rougeur des matinaux
DESCRIPTION
ÂTRANSCRIPT
Programme Note
The classical guitar is an instrument with a wide-‐ranging yet subtle sonic palette, much more suited to questioning than assertion; these qualities appealed to me greatly. René Char’s collection of aphorisms – he actually preferred the term ‘short texts’ – from which the present work gets its title, consists of extremely enigmatic fragments of prose poetry that share a common concern with experiences of beauty and existential intensity; these qualities also appealed to me. Thus the idea was born to write a set of musical miniatures, or perhaps fragments would be a better term, inspired by some of these short texts, which are referred to specifically by the Roman numeral titles of the pieces presented here. The brevity of these musical structures allowed me to explore a variety of methods of musical construction, inspired by the texts themselves and my broader interaction with music, without the pressures of sustaining a longer form. At the same time, I was keen to create a degree of macro-‐structural coherence – in order to stop the piece being reduced to a series of unrelated snippets – through developing relationships between various series of pieces, inspired by common themes found in the texts, and a concern for the overall dramatic pacing and unfolding of the work.