To “the inventors of the treasure” (Bayle, Berio, Chion, Dufour, Ferrari, Henry, Malec, Parmegiani, Reibel, Risset, Schaeffer, Stockhausen, Teruggi, Varèse, Xenakis, Zanési, and others too numerous to name)

This presents an original aspect of the “new music” (as Schaeffer called it in 1950) one that, thanks to the concept of the sound object, brought about its accession to a multidimensional musical world. But it is above all a metaphor for, and a short cut across, some of the stages of the sound odyssey — heard for itself and for its unveiled “images” (Bayle) — and its performance. It also recalls the fertile guiding drift that allows the attentive ear to discover the furtive traces of homage.

— Francis Dhomont [English translation: Tom Carter]

AvatArsSon — 2nd of the 4 works in the Cycle du son — was realized in 1998 in the Syter studio of Ina-GRM and at the composer’s studio, and it premiered on May 11, 1998 as part of Ina-GRM’s Cycle acousmatique at the Salle Olivier Messiaen of the Maison de Radio France in Paris (France). AvatArsSon was a special commission of the Ministère de la Culture (France) and of Ina-GRM for the 50th anniversary of musique concrète. AvatArsSon was awarded the 1st prize at the 2nd Concorso Internazionale di Composizione Musicale Elettronica Pierre Schaeffer (Pescara, Italy, 1999) and, in a shorter version (14:20), a 2nd prize in the Musica Nova 1998 International Competition of Electroacoustic Music (Prague, Czech Republic). AvatArsSon was recorded on the disc 2°/3° Concorso Internazionale di Composizione Musicale Elettronica Pierre Schaeffer.

Composition

• 1998, Studio SYTER — Groupe de recherches musicales – Institut national de l’audiovisuel (Ina-GRM), Paris (France)
• 1998, Personal studio, Montréal (Québec)

Premiere

• May 11, 1998, Cycle acousmatique Son-Mu 98: Concert, Salle Olivier Messiaen — Maison de Radio France, Paris (France)

Awards

• 2nd prize ex æquo, Category A (fixed medium), Musica Nova 1998, Prague (Czech Republic)
• 1st prize, Category A (fixed medium), 2nd International Competition of Computer Music Pierre Schaeffer, Pescara (Italy)