Mode française

Murail, Dalbavie, Grisey, Campo, Berio, Pécou

Ensemble Variances would like to present an overview of French contemporary music, albeit impossible to be conclusive. We would like to focus on ‘spectral music’, which has its origins in France.

Gérard Grisey and Tristan Murail were amongst the pioneers of what they described as an aesthetic rather than a style, not so much a set of techniques as an attitude – that "music is ultimately sound evolving in time". Theses two composers can be considered as the leaders of the spectral music in France. Marc-André Dalbavie, their follower, opens a new sound territory focusing on colours and space, and references to Italian Renaissance music.
The music of Régis Campo, a student of Gérard Grisey at the Conservatoire de Paris, possesses a distinct rhythmic energy and vitality, is highly melodic with a certain typical French humour that can also be found in the work of French composers such as Rameau, Couperin, Satie or Ravel. His own explanation: "I am from the south of France, the ‘planet’ Marseille" where all kinds of music, songs and voices mingle.
This piece who has also spectral elements makes the transition to Thierry Pécou’s pulsating music. His works can best be described as organic, created with a musical imagination that gives the audience the impression of being part of a ritual. Being a traveller-composer, his music is influenced and inspired by his travels around the world. Manoa is based on the chants of the Goahibo, an indigenous tribe from Orinoco. The theme has an answer-reply structure, the music complemented by a choreography of movements by the musicians, symbolising the perception of music the tribe has: body and music are one and the same.
In Les machines désirantes, he gives a vivid view on the world of today and its violent changes that are often a source of despair and anxiety.