Event

My project combines three sound units: a mixed vocal group (three female and three male voices), an instrumental ensemble (nine instrumentalists), and an electronic environment. The latter unit includes both sound files and a device for real-time sound transformations, which were preset in the IRCAM studios (thanks to the Réalisateur d'Informatique Musical Serge Lemouton, with whom I have been working since 2007), as well as two electric and electronic instruments (electric guitar and digital keyboards). The latter two instrumentalists will play instruments that create a connection between the live sung and played instrumental sounds and the electronic sounds. In particular, the two MIDI keyboards will act as an interface and link between the conductor and the music computers (which play the transformations, send sound files, spatial representation, etc.).

The lyrics will be at the center of the entire composition process. For this reason, the voices will be amplified to enable different vocalities from singing to speaking (singing, whispering, onomatopoeia, stuttering, laughing, etc.). Finally, some text passages will be pre-recorded, edited in the studio, and played during the concert as a counterpoint to other vocal expressions.

For me, these writings are not fiction, but expressions of people who are prevented from communicating directly with others; they bring back to life the spirits of those who wrote them. With my score, I want to build a casket that gives us a glimpse of these people. To use Pasolini's expression, the writings I have selected are like fireflies in a world of darkness, where what is considered madness leads to (sometimes necessary) confinement, but above all to oblivion or abuse (even today, often due to lack of care, lack of staff, and lack of resources).

Frédéric Durieux
December 2022