Sur les debris for Bass Flute and Electronics
SCORE
RECORDING: SHANNA GUTIERREZ, BASS FLUTE
CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE AN EXCERPT OF THE SCORE FOR SUR LES DEBRIS FOR BASS FLUTE AND ELECTRONICS.
Behind the fractured, percussive lines played by the bass flute in Sur les debris, lay the remains of the shattered recording of a reading of a poem by Arthur Rimbaud. The recording is barely perceivable, the source never recognizable. However the shattered recording is essential in the understanding of the piece, as it served the role of a seed from which the rhythmic and timbral materials germinated. The resulting music is brittle and discontinuous: surfaces that lie at the border between rhythm and texture, splintered pedals that are sparked and interrupted by violent gestures, silences and pauses that disrupt the linearity of the piece.
Sur les debris is dedicated to Shanna Gutierrez, with whom I worked with many hours, gathering materials, testing musical passages, exchanging ideas, making music.
“Wat de Mexicaan aan klanken voor de grote fluit voorschrijft (meer dan eervolle vermelding ook voor fluitiste Shanna Gutierrez!) is fascinerend. De elektronische track bestaat uit een zwaar vervormde voordracht van het gelijknamige gedicht van Rimbaud. Er is geen menselijke stem op te herkennen; we krijgen er een hele reeks prachtige ruisende en tikkende geluiden voor in de plaats. Deze klanken zijn de débris, het puin waarop de fluitsolo wordt opgebouwd.”
“The sounds that the Mexican composer creates for the flute are fascinating (more than honorable mention for flutist Shanna Gutierrez as well!) The electronic track consists of a heavily distorted recitation of a poem by Rimbaud. There is no human voice to recognize; we geta whole range of beautiful rushing and ticking noises instead. The sounds are the debris, the debris on which the flute solo is built.”