Je ne suis qu’une voix…

Année de composition
2021
Durée
19 minutes
genre
Mixed
Effectif
Instrumental ensemble [12 musicians]: clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, percussion, accordion, piano, cymbalum, mandolin, guitar, harp, cello, and double bass

The main idea will be to stage a synthesized voice, which questions its identity and tries to become autonomous, intelligent. At the beginning of the play, this voice will only read a text written beforehand, but at the end it will speak an original text generated by the machine using the AI.
The play will be divided into three parts:
a) an initial speech centred on the question of identity which is deconstructed at the semantic level and then at the phonetic level
b) an intermediate passage based on the sound particles which has become the voice, without semantics, only the timbre remains
c) a new discourse generated by the machine from the constraints and in relation to the initial discourse and the theme of the piece. It is not excluded that this last part explores other types of expression than speech, imagining that the machine would be capable of inventing a new language, different to those we know.

THE MUSICAL ENSEMBLE AS A BODY

The ensemble of 12 musicians will interact with this voice in various ways, but mostly as a metaphor for the physical body that this voice does not possess. Quite freely, the ensemble will act as a complement to what the voice says. In the first part, the instrumental sounds will underline the deconstruction of the discourse, intervening abruptly at first and gradually settling in as the semantic coherence of the speech is lost. In the second part, the ensemble will mix with the sounds of the voice, exploring timbres and rhythms, starting from the remains of the voice transformed into small phonetic cells. Finally, in the third part, the ensemble will accompany the generation of the new speech of the voice, in a counterpoint that develops in parallel, creating a layer of meaning that is superimposed on that of the speech.

Francisco Alvarado

Création mondiale
March 18th, 2021 | Saison de l’Ircam/Centre Pompidou-Les Spectacles vivants | Grande Salle du Centre Pompidou, Paris

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