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marc-andre dalbavie

concerto pour violon

color 2001

ciaccona 2002

eiichi ChijiiWa VIOLON I IOLIN

orchestre de paris

christoph eschenbach

marc-andre dalbavie,christoph eschenbach

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marc-andre dalbavie · 1951

© Gerard Billaudot Editeur SA

color 2001

Commande de I'Orchestre de Paris

Creation au Carnegie Hall de New York , e 30 janvier 2002,par t'Orchestre de Paris sous ta direction de Christoph Eschenbach

t:reuvre est dediee aChristoph Eschenbach

Commissioned by the Orchestre de Paris

Premiered at Carnegie Hall, New York, on 30 January 2002, by the Orchestre de Paris

conducted by Christoph Eschenbach

The work is dedicated to Christoph Eschenbach

concerto pour violon et orchestre I for violin and orchestra 1996

Creation aOonaueschingen, e 18 octobre 1996,par Eiichi Chijiiwa

et I'Orchestre national de France sous Ia direction de Lothar Zagrosek

L:reuvre est dediee a uciano Serio

Premiered in Donaueschingen on 18 October 1996, by Eiichi Chijiiwa

and the Orchestre National de France conducted by Lothar Zagrosek

The work is dedicated to Luciano Berio

ciaccona 2002

Creation aHambourg, e 7 evrier 2003,par t'Orchestre de Ia NOR

sous Ia direction de Christoph Eschenbachl'reuvre est dediee ilia compositrice finlandaise Kaija Saariaho

Premiered in Hamburg on 7February 2003, by the NDR·Orchester

conducted by Christoph Eschenbach

The work is dedicated to the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho

21 '28

24'05

19 '28

espace , ligne, couleur

Parmi les compositeurs de sa generation,MDalbavie est sans doute celui qui a e plus

Ia musique des questions qui ont d'abord

dans le domaine des arts plastiques. A '

Wall Drawings de Sol LeWitt , des travaux

Daniel Buren ou des anamorphoses spatiale

Varini qui,en excedant le cadre du tableau, o

le rapport de l'reuvre a son lieu d'accueil,

siteur s'attache a epenser Ia relation de I

a on lieu d'execution.Aussi certaines de sne limitent-elles pas l'espace musical a a s

l'etendent a a salle entiere ,afin que l'audi

calise pas son attention sur Ia seule portion

stituee par le concert traditionnel. La defo

ainsi obtenue remet done en cause Ia

spatiale qu'entraine toute presentation fron

musique.Mais Marc-Andre Dalbavie est aus

positeur de sa generation qui a e plus exp

procede a!'extension de Ia "musique spec

Gerard Grisey et Tristan Murail ont initiee au

annees 1970. Trois principes sont a a b

courant musical : une redefinition du

sonore,due aux decouvertes recentes de l'a

une conception de Ia forme, ondee sur des tde transformation continue ou de "morphing

en compte ,enfin,de Ia perception pour que I

soil de nouveau accessible a out auditeur.

La conjonction de ces deux approches ado

a Marc-Andre Dalbavie d'appliquer a l'

principe spectral des transformations contin

coup, a concevoir Ia spalialisation de f amique. Aussi, lorsque le composite ur spa

objet sonore- qu'il s'agisse d'un accord ,d'u

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14

violins positioned in the hall. Hence , as the frontal

focus of the concerto is gradually abandoned , the

traditional concertante function of the genre can only

be dissolved.

The acoustic image of this spatia lised concerto is of

course modified when the recording is played on a

stereophonic system.While righVIeft movements can

be recreated, fronVback movement is replaced by a

sensation of sound advancing or receding . On the

other hand , he gradual dissolution of the concertantefunction can still be fully perceived. This process of

dilution still respects the three movements of the

traditional concerto, hough these here follow on from

one another without abreak. f, n the first, he music

is chiefly focused on the soloist, in the second the

orchestra multiplies effects of resonance intended to

compete with him,while in the third the violin loses its

soloistic function.The work thus presents itself initially

as a raditional concerto. At thebeginning , hesoloist

evenseems to be an autonomous protagonist,with the

virtuosity of the concert artist as apoint of reference,

but this autonomy is gradually challenged by the

mechanism within which it operates, o such an extent

that it is finally overthrown . As to the relationshipbetween soloist and orchestra, the composer sought

to multiply the possible combinations , incorporating

both those attested by tradition and those offered by

the acoustical redefinition of sonority. n this way, he

violin line can either become detached from the

orchestral flow or merge with it in an overall timbre .

The musical objects of this work (the solo part, the

form of the concerto, the soloist 's relationship with

the orchestra, and so on), though at first seemingly

autonomous, are in fact an integral part of a general

process of continuous transformation (the gradual

dissolution of the concertante genre) which little by

little is revealed as governing them . Hence the com

poser succeeds in making some of the musical objects

he uses coincide with known referents, but he does so

only,when all is said and done , n order to make them

'fail' as such . All Marc-Andre Oalbavie 's music plays

again and again on this 'the principle of coincidences'.

For instance, because it is dedicated to Luciano Berio,the Violin Concerto incorpora tesexcerpts from Sinfonia

and Formazioni, but these quotations constitute, in

reality , the outcome or the point of departure of

orchestral procedures borrowed from electronic music,

and simulating virtual reverberations or echo effects .

If, in this concerto, the soloist gradually ceases to

be the element on which the listener's attention is

focused , the references integrated in such a context

end up, in a parallel development, being heard in a

quite different way.

