All come together in the project to create unique ways of articulating gesture, material, and sound. Of the two pieces dedicated to cellist Éric-Maria Couturier, one readily reveals the composer’s intention, while the other remains deliberately cryptic. In De vif bois (2022), Vincent David eagerly explores the sound of wood – that of the cello, but also that of the bow, at times rubbing, at times striking. Resonance marks the first bars of this piece, giving the listener time to soak up the timbre of the cello and appreciate its every contour before being swept away in a climax both rhythmic and dynamic.
If the gesture already fascinates us with its virtuosity in De vif bois, it is given centre stage to be seen and heard in Bertrand Chavarría-Aldrete’s Kinamárabâfrena (2022). In it, the composer has channeled the speed of karate katas(sequences of movements). Basing the martial art/music association on the rapport between the speed of a blow and the speed of the bow, Chavarría-Aldrete finds a raw harmonic colour, carrying radiant energy. It is punctuated by a spoken poem – built around an invented language – uttered in small touches by the performer. These two pieces for cello feature playing techniques that bring out harmonics, double strings, and quarter tones as a privileged means of expression – which we find again in the setting of pieces for saxophones.
Alberto Posadas’ Fragmentos fracturados (2013-2017) lead the alto saxophonist to superimpose more than two notes (using the technique of multiphonics), integrating blowing and noisy sounds into the overall texture. As short “fractured” motifs reminiscent of the fragmented cello in De vif bois are extended, the dark and intangible halo established from the very first notes intensifies, shadows appear before everything fades away in a breath. As in Kinamárabâfrena, the saxophone embodies a sudden surge, a liveliness of gesture, here carried by the tension in the air. The unique character of the piece is explained: Fragmentos fracturados is part of a cycle for saxophones (sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone) entitled Veredas (paths, ways), itself inspired by poems by José Ángel Valente.
In contrast to fragmentation, the saxophone can be the instrument of continuous blowing and cohesion. This is precisely what promises to happen when we immerse ourselves in Flots (2024), the piece for soprano saxophone by composer-performer Vincent David. By revisiting the harmonics, quarter tones, and microtonality of the other pieces in the programme, the musician creates a sonic undulation based on a seven-note motif, repeated like the insistent refrain of a rondo. Between these returns, he unfolds moments of calm with transparent atmospheres, as light as the timbre of the soprano saxophone.
Between Fragment fracturé and Flots lies Luca Francesconi’s Tracce (1985), originally written for flute but immediately transcribed by the composer for a number of wind instruments, notably the saxophone. In addition to weaving a common thread between these pieces, this score – whose title means both “trace” and “sketch” – also links 20th- and 21st-century saxophone writing.
