07/10/2017 - Aix-en-Provence, Hotel Meynier d'Oppède - Academy of the Festival d'Aix Sponsor
Academy of the Festival d'Aix and ProQuartet Notice
Lyrae is a work for string quartet, harp and percussion (bass drum, marimba, vibraphone and tamtam). It is inspired by one of the most fascinating stars in the constellation Lyra. It is actually a double star, each of whose entities exerts cosmic forces on the other. Attracting and repelling each other, they create a sort of “halo”, of stellar mist around them. Shrouded in very energetic cosmic dust, they can however eclipse each other. So I designed the piece in one piece, like a real pas de deux of the couple of stars. Taking turns leading the dance, they move and radiate in space, thus illuminating the sky with their beams of distinct strength. An introduction presents a dark space, as mysterious as it is threatening. The material rumbles, disintegrates, and gradually turns into luminous and sparkling dust. A more lyrical episode emerges from this hazy stellar haze, before regaining the initial agonizing darkness. The whole point of this work was to musically represent these two facets of Lyrae - not as different entities, but as two intertwined worlds which are linked and merge into each other without ever clashing.
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