Color, which dates from 2001 , returns to a conven

tional layout in which the instrumentalists, placed on

the platform ,once again face the audience.Whereas ,in this work, he composer does not pursue his explo

ration of sonic spatialisation , he amplifies here 'the

principle of coincidences ' established since the Violin

Concerto .The work 's title comes from a erm used in

medieval music to designate a variety of procedures

of melody creation. Colors project is therefore to rein

tegrate the melodic factor,which spectral music in its

first period, chiefly centred on the exploration of tim

bre,had been obliged to renounce , ust as, n painting,

the colourists tended to forego line. H

processes of continuous transforma

govern the music of Marc-Andre Oalbavie

cide ' from time to time with themelodic f

sidered as an additiona l referent to be inte

That said , however, the term 'color ' is

understood in its strict medieval sense; rat

cates that the melodic process initiated her

it stands at the opposite pole from the h

model of accompanied melody, is clostechniques of, say, plainchant melody th

Mozartian melody. n fact, he composer ma

new melodies emerge from the harmonic

universe of timbral music.

Moreover, seeking to vary as much as po

melodic objects thus created , Dalbavie di

himself to the classic techniques of spec

(compression, dilatation), which led him al

tegrate quasi-tonal sound phenomena. Co

the first piece by its composer that openly

the concept of 'metatonality '. When this n

theorised in the 1970s by the composer Cla

it corresponded to the search for an extensi

functions with a view to creating a cbetween atonality and tonality.However,pla

context of spectral theory, t refers more to

cupation wi th integrating atonality and tona

the framework of phenomena of acoustica l r

This reintegration of objects associated wi

(chords , series of chords, harmonic groupin

broader system of sonority enables the co

avoid falling into a neo-tonal aesthetic.

beginning of Color is remarkable in this re

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16

typically symphonic. In the twentieth century, in the

wake of (most influentially) Debussy, Ravel and early

Stravinsky, the orchestra was exploited first and fore

most for its colour and its timbral effects , with the

result that the different families of orchestral instru-

ments (strings ,woodwind,brass,and percussion) were

used in blends . In thus blurring the basic structure of

the orchestra (which was still respected by, sa y,

Sibelius) , modern orchestration , while succeeding in

mastering timbre , has at the same time foregone thesensation of space and the clarity of line that sym

phonic style had to offer. By giving renewed attention

to these aspects, which result from oppositions

between the instrumental groups , division of them

into blocks , and the play of dynamic contrasts , the

composer achieves the feat of reconciling the two

opposing tendencies of orchestral style .

From a formal point of view , Ciaccona consists of a

slow evolution , beginning with timbral music , within

whose context the theme is stated , and ending with

purely melodic music. n order to accomplish this grad-

ual metamorphosis , the work goes through the

following stages: timbre , harmony,play on resonance ,

echoes , canons , and finally melody.With its references both to an ancient form and to the

sound of the symphony orchestra , Ciaccona, more

even than Color, develops 'th e principle of

coincidences'. However, this work stands out in

the composer 's production for its absence of any

spectacular effect, indeed for a certain denial of

discourse. Its incessant recurrences actually prevent

the musical discourse from achieving true consis

tence , ather as, in the fictions of Maurice Blanchot, the

phra se constantly thwarts the emergence of the

narrative. In short, if the defocalisation brought about

by the Violin Concerto resulted from the singular

nature of its spatial layout , he same effect is achieved

here through the very style of the work .

Bibliography

On spectral music:

Guy LELONGTranslation:Charles JOHNSTON

Tristan Murail,symposium (l'Harmattannrcam-Centre

Pompidou,Compositeurs d'aujourd 'hui.2002)

Hugues Dufourt, Musique speclrale', Musique. pouvoir.

ecriture (Bourgois,1991)Jerome Baillet, Gerard Grisey, Fondements d'une ecriture,

(LItineraire/l:Harmattan , 2000)

'Grisey/Murail' (Entretemps, no.B, 1969)

On Marc-Andre Dalbavie:

Marc-Andre Dalbavie,Leson en tout sens,Conversations with Guy Lelong, editions Billaudot, 2005

Marc -Andre Dalbavie,symposium , Ca hiersde l'lrcam ,Compositeurs d'aujourd 'hui no .2, 1993)

Marc-Andre Dalbavie, 'Pour sortir de l'avan t-gard e,

Le timbre: metaphore pour Ia composition

(lrcamBourgois. 1991)

On the notion of art in sitll

Guy Leong , Daniel Buren (Flam marion ,La creation conlemporaine ,2001)

marc-andre dalbavie

Marc-Andre Dalbav1e was born in 19

de Paris (1960-66) , where he won s

research at IRCAM , and also studied

orchestration at he Conservatoire Na

the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestr

posi tion with the Orches lrede Paris

In 1997 he eceived the Prize of the

for Tactus. and the UNESCO Prize fo

the newspaper USA Today for his dif

As early as 1962, aong with anum

potential of spectral music,notably in

He has enriched th ese techniques w

princip les of recurrence, while ntegr

the applica tions of computer-assiste

If the 1960s, for him, was the deca

DiademeS}, he 1990s were the year

since the electronic equipment is laid

to he space in which it intervenes.Th

which continued with two further co

C!Jrrespondances , devised with thev

links the Concertina to aseventeent

chorus and symphony orchestra,sugg

platlorrn is completely empty and th

hall around the audience. The Drea

Antiphonie,adouble concerto or clar

Concertate if suono, or theClevelan

in space. Finally, Mobiles for chorus

de IaMusique in Par is,begins with sim

tuning up.His residence with the Orchestre de

approach, which he shares with oth

symphonic style in order to build up

Color and Ciaccona are both part of

to be played by the Cleveland Orches