Dedicated to Yves Charpentier and Jean-Christophe Murer

Created on January 18, 2011 at the CNSM in Lyon, Salle Molière

Duration : approx. 4'30. Editions Francois Dhalmann

Swap, in English (but also in French) is, in the vocabulary of finance, IT, automotive and on the blogosphere, an exchange between two parties. The explicit idea of the swap is to diversify and optimize the expected result through the exchange.

Here, no financial exchange ; it is not an order but a donation… which may be another form of exchange ! Written in a few days, this little work is a musical thank you for two musician friends who have been helping and supporting me for years.

Swap was created during the closing concert of a series of meetings, entitled the creative musician, for flautists from the CRR and CNSM of Lyon as well as those from the Orchester Français du Rhône. These master classes of my works for and with flutes were centered around the personality and career of Yves Charpentier, flautist and director of the ensemble Le Concert Impromptu. Jean-Christophe Murer, clarinettist of this same ensemble, was also present to animate these meetings.

The title Swap refers to the compositional project of this work which, like my Vignettes for two flutes, calls on two instruments “ interchangeables ”. In this case, the many playing modes and unusual timbres pass from one to the other as if they were one instrument. A formal process of hiccuping, that is, of exchanging, allows sounds to flow from one to the other.