In
Voûtes, I worked on the idea of the brilliance of copper caused by swirling falls on reflective surfaces. It is a study of new attack transients not limited to the percussive. Moreover, due to its limited character, percussion expresses beyond percussion: what one might call the enigma of sound. Thus the fall, the brilliance of copper in the resonance of a vault, evokes for me - by acoustic litotes - the brilliance of the voice and laughter. This brass orchestration is supported by a pedal of large Chinese vases vibrating sympathetically at very precise frequencies, snare drums. I thus find again this privilege of the "percussion" material, the interference of one sound body on another, the phenomenon of a shaking and the evocation of breath. Throughout this work, these new attack transients become like development structures. The result is a continuous variation on three modes (three short pieces: Swirling of copper = sob, vault, pulverize) obtained by the controlled use of the diameters of the metals, the characteristics of the reflective surfaces, the resonance times and the speeds of the circular falls. Rhythmic polyphony is no longer limited to scansion. With
Voûtes, I attempt new writings of "making sound".
Michaël Lévinas
Recording:
1 aeon CD, AE0103, Voûtes
Préfixe - Arsis et Thésis - Froissement d'ailes - Voûtes - Rebonds - Trois études pour piano - La Cloche félée
Ensemble L'Itinéraire, Percussions de Strasbourg, Orchestre National de France
Author: LEVINAS Michaël
Discipline/Instrument: 6 percussion instruments
Medium: Score
Style/Genre: contemporary
Publication date: Jan.-88
Number of pages: 63 (A3)
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