The Lemanic Modern Ensemble will perform Éric Montalbetti's new work "Fenêtres simultanées sur la ville" on November 16, 2020 at the Alhambra in Geneva and on November 18, 2020 at the Auditorium du Perrier d'Annemasse under the direction of Pierre Bleuse.
Here is some words by the composer about the work:
With this score, I wanted to compose a joyously coloured work, akin to the work of Sonia & Robert Delaunay.
The title taken from a series of paintings by Robert from 1912 seeks to underline the importance of living together and the multiplicity of outlooks on a city (and life) which makes us richer in perspectives.
Sonia and Robert greatly insisted on the importance of making art nouveau a part of the city, that is to say a part of everyone's daily life.
The reference to the Delaunays also celebrates the emulation of a couple united by love as much as by a passion for the arts.
The five movements or tableaux that make up the work are as follows:
- "Saint-Séverin & l’arc-en-ciel", like a prelude or a chorale referring to Robert's first aesthetic shock in this Parisian church, next to the workshop where he lived with Sonia, and where I myself have lived and celebrated with my wife the most important stages of life,
- "Soleil & Prismes électriques", inspired by Sonia's first works on light and the idea of simultaneity, which finds its sources as much in the contemplation of nature as in the landscapes of modern life and the works of other painter friends or poets,
- "Rythmes sans fin", a series of paintings in which Sonia and Robert find one another and which echo the Brancusi columns, like a desire for elevation or a quest for eternity,
- "Louis Blériot, la Tour Eiffel & les Trois Grâces"*, which refers to the joint work by Sonia and Robert for the Universal Exhibition of 1937, celebrating through their new aesthetic the modern conquests of space and speed, not without a certain fascination for the beauty of the machines and technical development, in the joy of belonging to a world fascinated by progress and the spirit of discovery.
- "Cercles colorés, a joie de vivre" celebrating as a finale life and the spirit of celebration, like those dancing evenings at Bal Bullier where Sonia and Robert often met their friends wearing the colours of their simultaneous clothes.
* N.B.: This is the 4th movement, lasting approximately 12 minutes, which can be omitted in the 4-tableaux version. The 4-tableaux version can be performed with the original configuration as well as by increasing slightly the size of the string section, while the 4th tableau, which can be played independently from the others, should only be performed in the ensemble version.
Éric Montalbetti - Fenêtres simultanées sur la ville - Digital broadcast
World premiere: 22 November 2020
Auditorium du Perrier, Annemasse
Lemanic Modern Ensemble
Pierre Bleuse, conductor
Japanese premiere : 2 October 2021
Tokyo
Orchestre de l'Université Kunitachi
Yasuaki Itakura, conductor
Swiss premiere: 18 October 2021
Alhambra, Geneva
Lemanic Modern Ensemble
Pierre Bleuse, conductor
20 October 2021
Auditorium du Perrier, Annemasse
Lemanic Modern Ensemble
Pierre Bleuse, conductor
Watch the recording of the premiere of the work: