Elephant / Cat / Elemental II (Eliane Radigue)
mardi 7 mai
20h
Conçu à la demande de Kasper T. Toeplitz par Eliane Radigue, Elemental II reprend les thèmes de son ancêtre Elemental (1968), basé sur une évocation à la fois réaliste et symbolique des cinq éléments présents en toute culture. À savoir la Terre, principe de densification ; l’Eau, la fluidité ; le Feu, la chaleur ; l’Air, le souffle et l’Espace qui englobe le tout en son énergie subtile.
Il y a un paradoxe en cette période de haute technologie de ne pouvoir traduire en aucune écriture certains « concepts sonores ». Aucune notation algorithmique ni traditionnelle ne peut rendre compte de « l’esprit des sons » susceptibles d’animer ces projections. La transmission directe, faite de sensibilités accordées, dans un entendement spontané est fondamentale dans ce genre d’entreprise.
« Nous avons vécu tout un siècle de dissensions entre la musique populaire et la musique dite savante. Maintenant, les deux mondes se rejoignent, surtout parce qu’ils utilisent quasi les mêmes outils, ce qui est déjà un garant de pouvoir parler le même langage. Dans la musique dite « techno » au sens le plus large, on arrive à des formes guère éloignées de la musique contemporaine (…) Cela ne fait que 20-30 ans que l’on peut travailler avec le son comme une donnée pure. Avant, il fallait d’abord inventer un instrument, du violoncelle à la guitare électrique. Maintenant, tout le monde travaille le son de l’intérieur. (…) » Kasper T. Toeplitz
Kasper T. Toeplitz (né en 1960 à Varsovie) est un compositeur, bassiste électrique et musicien qui a développé son travail dans le no man’s land entre composition « académique » et électronique, « musique nouvelle » ou « musique de bruit ». Il a définitivement intégré l’ordinateur au cœur même de son travail, comme outil de réflexion et de composition, et comme instrument vivant, en hybridant des instruments plus traditionnels si nécessaire, ou en travaillant sur le bruit électronique pur.
Éliane Radigue (née en 1932) est une compositrice française. Le choix et l’utilisation exclusive de sons continus, dit drones, situe son esthétique à la croisée des courants minimaliste, électronique et spectral. La dimension spirituelle de ses pièces donne à sa musique un caractère méditatif. Avec ses compositions pour synthétiseur, puis par sa musique méditative, elle est devenue l’une des compositrices essentielles pour la musique contemporaine.
Designed at the request of Kasper T. Toeplitz by Eliane Radigue, Elemental II takes up the themes of his ancestor Elemental (1968), based on an evocation that is both realistic and above all symbolic of the five elements present in any culture, alchemist in our lands, spiritual in the traditions of the near, medium and far East. Namely the Earth, the principle of densification; Water, fluidity; Fire, heat; Air, breath and Space, which encompasses all in its subtle energy. However, it is a paradox that in this period of high technology, some « sound concepts » cannot be translated into any writing. No algorithmic notation, even less traditional, by referring to the techniques used can account for the « spirit of sounds » likely to animate these projections. The direct transmission, made of tuned sensitivities, in a spontaneous understanding is fundamental in this type of enterprise.
« It’s not just the vocal synthesis that interests me, it’s all the new possibilities offered to the composer by computer music and new instruments, such as distance sensors and pressure sensors. We need to work with today’s tools, and with today’s world, with these mobile phones, computers, and synthetic voices in cars. For many, it still resembles a technological fascination like Jules Verne, we say to ourselves that synthetic voices only belong to machines, robots and we wonder where there is Man in there and yet… even a folk music concert no longer takes place without a complex sound system (…) We have to place ourselves where things are progressing, and I am a bit of a hinge. This crossing, which may not last long, is a fairly recent phenomenon. We have experienced a whole century of dissension between popular music and so-called learned music; on the one hand, there is the Vienna School up to IRCAM, and on the other hand, the cabaret up to pop music. Now, the two worlds come together, especially because they use almost the same tools, which is already a guarantee of being able to speak the same language. In the so-called « techno » music in the broadest sense, the form of song that has dominated popular music until recently has been abandoned. We have reached forms that are not far from contemporary music, and Mozart’s antinomic image against Jimi Hendrix is no longer relevant (…) It has only been 20-30 years that we have been able to work with sound as a pure fact. Before, it was first necessary to invent an instrument, from the cello to the electric guitar. Now everyone works on the sound from the inside. Of course, a DJ will not do a Fourier analysis to determine and modify separately the noise part and the note part of a sound, as happens in a more institutional academic setting. Maybe he’s just looking for sounds with a slightly different envelope and texture that he’s trying to make a little dirtier because he likes it. Granular synthesis, which appeared in the 1960s, is another good example. Whether it is the most classical traditional composer there is, or whether it is really the techno noise noise musician, everyone uses it today. »
Kasper T. Toeplitz (born in 1960 in Warsaw) is a Composer, electric bass player and musician who has developed his work in the no man’s land between « academic » composition (orchestra, ensembles, opera) and electronic « new music » or « noise music ».
Has won several prizes and distinctions ; 1st prize for orchestral composition at the Besançon Festival, 1st prize at the « Opéra autrement / centre Acanthes » competition, Villa Médicis Hors les Murs (New York), grant Leonardo da Vinci (San Francisco) , Villa Kujoyama (Kyoto), DAAD (Berlin). Got numerous commissions from the French Governement, the radio and from electronic studios such as Ircam, GRM , GMEM, CRFMW, EMS.
Works with experimental or unclassifiable musicians such as Zbigniew Karkowski, Tetsuo Furudate, Dror Feiler, Art Zoyd, Eliane Radigue, Phill Niblock, Ulrich Krieger, Stevie Wishart, Z’ev, others…
Some of his long-term groups or projects are LE DÉPEUPLEUR (with Zbigniew Karkowski), KERNEL (a trio of computer players), Basstaarang (with Philippe Foch playing taarang), Ephémérides (bass & image by Strom Varx).
Has definitively integrated the computer into the very heart of his work, as a tool of thought and composition, and as a live instrument, hybridising more traditional instruments if necessary, or working on the sheer electronic noise.
Éliane Radigue (born in 1932) is a French composer. The choice and exclusive use of continuous sounds, known as drones, places its aesthetics at the crossroads of minimalist, electronic and spectral currents. The spiritual dimension of his pieces gives his music a meditative character. Until 2000, she composed her works using an ARP 2500 modular system and tape recorders. Since 2002, she has been working with several musicians to create pieces for instruments by Éliane Radigue, with her compositions for synthesizer, then through her meditative music, has become one of the essential composers for contemporary music.
ÉCOLE SUPÉRIEURE D’ARTS ET MÉDIAS DE CAEN/CHERBOURG (1)