|
Joël-François Durand, composer |
la mesure des choses I: la mesure de l'air (1992)
for Bb Clarinet
Program Notes
La
mesure de l'air (the measure of the air) for solo
clarinet belongs to a group of pieces to be played either in
succession in the same concert, or separately. The other
works are for piano solo, oboe and viola, and for
percussion. The original conception for this set is based on
Heraclitus' cosmogony which includes transformations of one
element (earth-sea-air-fire, with the addition of time) into
each other. My reflexion on these transformations led me to
interpret these natural elements in their relation to human
experience. In the case of this work, the air is a
representation of the present, what goes continually through
the human body, barely perceptible yet always in changing
motion, like the immediate passage of time: it is the
present in the human consciousness. In la mesure de
l'air, a number of melodic models -archetypes- are
constantly transformed, their rhythmic and intervallic
contents being altered every time they come back. The
texture of the piece is therefore often changing, but the
main activity is one of a febrile, creative activity
renewing itself all the time. La mesure de l'air is dedicated to Armand Angster;
it was a commission of the Festival Musica,
Strasbourg, and was premiered at Musica by Armand Angster 18
September 1993.