-Instabile (16' - 1992), for ensemble (flute, oboe, clarinet/b. cl., F. hn., 2 percussion players, piano/synthesizer, violin, cello and live electronic set-up).

        -Commission from the French Ministry of Culture.

        -Premiered by Ensemble Itinéraire conducted by Dominique My at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, June 1992.

       -Other performances by San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, cond. by Linda Bouchard, Feb. 1998 in San Francisco and in Jan. 2002 in Chalon by Ens. Mosaïque, cond. by Philippe Cambreling

Listen to  an excerpt ( mp3)  by the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players cond. par Linda Bouchard  :       Instabile (extr.)

or load in Real Audioformat  :       Instabile (extr.)

Some flute or clarinet multiphonics have an unstable character, that belongs to their very nature, and that I am particularly fond of. These internal and irregular swingings reveal a fragile, ephemearal side that can even be emotionally moving. Submitted to natural laws, these multiphonics necessarily lead to a rupture, a break, a fall or an increase in tension that brings a certain violence.

Beyond the simple confrontation of these sounds, I have applied these ideas to the whole writing process of the piece, most notably through the development of principles of irregularity, fragility and swinging. Follows a continuous evolution, a fluid unfolding of time, although crossed at times by bursts or large contrasts. The form is a run in a space spangled with bodies that bend the trajectory by their attraction, though without stopping the motion that carries on from one pole to another.

The electronic part, including a computer controlling a sampler, a synthesizer and an effect processor, was realized entirely by the composer in the LIGYS studio, and completed in the Ensemble Itinéraire facilities.

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