Evolutionary for solo bassoon (2013)
Dedicated to Christophe Tessier
Created on 10/24/2021 during ReadLyon 2021
Duration: 5' - Editions Delatour France
This work could have been called “ In freundschaft ”... to paraphrase Karlheinz Stockhausen
_cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad the dedicatee of the work - a very long-time friend - has lost the use of his right arm. A musician at heart and an excellent instrumentalist, this real tragedy, followed by rehabilitation, so long, slow and uncertain as to the results, literally stunned me. Evolutionary partly reflects this state of affairs and my state of mind in the face of the inevitable.
Je trouve poignant et exemplaire sa volonté actuelle de ne pas lâcher prise, de continue to teach and ask composers to write a short work for him, in a reduced range (only the middle and high octaves produced using many substitution fingerings because the low octave of the instrument belongs to the right hand). To accept such a request is to remember Ravel and his Concerto for the Left Hand . Writing within the framework of constraints - even maximum ones - is not a problem in itself, it is enough just to accept them, to "deal with" and play with the unequal tone that must be left as is.
_cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad upwards, constantly thwarted by the use of very sonorous breaths, by moments of feverish agitation interspersed with cries, and by large, smooth, static descending phrases. These writing characteristics contribute to the strangeness of a time that often freezes and evolves only slowly.
Outre un caractère profondément sombre dû aux cassures constantes, il y a dans cette work, something desperate like a lamentation: the writing turns on itself like a spiral. The extremely slow evolution of the motifs leads one to believe that they constantly return to themselves identically; and yet, it is only a series of variants in the service of a constantly evolving form.
*
Extract from Christophe Tessier's response following my acceptance to write and the sending of the 1st version.
"Thank you for your answer and for 'Evolutionary'.
But I still can't play notes lower than the first C of the piece, and that, I had forgotten! You need the right hand, the one that no longer works..."
Proposal to instrumentalists
Si ce n'étaient les circonstances "exceptionnelles"_cc781905-5cde- 3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ of the context of the writing, this is a true concert work, without major technical difficulties. It is therefore playable by pupils who will profitably approach the use of the voice.
_cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ Scalable being thought "with one left hand", I would advise instrumentalists (professional or not) to try to play it like this, even if it is of course possible to play it "with 2 hands"._cc781905- 5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ In the case of an execution only with my right hand, the artificial fingerings produce untempered pitches: it is then necessary to rectify neither the accuracy nor the very particular "voiced" stamp of these sounds . Scalable having been designed in this way, the dramatic dimension that emerges is all the more reinforced. This bias is reminiscent of the singular expression due to the "unevenness" of the craftsmanship of Baroque instruments which the composers of the time knew how to take advantage of so well.