Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Allain Gaussin
Les Céphéides (2016)
- Alphonse Leduc (World)
Commissioned by "Festival Messiaen au Pays de la Meije"
Dedicated to Marie-Françoise and Gaëtan Puaud.
In Memoriam Pierre Boulez
Programme Note
I have always been fascinated by the universe and by astronomy - perhaps because the cosmos represents the unknown and offers a multitude of enigmas, which stimulate our imagination and broaden the sphere of possibilities available to mankind. Facing this immense, mysterious and transparent starry vault, one can try to grasp this energy coming from the hereafter. One will then enter in relation with the infinite, the unknown or the ineffable, translating these ideas into a perceptible dimension. Les Céphéïdes are part of this project I started over 40 years ago in my other works: Années-Lumière, Eclipse, L’Harmonie des Sphères, Vent solaire, La Chevelure de Bérénice…
Finding inspiration in the definition of the Cepheids - stars with a luminous intensity that varies according to endlessly repeating, regular periods - I tried to invite the listener to travel through space and to make them penetrate a different dimension, intangible and fragile… the world of music.
The first part leads us, through a sequence of interlocking repetitions, "towards the center of the Cepheids”. After a burst of coloured ribbon-figures and a "weightless” transition, a second part introduces "this light come from nowhere…" a more contemplative phrase in the cello, which is then enriched by the violin in counterpoint. Following another transition, "the strange mirror" and its floating polyphony, the very exuberant third part concludes with a return "towards the center of the Cepheids", but this time with very different musical material.
The work ends with a suspended Coda, in resonance with cosmic infinity.
Finding inspiration in the definition of the Cepheids - stars with a luminous intensity that varies according to endlessly repeating, regular periods - I tried to invite the listener to travel through space and to make them penetrate a different dimension, intangible and fragile… the world of music.
The first part leads us, through a sequence of interlocking repetitions, "towards the center of the Cepheids”. After a burst of coloured ribbon-figures and a "weightless” transition, a second part introduces "this light come from nowhere…" a more contemplative phrase in the cello, which is then enriched by the violin in counterpoint. Following another transition, "the strange mirror" and its floating polyphony, the very exuberant third part concludes with a return "towards the center of the Cepheids", but this time with very different musical material.
The work ends with a suspended Coda, in resonance with cosmic infinity.
Scores
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