Passacaille
Pierre Bartholomée
- Duration: 13:39
Stereo
Performers
- Jessica Ryckewaert, marimba
The etymological roots of Protopia / Tesseract are Greek.
Protopia is a combination of two terms, proto (πρώτο) meaning first and topos (τοπος) meaning place. Its construction echoes that of utopia (ουτοπία), a term designating a fictional ideal place that is said not to exist, ou (ου) being the negation in Greek.
Tesseract derives from tesseres actines (τεσσερες ακτινες) meaning four rays, and refers in geometry to the four-dimensional analog of the three-dimensional cube where the tesseract would be to the cube what the cube is to the square.
The electroacoustic work Protopia / Tesseract is grounded in the literary interpretation of the tesseract proposed by Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007) in the children’s fantasy novel A Wrinkle in Time (1962), where intergalactic travel is made possible through spatio-temporal compression. Protopia / Tesseract aims to link the various images of fantasy that can come to a reader’s mind to the spatio-temporal evolution of sound and contrasts engendered by the multichannel electroacoustic medium.
The work opens with contrasting sound material placed in adjacent spaces. A slow morphological evolution conveys the impression of an initial sonic topography unfolding leisurely around the listener replete with foreground and background events. During the second movement, the sound world evolves towards a vast, lush spectral landscape, after which part of the sound material begins to spin in clockwise and counter clockwise rotations. These increase in speed and intensity and aim to call to mind the compression of space and time.
[vii-13]
Protopia / Tesseract was realized in 2005-07 at the multitrack electroacoustic studio of City University London (England, UK), the Métamorphoses d’Orphée studio of Musiques & Recherches in Ohain (Belgium), and the Studio Akousma of the Academy of Soignies (Belgium), and premiered on May 8, 2007 during the Electroacoustic Concert 5 at City University London. Thanks to Jean-Louis Poliart, Denis Smalley, and Annette Vande Gorne. The piece was realized with the help of the ministry of Communauté française de Belgique. Protopia / Tesseract was awarded the 1st prize at the Musica Nova 2008 International Competition of Electroacoustic Music (Prague, Czech Republic) as well as an Honorable Mention at the Concurso Internacional de Música Eletroacústica de São Paulo (CIMESP ’07, Brazil).
“In the background: an endless flow of words. // Sounds without beginning nor end. Inarticulate and smooth, always. // Figures; the voice, its colours, its emotions. // Words as meaning carriers. // Presence. // Figures over a background, connected by symbols and images.” — Ingrid Drese
“The structure of this text is in two levels. The project consists in making them live together, knowing that they have nothing in common.” — Étienne Leclercq
[English translation: François Couture, vi-09]
Tout autant [Just As Much] was realized in 2000 at the composer’s studio and premiered on May 26-28, 2000 during the Musiques en marge forum at Théâtre-Poème in Brussels (Belgium). It was commissioned for Musiques en marge by Le bureau des arts (Brussels, Belgium), with support from the Service de la musique of the Direction générale de la culture, ministry of the Communauté française de Belgique. Thanks to Renaud De Putter and Stephane Ginsburgh of Le bureau des arts. Thanks to Fabienne Henry, recorded voice. Tout autant has been previously released on the compact disc Passerelles (Sub Rosa, SR 161).
Metharcana was produced using material intended for a dance production. Starting from the idea that works of this type explore time within a defined space, I became interested in developing a paradox of this interweaving of dance and music — by exploring the use of space within a timeframe defined by the choreographic structure. It is this interaction that I have tried to transpose into this concert piece where two seemingly ill-matched sonic worlds are brought together and treated with the morpho-dynamic analogies that make the relationship viable and suggest a different listening experience — that of a neglected “a-concrete” voice.
[English translation: Tom Carter]
Metharcana was realized, with support from the Communauté française de Belgique, at the composer’s studio in 1998 and premiered on November 11, 1998 during the 5th International Acousmatic Festival L’Espace du son in XL Théâtre du Grand Midi (Brussels, Belgium). I would like to thank choreographer Michèle Noiret for giving me the opportunity to work in the dance field and to Emmanuel Favreau, from Ina-GRM, for providing me with the GRM Tools software, a precious musical toolbox. Metharcana was awarded the 1st prize at the Stockholm Electronic Arts Award (Sweden, 1998).