A walnut for Emi

A Walnut for Emi
for piano and laptop (2018 – 10')

This work was composed for an event presented by the LAPS Ensemble as part of the ARTONOV Festival 2018. A Walnut for Emi took the form of a sonic meditation, introducing and accompanying performances by the Japanese poet Emi Kodama. Through her poetry, she invited the audience on a journey into an imaginary world shaped in the image of a walnut shell—hence the title of this musical work dedicated to her

Accordingly, the electronic part incorporates samples of the poet’s voice, mixed with recordings of breathing, exhalations, ritual percussion instruments (cymbals and small bells), as well as the crackling sounds of crushed walnut shells.

In its first section, the piano presents trembling harmonic textures, extended by electronic resonances and punctuated by the samples described above. The second section unfolds like a starry sky of resonant sounds, shimmering with bell-like sonorities. It offers a new configuration of the voice and breath samples, allowing us to perceive them from a different perspective.

Claude Ledoux