Pascal Dusapin - Clam (1997-98) Solo n° 4 pour grand orchestre

Clam (1997-98) Solo n° 4 pour orchestre [for large orchestra]
Composer: Pascal Dusapin (b. 1955)
Performers: Orchestre philharmonique de Liège, dir. Pascal Rophé
_________________________________________________________________
"Unlike the three previous solos, the title Clam was found before I wrote the music. In Latin, clam means unbeknown to, surreptitiously. The form of a thing (or a living being) is not fashioned only by peripheral or external forces. Another intention comes from the interior, as it were from within. This intention is the meaning which occurs unbeknown to the processes which we believed were fixed at the outset...
For this form, I proceeded by exfoliation or more exactly by blistering, which is a term utilised by painters. This means the loss of localised adherence which leads the film of paint to rise in the form of a blister or bubble. In order to eliminate this, one must scrape off all the parts which no longer adhere to the surface treated and apply filler before repainting.
This observation, however incongruous it may seem, provided me with certain technical pretexts for the composition of Clam. At the beginning, the musical material detaches itself from its harmonic surface like a bubble. A texture of natural string harmonics, airy and ethereal, underlined by a few accents from the flutes, sketches out a space suspended over the muffled timbre of the stopped horns. (It is no coincidence that these opening bars were later to be used in my opera Perelà, uomo di fumo to convey the immateriality of my protagonist.) This space undergoes various fashionings and variations, like stripping and re-covering. Several layers of music are superimposed as they struggle to appear and reveal something of their movements from within.
This is not a palimpsest: each time, something in the texture blisters and bursts. Clam is composed of traces and impressions which are covered over then effaced. by extraction of a few scraps from the preceding solos. These fragments of musical memory are stacked up, then levelled by techniques of dissimulation. It is like smoothing a surface in order to try to make the irregularities disappear. Here too, everything is constructed surreptitiously. But the analogy stops there. To establish a correspondence of means or methods does not mean that the result resembles the comparison used. Clam is far from being a flat surface. On the contrary, its music bristles with peaks (apexes once again) where the material contracts, then extends (Extenso) in convolutions only to twist and immediately tighten on itself. That's how it advances. Without really advancing in any clear-cut way. In Clam, there is something that wishes to have done with the cycle as a whole. It withdraws into a fold. Like an origami which can never be unfolded. But this is again an illusion. The energy has curled up into itself. Crouched in the sonorous shadow of the end of Clam, it is waiting to spring up... It will have the chance to do so in Exeo which, opportunely, means I go out in Latin."
~Pascal Dusapin (translated by Charles Johnston)
Source: CD booklet
_________________________________________________________________
For education, promotion and entertainment purposes only. If you have any copyrights issue, please write to unpetitabreuvoir(at)gmail.com and I will delete this video.

[@asa.pankeiki]

yes!! more dusapin!

[@joan.magrane]

Amazing. ❤

[@UtsyoChakraborty]

Bravo!