…) Who could ever have conceived dissonances bolder than those of Gesualdo da Venosa, or microtonal madrigals like those of Nicola Vicentino, or sublime songs such as those by Arcadelt? This music is unpredictable, free, and delights in experimenting with form, harmony, and counterpoint. And above all, it moves us.
Manuel Zurria’s home studio
YZ: What kind of music do you usually enjoy listening to? MZ: I am an omnivorous listener: I am primarily interested in listening to what I do not know. I don’t sit there listening for the billionth time to a Beethoven symphony (with all due respect). Listening, therefore, arises more from the curiosity of discovery than from the confirmation of what I already know. I try to follow as closely as possible what is happening in contemporary music, of course—new works, composers, and performers who produce interesting innovations. To relax, on the other hand, I almost always listen to early music: Renaissance madrigals by Luca Marenzio, Bach’s cantatas… but also other things—Sigur Rós…
Drawing by Manuel Zurria
YZ: I've also had the chance to see some of your artwork. Despite being simple black-and-white and grayscale works, they convey a powerful, almost living vitality that leaves a deep and lasting impression long after viewing. They are truly artistic. Were these drawn with chalk? Do you see any similarities between performing music and creating art?
MZ: I have no artistic pretensions, but my curiosity extends into the world of the visual arts even more than into that of music. When we were struck by the pandemic in 2020, all musical activity came to a halt for two years. During this very long stretch of time, I remained almost paralyzed. Unable to play anymore, I sought an outlet in this simple artistic practice. At first, I went around making frottages of the ancient walls of Rome, which appeared more like a prison than a friendly presence—that of your beloved city. This then pushed me to try my hand at free drawing as well, and having no training (and no pretensions), I have always relied on my unconscious. I often find myself doing the same thing, I don’t know why, on small-format sheets of black or white bamboo paper, with charcoal or white pastel pencils. Or using the shavings from the pencils I sharpen, crushing them onto the paper to leave a trace. Yes, of course, anything can be interpreted as an artistic gesture, as long as it contains that care and that aspiration to transcend the gesture itself and assume a more mysterious, deeper meaning. I am convinced that musical performance is a gesture that is just as artistic as painting or musical composition.
YZ: Adrián, how did you come to know Manuel, and how did your collaboration with him begin? What fascinates you about Manuel's performance and creativity?
Adrián Demoč (AD): I contacted Manuel around 2016 as I was familiar with his work and was especially enthusiastic about his album 'Musica Falsa' with the music of Lithuanian composer Rytis Mažulis. He reacted very nicely. In 2018, I made a version of Canon (the first movement of my piece Kvarteto) for four alto flutes and dedicated it to him. Around the same time I was writing an orchestral piece, Neha and, as a kind of morning/late night warm-up for also composing a short series of pieces called Koans with Manuel in mind. He amazingly recorded both Canon as well as two of the Koans. We were then thinking about concert performances of other conceptual scores of mine called Chess 1&2, but at first could not find a suitable event.
Approximately one year ago my wife, who's a flute player, founded a flute trio. I composed a new piece for them called Trblet (Hoquetus)and later created a new version of Ma fin est mon commencement, which is transposed and is scored for piccolo, flute and alto flute. I also arranged one of my favourite pieces from the ars subtilior (Fuions de Ci, Fuions) for the same event. I later sent these scores to Manuel and he reacted wonderfully ー sending music straight away!
And you are using really a suitable verb in your question, as I am sincerely fascinated both by Manuel’s performance skills (precision, beauty of the tone and the overall musicianship) as well as creative solutions. And, which was also crucial in this project, his amazing recording and editing skills. His working ethics are also admirable.
I must add another thing: although he had several ideas regarding both interpretation or the sound parameters, he was very attentive to my suggestions with an extraordinary (= absolute) degree of “ego-less trust”. I am really honoured that such a brilliant artist has dedicated so much work (and love!) to my music.
YZ: Ma fin est mon commencement, Gebrechlichkeit, and A Luca Marenzio II were the same pieces that appeared on your previous album 'Piano', performed by the pianist Miroslav Beinhauer. What was your impression of Manuel's versions of the same pieces on the flute?
AD: I feel very lucky to be able to work with musicians who embrace my music with a lot of care and dedication. Yes, I was surprised, and very positively! Although it is difficult to put into words for me. I feel here another picture of the same ambient where new details have emerged while at the same time there’s a new level of clarity. Probably my biggest surprise was Gebrechlichkeit: you know how much I regard the piano version (as well string quartet recording made by Apartment House on another timbre) but here I feel almost haptic feeling of the fragility, of, if I may dare to say, the unknown, of a mystery, struggle for whispering, very mist-like...so I feel now the piece has opened its potential. And this is very personal: that piece is (along with Harmonium, for different reasons) almost emblematic now, in a way that it somehow represents how I see (my) music now. Maybe it is a bit darker or harmonically dense, quite stubborn, trying to get out of its cage (do not even dare to search for reasons in this difficult world). I have written new pieces since then, several of which I still haven’t heard, but still I find it a very personal composition.
YZ: Among the six pieces on this album, Harmoniumis the new piece. Could you tell me how this piece was conceived and took shape, and when it was composed? Also, was Harmonium written for open instrumentation or for the flute in particular?
