« De lumière et de cieux embrasés »

(Light and skies ablaze)

for harp solo



Dedicatee : Constance Luzzati

Composition in 2010

Duration : 4 minutes 30 to 5 minutes

Création :January 20, 2011 Auditorium, Museum of the City of Strasbourg by Constance Luzzati

Publisher : Henry Lemoine



Commentary :

I was led to compose this work for solo harp, not only because of my attraction to this instrument so rich as far as of sound colors are concerned, but also because I met Constance Luzzati, whose playing fascinated me.
At first some visionary paintings of Turner brought my inspiration, since in my mind the sounds of harp are suggestive of light, color and space. But I wanted for these pages a concrete title that painting could not provide me. I then thought of Baudelaire, and chose a fragment of a verse from the last poem of Les fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil), Le voyage (The journey), precisely from the fourth quatrain (http://fleursdumal.org/poem/231). Thus few words, "De lumière et de cieux embrasés” (Light and fiery skies) accompanied me in the composition of this piece. No doubt they will also be able to guide the listener.
I worked a lot on the notion of resonance, and applied myself to use a palette of sound colors as diverse  as possible.
In this composition, on a glittery background, moving and swaying, characteristic gestures appear, and reproduce intermittently in random order. As the piece unfolds, they are gradually modified. While they intertwine, certain bustle is growing, more and more, and evolves to the idea of ​​"kindling".

E .L.

A comment about this piece, written by Anne Ricquebourg, can be found in the newsletter "Winter 2012" of the International Association of Harpists and Friends of the Harp (IAH)
"Work intended for the posterity of beautiful pieces of repertoire for solo harp. Very well written for the harp, the language interesting musically and instrumentally gives a real pleasure of playing and listening. Technically affordable for the DEM level of conservatories. "

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