Forking Paths (Urbana 19)
For soprano, saxophone and electronics
To Claude Delangle
Commissioned by Société Selmer
This work is part of the Urbana Cycle (25 works from the solo electronics to the orchestra which have in common the relationship with the town, the urban space).
The work follows a multitude of paths regarding the relative time or a parallel time, which is also present in the almost homonym Borge’s «El jardin de senderos que se bifurcan » [“The Garden of Forking Paths”].
In a technical point of view, this work is historically the first conceived and realized entirely in a surround system (in 5.1). The whole electronic material was recorded and processed in a multichannel system.
Divided into five large sections of circa 2 minutes, the piece explores the different faces of the coexistence, the player’s time and a multitude of sounds as an echo more or less near the main instrument. There are many layers of pre-recorded saxophones (the soprano but also the alto, baryton and the Tubax) which really are counterpoints or counter-words. But there is also a microtonal piano, the air of a bicycle pump, horses, planes, and many other parallel universes.
From the protagonist’s role of the player, the audience will be led to discover the multiple paths of the discourse, between an active hearing and a contemplative distance.
Luis Naón
Senderos… que bifurcan
Géraud Étillard, saxophone
Version Transaural du disque « Sainte Nitouche et ses satellites ».
La Muse en circuit
* Editions Gérard Billaudot, collection Vincent David.
[ Urbana Cycle ]
[ Solo instrument / with or without electronics ]