AD: Harmonium was originally written for Miroslav Beinhauer and “his” ⅙ tone harmonium. The piece uses quite restricted harmonic material, three-voice texture and subtle melodic 1/6th tone deviations. As for the register, I just used a simple “clarinet” register without octaves. So somewhere in the middle of the piece, once these parameters were fixed, I started to imagine it also as a piece for three melodic instruments, preferably winds. But as it usually happens with my open instrumentation pieces, this was not planned beforehand but emerged from the piece itself.
Zamat (version for 4 C flutes) (excerpt)
YZ: Zamatwas included on your 2024 album on another timbre, as a quartet version for clarinet, bass clarinet, viola, and cello. Manuel realized this piece in two versions for this album: one for four C flutes and one for three bass flutes. What are your impressions of Manuel's two realizations?
AD: They are both amazing to my ears. Manuel, in fact, realized three versions (!), the last being for “mixed consort” instrumentation of both C and bass flutes. It was (and is) also very beautiful, but for the logic of the dramaturgy and overall feeling from the album, we finally put that one aside.
To record Zamat on C flute was Manuel’s idea (after spending some time experimenting with different possibilities), as the C instrument is very clear in the phrasing, very steady and active in the dynamic changes for that kind of music. I was not sure at first as I though the piece won't work in any, nor octave, transposition (similarly to Ma fin est mon commencement, which I only transposed due to the experiment with the flute trio and which, to my surprise, worked well with the piccolo in its lower register). So I asked him to go ahead, but to prepare another version as well, using lower flutes of one kind. Finally, both the “low” and “high” register versions were fascinating and satisfying to me: in the C flute version something unexpected happened to my ears and spirit. I feel that there’s a new “light” which gives in a new, if I might dare to say, almost healing effect to the piece while at the same time maintaining its somehow nostalgic or melancholic feeling. So I embraced this music in a new light and am very happy about it.
Zamat, in its version for (only) bass flutes, is surprisingly different. One can somehow observe the music in a “colder” or calmer way.
YZ: You often write pieces for open instrumentation or "monochromatic polyphonic" instruments. What are you aiming for with these types of instrumentation?
AD: As I’ve already said about Harmonium, I’m not really planning the pieces for open instrumentation, but rather the other way round: while working on a piece for a specific instrumentation I sometimes find something which might be suitable for more than one “definite solution” in terms of instrumentation. Looking back at these pieces, it might be interesting that all of them (except the last piece of this kind, Harmonium) are written in standard tempered tuning. I work -I never know whether to use present or past tenses as I really do not know how this will develop- very often with microintervals and have several favourite “tools” such as high(er) natural harmonics on strings, so when I find myself in the middle of the writing process of a well-tempered piece for open instrumentation, I am also surprised.
Recently I read a nice long interview with Arvo and Nora Pärt by Italian musicologist Enzo Restagno. Nora Pärt said about her husband that thanks to his experiments with Hortus Musicus ensemble (having to work with any instruments and combinations which were available), he somehow re-created his relationship to the aesthetics of early music: a period where the real focal point of musical composition was in the relationship between pitches and not between the available timbres.
So I think I can say something similar about these pieces: while being very careful and attentive about timbres (and quality of playing), I search (and hopefully even find) in these pieces something beyond the parameter of timbre.
YZ: Can you tell us about your two "ars subtilior" pieces, which are bonus tracks?
AD: The first one, Fuions de Ci, Fuions, is one of my favourite pieces from the ars subtilior period. I used the opportunity to arrange it for a flute trio and it was a wonderful experience. The second piece, Se Alixandre et Hectorby Trebor, was one of the strongest listening experiences in my life and remains one of my absolute favourite pieces of music. I remember listening to it in the library in Vilnius (Lithuanian composer Rytis Mažulis lent me the recording of Ferrara ensemble which are still, together with recordings of Mala Punica ensemble, my favourite recordings of this music) and was about to read a book or study, when I gradually started to feel the extraordinary beauty of this music and had to concentrate purely on it. I was completely obsessed with it at the time.
As we were progressing with this project with Manuel, I thought that it might be nice to frame the album with another transcription and so create a kind of mirror between ars subtilior and my music. So I arranged this piece, which Manuel recorded.
But as the material developed, Manuel suggested adding some more music of mine (once I thought we had finished) and so I sent him more pieces. He chose Zamat and Harmonium and I am very thankful (also) for that (both his interest and stamina in searching and trying new possibilities). But I’m glad that these wonderful performances by Manuel are going to be available for listeners, as I really think they’re worth it.
(Interview conducted in December 2025 - January 2026)
'Flute' is an album of six pieces written by Slovak composer Adrián Demoč and performed by Italian flutist and multi-instrumentalist Manuel Zurria. Of the six pieces, "Zamat" is performed in two different versions. This is Demoč's second release on elsewhere music, following the 2024 release 'Piano', as well as Zurria's second appearance as the flutist, following the 2024 release Giuliano d’Angiolini - ')))((('.
Demoč's compositions are often intended for open instrumentation or a "monochromatic polyphonic" instrument. All of the pieces on this album, except for the new piece "Harmonium," were previously released by another timbre and elsewhere music for different instrumentations.
On ‘Flute’, Zurria opens new possibilities for interpreting Demoč's scores by weaving mesmerizing layers of sound by playing flutes and bottles. Through his exquisitely delicate and creative approach, Zurria masterfully balances the two primary aesthetic qualities of Demoč's music—drawing out the harmonic beauty while allowing the contemporary fragility and edge to shine.
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Manuel Zurria at BigCardo Studio in Rome and Catania in September and December of 2025.
*CD and digital album are available here on the elsewhere site and Bandcamp (CD release: March 30, 2026)
