Commission of IMEB *2005*
Duration 16′
Ellipse is a scientific word and ellipsis, the literary word, each with its own special meaning. Ellipse is used in geometry, astronomy and colorimetry, and ellipsis is a term used in literature, poetry and rhetoric; the word itself is a metaphor; in another of its singularities, in geometry, it is a fixed and finite shape.
Every mode of expression and the different media use this term to avoid any too obvious duplication, and more often, also to enhance the impact of a narrative or story.
In cinema, another kind of medium, it becomes a narrative tool, widely used to leave out a certain number of elements perceived as repetitive in a story, which are a part of the logic development of the fiction, but are considered unnecessary to its understanding; editing then becomes critical to the effectiveness of the ellipsis.
Music is constrained by the same criteria of economy of time, narrative efficiency and poeticism, and therefore makes extensive use of these principles of narration.
For me, this is a wonderful metaphor, so pertinent, right from its finite geometry through to the development of musical discourse in its temporal perception, in spite of the meaning of the Greek word, which invokes an”insufficiency”.