Patrick Ascione was a French composer who studied at the Groupe de musique expérimentale de Bourges (GMEB) in the 1970s and later was drawn into the study of computer music at Ircam. He may have done some work as a facilitating technician in the GMEB institution and also taught electroacoustic music in Cherbourg. Interestingly, he’s another composer who saw the potential of electroacoustic music to realise the idea of “colour”, and in the 1970s thought of his own work as a form of sound painting, even including colours as part of his titles, for instance his “yellow lemon” [Métamorphose d’un jaune citron] piece which surfaced on [the Cinéma pour l’oreille label produced by] Metamkine in 1995.
The pieces here on Figures de son are not the colour pieces, but a lively survey of his works from around 1998 to 2012. A good introduction — I never heard his work before, but there’s a lot of drama and excitement. I’m personally drawn to his Ascionerie no 6: Fantaisie diabolique from 2011-12, which I’m content to interpret as a typically Gallic vision of Hell populated with lively horned devils and grinning skeletons, much like those French postcards you used to get in the 19th century. Ascione conjures up a babble of treated voices cackling and jabbering in a swirling mess of tape noise, along with a lumbering disco beat — what’s not to like? It seems the composer was trying to make some point about market forces and capitalism, but I prefer my version with skulls and red capes.
Remainder of the disc is strong too, with the fast-moving chattering and timbral changes of Divertissement, and the crazy apocalyptic synth-swipes of Et puis l’oubli…, which is intended as a metaphor for the “end of all things”. I’m finding plenty of musical drama and content in the music of Patrick Ascione, even if it might stand guilty of a certain over-emphasis and swagger, like an actor strutting on the stage with many hand-gestures, exaggerated posture, and facial contortions. Which might not be wide of the mark, if we translate the French “figures” as “faces”. I’ve tried reading his explanatory notes in the package, but his artistic intentions and ideas, as expressed in words, are more or less incomprehensible to me; far better in this case just to listen to the music.
