In 1970, in an orchestral piece titled
Altitude 8000, strongly influenced by Ligeti, I experimented with a sound continuum that boldly reintroduced, and not without some provocation, fifths, octaves, "classical" chords.
L'Attente is an attempt to apply these ideas to a chamber music ensemble. A total rejection of the solutions then in fashion: no "figures" of melodies, no development in the usual sense, few breaks, choice of an instrumentation that might seem outdated. The resulting music may seem strange, a prelude to an aborted potential. It is in any case symptomatic of a crisis and a search. Its most obvious aspect is the work on continuity, on the gradual transformation of sound textures and musical situations – all that would later be formalized under the notion of "process".
The piece is a kind of psychological study of the situation of waiting: you are waiting for someone, a loved one, you watch for them among the advancing crowd. A blurry silhouette appears – it’s them! The silhouette approaches, the shape becomes clearer – no, it was someone else... The excitement fades. The process renews itself. Successive disappointments? Or, on the contrary, isn’t the waiting superior to the awaited object?
A kind of plastic mass, of sonic lava. Sketches of contours constantly escape from it. A melody, a rhythm seem to take shape, the lava appears to solidify into a recognized sound configuration. But no, these were decoys, and immediately these apparently familiar elements are reabsorbed into the sound flow.
In a certain way, it is abstract music, in the sense that one can
abstract from an old painting the purely formal content of contours and colors. Here, one might evoke a Ravel that has been conscientiously purged of all thematic material, of all formal structure. Only the scent would remain.
Tristan Murail
Recording:
1 CD Accord, AC4659012
Couleur de mer - L'attente - Treize Couleurs du soleil couchant - Attracteurs étranges - La Barque mystique
Ensemble Court-Circuit, Pierre-André Valade (conductor)Author: MURAIL Tristan Discipline/Instrument: 7 instrumentsFormat: Score Style/Genre: contemporary Release date: Jan-00Number of pages: 69
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