Pantomimes, for piano four hands and stereo electronic setup, is conceived as a dream, a wandering, an initiatory journey taking place between the moment when the child must go to sleep and when they wake up. These nocturnal dreams, inhabited by various characters—fantastical, grotesque, poetic—constantly evolve, taking the listener through lands that are sometimes wonderful, sometimes frightening, and through states ranging from calm to passion, from joy to fear. Then, when the dance becomes frenzy, it is time to return to reality.
The work is presented as a series of tableaux designed according to a pedagogical progression, accessible from the end of the first cycle of piano study (approximately the fourth year according to usual conservatory standards) up to pre-professional levels:
The Pantomime is not only a musical evocation, it is also perceptible in the staging and the playing techniques required of the performers, since each tableau demands from one or the other, sometimes both, unconventional uses of the instrument (other than playing on the keyboard). Thus transformed into puppets, the pianists then engage with a total sound material yet exclusively dedicated to the piano (without preparation or other artifices), creating a universe taken up and developed by the electronic part with which they interact.
All necessary electronic files are available for download via our website www.edu.billaudot.com (versions with click track for practice, at various speeds, in quadraphony for concerts, player?). These files must be triggered very precisely when the corresponding symbol appears in the score.
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