Soprano 1
Soprano 2
Mezzo-soprano
Tenor
Baritone
Bass
Contrabass clarinet/basset horn
Soprano saxophone (also tenor)
Accordion
1 percussionist
Theorboe
Cimbalom
Double bass
This piece begins a vocal cycle called « En Absence », initiated by a will of investing myself personally even more in my work. With the help of this unusual formation, I wanted to evoke the feelings experienced long after grief, and mostly the sense of losing physicality of your loved ones memories. Is there only a subsistent trace, or does this trace has become a deeper part of our personality, our daily routine, without being able to process it?
To try to answer those questions that I find asking myself very frequently these days as ten years have passed since I lost my parents, I tried to break out the musical discourse by using instrumentarium spatialisation as a means to orchestration, allowing me to imagine new solutions, but also to create a coherence through balancing varied textures.
Hubert Haddad’s text seemed an evidence to me while first reading it. Its fragile beauty and the choice of a theme originally from The Book of Esther felt appropriate for a piece about the appropriation of memories. On top of that, its immediate musicality as well as my choice not to use a text directly related to grief convinced me quickly. I used the voices as characters that pass a text to each other fluidly, to meet again in unexpected ways.
This piece is dedicated with the greatest friendship to Christine Fischer and Sébastien Boin, who offered me their trust for realizing this beautiful project, alongside three other wonderful composers.