Photo : Philippe Gontier, Léa Girardin, Olivier Roller
Pascal Dusapin, Sivan Eldar and Marc Monnet, three of the Durand Salabert Eschig's catalogue will be performed at the 29th edition of Radio France Festival Présences 2019, dedicated to Wolfgang Rihm.
Pascal Dusapin, Uncut
Uncut, solo pour orchestre n° 7 of Pascal Dusapin, composer in residence at Radio France, will be played by the Orchestre National de France as part of the Festival Présences 2019.
"The English title of Solo No. 7 (the last of the orchestra solo cycle) was chosen to convey the idea of full, boundless scope. The word appealed to me because of its assertive conceptual impact suggesting a movement rather than any decision.
But by then the composition presented a problem (I usually prefer questions to problems): how could the flow be interrupted without giving the impression that it was the end. The goal was not to finish the work, as nothing has been completed or has even been moving towards completion. But Uncut did eventually banish all the sources which had formed the foundations for the entire cycle. The variation technique, for example, had all the musical themes brought together in different arrangements, then compacted and rendered unrecognizable. The six horns in the orchestra play first, alla fanfara, the idea apparently being to break down barriers. The melodic modes of the first six solos are featured here, moving through and crisscrossing the full domain of Uncut. Only metal percussion instruments are used – bells, glockenspiel, crotales, tam-tams, and gongs – signaling and highlighting each crossing of the harmonic structure, marked with biting, abrasive lines. Everything is vertical; there is no melodic deployment capable of surmounting the edifice which has been built. Unlike Reverso which was composed for orchestral geography (much like a photograph, showing every single detail, from the foreground through to the distant background), Uncut is music with virtually no depth of sound scope.
Everything is presented directly, head on, with no distance; and while the first six solos fade towards calm, as if the music were endeavoring to burrow underground so as to resurface in the next solo, Uncut is a short intense piece, designed as single unit and culminating fiercely at the end. In Uncut the shape of the Cycle of Seven is closed yet evident to all. This is quite unmistakably an ending… but anything may continue."
March 1, 2009, Pascal Dusapin
Thursday 14 February 2019
Maison de la Radio, Auditorium de Radio France
Orchestre National de France
Nicholas Collon, conductor
Sivan Eldar, Solicitations
The Quatuor Diotima, whose story in recent years has been associated with the birth of a new repertoire for string quartet, unlike any other group, will present the french premiere of composer Sivan Eldar’s quartet Solicitations on 16th February at the Radio France Festival Présences.
It’s an opportunity for audiences from Luxembourg and neighbouring regions to discover one of the French season’s most profiled composers this year, with creations that featured at the festival ManiFeste in June and at Royaumont Abbey in September.
“Solicitations: chants, cris, chuchotements is a series of musical calls that seek to explore boundaries as offerings. Through solos, duets, trios and quartets, the musicians exchange words in the form of gestures,” confides the composer, who drew her inspiration from the poetry of British author Fiona Sampson and collaborated on the work with scenographer Aurélie Lemaignen.
Saturday 16 February 2019
French premiere
Maison de la Radio, Auditorium de Radio France
Quatuor Diotima
Marc Monnet, Quatuor n°9
On 16 February, Quatuor Diotima will premiere Marc Monnet’s 9ème Quatuor in the dual setting of its residence at Radio France and the new edition of the Festival Présences.
Adept at opposing views, beginning with those he administers to his own style, Marc Monnet states that in this work he sought "to find something on the order of the non-expressive, even if that is illusory because non-expressiveness is another form of expressiveness". Still, as exhilarating as this artist is, he first and foremost knows the rules of the game: "... if he wants to stimulate the ear, the composer must continuously surprise; he must rouse the brain of the listener and always question the composition of the music, knowing why and at which moment the listener may experience enjoyment."
We can be certain that, in tune with the challenge of the Festival Présences from the time of its founding by Claude Samuel, this world premiere will provide the audience members at the Auditorium de la Maison de la Radio with a chance to question their "understanding of what they usually hear". And the artist assures us: "When I see how much time it takes for the knowledge required to decide what will be or not be when writing a score, I can readily imagine that it would not be easy for a music lover to quickly make his way and that he or she would probably respond with reference to the familiar collective conditioning. In the 9ème Quatuor, I have also torn up this conventional mode somewhat."
Saturday 16 February 2019
World premiere
Maison de la Radio, Auditorium de Radio France
Quatuor Diotima