Gr…

Commissioned by the Swiss Music Association (ASM–STV) and the Lucerne Festival for Paolo Vignaroli, Gr… was premiered at the Lucerne Festival on 11 September 2010. Conceived as a pendant to Crepuscolo, the work approaches the solo bass flute as a volatile theatrical body rather than a single melodic voice.

Breath, air noise, fragmented attacks, loops and the performer’s voice continually shift between raw matter and sharply articulated gesture. Virtuosity becomes a means of transcendence: lines emerge, splinter and recombine until the movement between timbre and gesture generates the form itself.

The result is a concentrated, sometimes overwhelming kaleidoscope in which the physical resistance of the instrument becomes part of the musical argument.

The score is published by Éditions Durand (D&F 15969). Further documentation is available through IRCAM and the original Lucerne Festival programme.