For alto saxophone and vibraphone.
Commissioned by Société Selmer and the XIV International Music Course of Benidorm.
Editions Lemoine
The work is a series of free interludes. Composed for vibraphone and alto saxophone solos, “Alto Voltango” might be seen as a composition within other compositions. Its decontextualization is perfectly possible. Integrated by five movements, with evocative subtitles, the work is about the high-voltage current. This current, which goes through the instrumentalists (in a way an electro acoustic piece!) is revealed by an execution precision of great individual and vertical difficulty. It has a tango perfume, a tango that has been struck by strong voltages.
The mouvements:
I – Alto Voltango 1’30” à Claude Delangle et Jean Geoffroy
II- Parque Lezama 2’15” for Buenos Aires
III- Plaza Moreno 1’30” for Yiyo Cantoni
IV- Parque Güel 2’15” for l’esprit de Gaudí
V- Volta altango 1’30” for “los perros y a la luna”
The precision in the duration (a little utopic in certain cases) was a request from the instrumentalists who gave rise to this composition (Claude Delangle and Jean Geoffroy).
This initial premise is of great importance in the first vision I had of the work. First of all, they are thought of as autonomous and strong entities (they might be executed in a different order, but juxtaposing the first and the fifth would be a mistake.)
They might algo alternate with works from other composers. Continuity is not indispensable, the current is definitely an alternative.
The language is halfway between academic and popular music. It is under this double view that interpreters can appropriate them to give them life, without forgetting that the colour palette belongs to the contemporary world and that phraseology and inflections are closer to the voice of tango or the improvisations of Jimmy Hendrix.
…
Alto Voltango I
Alto Voltango II
Alto Voltango III
Alto Voltango IV
Alto Voltango V
Alto Voltango
Hervé Trovel, vibraphone.
recorded by Jean-Marc Lyzwa
