Intaglio for English horn and cello (2010)
Creation by the dedicatees Jean-Pierre Arnaud and Paruyr Shahazizian within the framework of Hors Saison Musicale organized by the association Pour Que l'Esprit Vive.
Partial creation On 10-11-2019 - Church of Buxy, in Saône et Loire
Creation in full on 02-02-2020 - St Germain Church - Venarey-lès Laumes, in Côte d'Or.
Duration: approx. 9'.
An intaglio is a hard, fine stone incised to serve as a seal or stamp. It can be presented alone or mounted as a ring, jewel or part of an adornment (it is the opposite of the cameo which is a stone engraved in relief).
That the underlying (in hollow) can appear in the foreground (in relief) is a duality that guided me throughout this composition where each of the constituent motifs of the work constantly passes from one instrument to the other. another, a sound plane disappearing to reveal another.
It is a real work of engraving - almost goldsmithery - where the smallest detail (articulations, nuances...) contributes to the precision and the coherence of the sound architecture of the work.
In the intaglio, the hardness of the stone contrasts sharply with the extreme delicacy of the rendering, itself enhanced by the choice of stone which, naturally veined, opalescent, transparent... is perceived in its depth as a world to full, sometimes appeased, sometimes tormented.
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It is a music of contrasts where extreme tension rubs shoulders with extreme delicacy. This ambivalence is intended to be the mirror of the listener (watcher) by referring him to what is properly human in him.
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The choice to combine two bass instruments with a rich timbre is part of this poetics of ambivalence.
A carved rock crystal ring, (an intaglio) found on the finger of a Roman woman, in a burial located near Rome, at Palestrina. It has the reputation of being the most beautiful ring from Antiquity that has come down to us. The taste for engraved and polished hard stones remained very strong in the West, they had an intimate relationship with immortality In the very rich hours of the Duke of Berry around 1410, the Duke is represented at the gates of paradise, welcomed by Saint Peter, he holds out his hand to her on which he wears a ring, engraved with the face of Christ, at his sight Saint Peter fades away and opens the door...