-Projections obliques (22' - 1990-91), for solo flute and clarinet, ensemble (tpt, tb, perc, electr. kbd., vn, cb) and live electronic set-up - Edition Jobert

        -premiere in Albi in May 1990, by Ensemble 2e2m cond. by Paul Méfano, Nicolas Brochot, fl. and Rémi Lerner, cl.

Listen to an excerpt (mp3), by ensemble 2e2m, conducted by Paul Méfano, with Pierre Roullier (fl) and Rémi Lerner (cl) :    Projections obliques (extr.)


or download in Real Audio format :    Projections obliques (extr.)

Description :

Projections : transformations, representations, extensions, predictions

Oblique : diagonal, ambiguous, aleatoric, contrapuntal, curved

A dense network of relations, of irregular symmetries binds two by two flute and clarinet, soloists and electronics (to each soloist is associated a digital sampler and a digital sound processing unit), soloists and ensemble, instrumental et electronic worlds. In the pitch domain, these relationships operate on the continuous/discontinuous axis, in the horizontal and vertical dimensions. The musical material is organised around two ideas, two "themes/forms" each calling upon a sonic universe articulated around six chords, which multiple combinations, by superimpositions and rapid alternances, make them rarely clearly identifiable as such, but provide a large palette of colours.

The piece, whose duration is about 22 minutes, is divided in ten parts, each having its alter ego, its transformed double.

The metaphor of projection is also taken as a technique for musical development : shrinking, dilatation of intervals, keeping the contour and the internal symmetry of the material ; reflections of the horizontal on the vertical ; traditional principles such as transposition, modulation, augmentation, diminution, canon, etc.

The role of electronics is more than a mere extension of instrumental possibilities. Several sections of the piece are entirely based on specifically electronic ideas. Section 5, for example, is a kind of chase, very deterministic, led by the computer with the instruments going after it. Its double, section 7, opens up a field of freedom to the soloists ; they can record at determined times phrases that are later on played, transposed, reversed, fragmented under the control of the computer, in a progression whose curve is partly pre-determined, partly random, partly function of the performers' timing. The main use of the samplers is as vertical projection of the soloists, for example allowing for traces of a melodic line from a soloist to become a chord. The two synthesizers and the two samplers are shared by the computer and the keyboard, between a mechanical control and a live performance. However, the computer is not, as would be the case with a magnetic tape, deaf to the performers : it "hears", or rather follows what is being played by the keyboard and the soloists (these through the means of pedals). Thus, every action taken by the computer is done at times and even at tempos that correspond to what is played in a given performance, therefore leaving the control of time to the conductor. The program for that piece was realised by the composer under MAX, the programming environment for music developed at IRCAM by Miller Puckette.

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