To my daughter

Alternating regions of tension and repose, of tempestuousness and peace, like the heavens. Cloudy, scattered, stormy or bright, clear skies or night skies, they always essentially derive from a foundation of azure…

FIELD Coat of arms. The surface of a shield. A lion rampant in a field of sky-blue. — The field of a medal, of an enamel: the area upon which one engraves, upon which one paints.

— (Le Petit Robert Dictionary)

The first version of Sur champ d’azur [In a Field of Azure] was realized at the Groupe de musique expérimentale de Bourges (GMEB) in March and April, 1984 and premiered on June 8, 1984 at the 14th Bourges International Festival of Experimental Music and subsequently presented on June 13, 1984 at the same festival in a concert of works chosen for the 1st International Rostrum of Electroacoustic Music (IREM) (Bourges, 1984). Sur champ d’azur was commissioned by the Ina-GRM. The present version, entirely revised in February and March, 1986 at the Ina-GRM studios, premiered on March 24, 1986 in the Grand auditorium of Maison de Radio France during the Cycle acousmatique series.

Composition

• March – April 1984, Groupe de musique expérimentale de Bourges (GMEB), Bourges (Cher, France)

Revision

• February – March 1986, Groupe de recherches musicales – Institut national de l’audiovisuel (Ina-GRM), Paris (France)

Premiere

• June 8, 1984, Synthèse 1984: Concert, Bourges (Cher, France)
• March 24, 1986, Premiere of the final version: Cycle acousmatique 1986: Concert, Grand Auditorium — Maison de Radio France, Paris (France)