Consolations
Five pieces for trio with clarinet
1 - Fliessende
2 - Unisogno
3 - Bris
4 - Slozy (Larmes)
5 - Lebewohl
Fragile, moving, in stifled revolt at the way we look at our tragic world, these five pieces reflect the subjects of passionate discussions held with my friend Claude Abromont. These Consolations are dedicated to him and were written on the occasion of the retirement of this eminent colleague from the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP) ; a tribute to the man, the incredible teacher and writer, the scholar and storyteller who marvelled at the contours of the history of human sensitivity. The first piece, Fliessende, whispers in fluid arabesques and calm harmonies the secrets of the Ruhig / Fliessende (calm/fluid) opposition that ran through the music of the 19th and 20th centuries. Following on from a few rare vocal outbursts, Unisogno takes us on an exploration of timbres derived from spectral distortions applied to the material from the previous piece. This 'dream in unison', or rather a 'dream of unison', evokes a desire to distance ourselves from the repetitive tragedies of history. All the more so as Bris [breakage of glass] takes us back to the Kristallnacht in 1938, to the attacks on the dedicatee's ancestors, and to all the violence perpetrated against innocent civilian populations, men, women and children, because they were just 'other'. Sadly, these acts are still perpetrated on a daily basis. Here, some spectral modellings of shards of glass fly towards a soothing Kaddish. This movement is followed by the tears (Slozy in Ukrainian) of a suffering people (Ukraine was invaded when this piece was written), lamentations that nevertheless open onto a window of hope, a song of angels trying to distance us from any manichaean temptation to apprehend the world. As for the Lebewohl, borrowed from the great Ludwig, it reminds us that it will be followed by a joyful return. If the strange sounds emerge from a book placed on the piano strings, the piece ends with a musician flipping through the pages of the book, having pulled it from the quivering strings of his instrument. Metaphor or utopia? Couldn't knowledge, benevolence and empathy - all qualities of my friend Claude - save the world?
These five Consolations were premiered by the Trio Erämaa on 7th December 2023 at the occasion of a concert held at the Royal Academy of Belgium.