Stretched Strings
A concert at the extreme limit of contemporary strings with the Conservatoire supérieur de Paris and the cellist Arne Deforce. The decisive gesture of Aroura by Xenaikis with his modeling of the sound material – in particular the glissando – can be felt in the strangeness of the wild, electrified forest of Raphaël Cendo’s Foris. At the other extremity are the harmonic fluidity of Matthias Pintscher and the lyricism of George Benjamin. In Upon Silence, the British composer follows the strophes of Yeats’ miraculous poem step for step.
“There on that scaffolding resides
Michael Angelo.
With no more sound than the mice make
His hand moves to and fro.
Like a long-legged fly upon the stream
His mind moves upon silence.”
The self-portrait of an artist, certainly of a major artist, waiting for the right moment.
Arne Deforce cello
Computer Music Design Max Bruckert
Raphaël Cendo Foris
Iannis Xenakis Kottos
Élèves du Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris
Anaïs Bertrand mezzo-soprano
Gabrielle Lafait, Vladimir Percevic, Thien-Bao Pham-Vu altos
Anton Hanson, Jules Dussap violins
Simon Dechambre cello
Ensemble de cordes du Conservatoire
Conductor Bruno Mantovani
Pedagogical Advisor Jean Sulem
Iannis Xenakis Aroura, Embellie
George Benjamin Viola, Viola ; Upon Silence
Matthias Pintscher Figura IV
An IRCAM-Centre Pompidou, Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris coproduction. IRCAM and the CENTQUATRE are partners for experimental performance projects. With the support of the ULYSSES netword. This project wes funded with the support of the European Commission. The views expressed in this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission. Diaphone is the Franco-British fund for contemporary music, a joint initiative of the Institut français, the SACEM, the British Council, the Bureau Export de la musique française, the Amis de l’Institut français Trust, and the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.