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FIVE CROCUSES HAVE BEN SELECTED FOR THIS CD. FROM 2004 TO 2007, I REDUCED THE MUSIC I WROTE BETWEEN 1979 AND 1994 TO MONOPHONIC STRANDS, SONIC DNA, ALTHOUGH SOME OF THE CHORDS SURVIVED. SOME OF THESE STRANDS WENT INTO SONATES CURIEUSES FOR MUTED VIOLIN, WHILE OTHERS TURNED INTO 10 CROCUSES WITH SUSTAINED NOTES.
CROCUS IS NOTATED IN A CLASSICAL FASHION WITH BARS; IT IS VISUAL MUSIC, EACH MUSICAL ELEMENT A PICTURE.
INTERPRETATION IS COLD, NEUTRAL, GEOMETRICAL, STACCATO; NO CRESCENDO, DECRESCENDO, ACCELERANDO OR RALLENTANDO. THESE PIECES REQUIRE ACOUSTIC REVERB AND, TO GET IT, A SERIES OF SELECTED NOTES ARE FREED FROM
THEIR DAMPERS. THE RIGHT PEDAL IS NEVER USED EXCEPT FOR A FEW OCCURRENCES. TO PRODUCE PERCUSSIVE SOUNDS,
TWO ERASERS ARE SET BETWEEN THE LOWEST THREE STRINGS OF THE PIANO. THE LUDES COMMISSIONED AND PREMIERED IN ROME IN 1991 BY FREDERIC RZEWSKI BECAME CROCUS II. N.V. IS A FAITHFUL TRANSCRIPTION OF MY STRING QUARTET FOR
4 VIOLINS AND 4 NON-VIOLINISTS PREMIERED BY QUATUOR STREAMS AT THE ARS MUSICA FESTIVAL IN BRUSSELS IN 1987.
LES BOIS FENDUS IS A REFERENCE TO THE FIRE THAT LIT UP THE FOREST WHILE AKA MOON'S MUSICIANS, CLARINETTIST/COMPOSER ANTOINE PRAWERMAN AND I WERE STAYING WITH THE AKA PYGMY PEOPLE IN 1991. JAMAIS DE L'ABÎME IS THE TITLE OF A
CHOREOGRAPHY BY PIERRE DROULERS FOR WHICH I WROTE MUSIC. FINALLY, LE SILENCE DES MARAIS REFERS TO A STAY IN THE SALT MARSHES OF GUÉRANDE IN 2000.
YOU HAVE 300 CROCUS-CELLS AT YOUR DISPOSAL TO BUILD YOUR OWN CROCUS.
BAUDOUIN DE JAER, 2013