In Les Enfants terribles, the music of Philip Glass sometimes seems to suspend time through the repetition of hypnotic motifs. This exploration of new sonic spaces—where time stretches into a sensory experience—has driven many composers since the second half of the 20th century. Comfortably lying in the dim light of the Grand Foyer, cross the threshold of the night and move beyond the boundaries of sound.
From the darkness first emerge the sonic audacities of Giacinto Scelsi (1905–1988). By playing a single note on the piano for hours, probing its slightest variations, the Italian composer grounded his aesthetic in the uniqueness and depth of sound. Manto is written for solo viola with vocal interventions by the performer: an intimate, ritualistic work in which instrument and voice merge. In Xnoybis for solo violin, Scelsi sculpts almost imperceptible intervals around a central pitch, while each string is tuned differently to create acoustic frictions.
These two pieces precede one of the four Archipels by André Boucourechliev (1925–1997), whose score is scattered with “islands” across the blank expanse of the page. They present structures that define—sometimes graphically, sometimes through traditional notation—types of sounds, gestures, or rhythms. In performance, the musicians choose together—and in response to one another—the trajectories between these islands. The work, open and mobile, is thus continually reinvented.
The evening then immerses us in the spellbinding music of Georg Friedrich Haas. Born in 1953, the Austrian composer is a major figure of the spectral movement: his use of microtonal intervals creates an ambiguous, unstable sonic world. He too is interested in repetitive structures, but whereas Philip Glass uses them to build luminous architectures, Haas seeks to “tickle the body in unusual places.” The two pieces for clarinet, cello, and piano in this program set the individuality of each instrument against the trio’s overall sound, in a chiaroscuro interplay inspired by celestial phenomena.
Later in the night, Augustin Muller, a member of Le Balcon and a computer music designer at IRCAM, performs an hour of electronic music inspired by the sonic world of Philip Glass.
Saturday 7 March, 9:00 pm
Saturday 7 March, 10:45 pm
Sunday 8 March, 12:30 am
Duration: 1 hour per concert