Right from the start, the idea had been to release three very different CD’s: one hörspiel, concrete music (new and older pieces) and instrumental works. Les anecdotiques was the first step: the first work he played for me at his post-billig workshop. I was so stunned that I wanted to preserve the magic of the moment and release it immediately. It is a unique logbook with the traveling couple he formed with Brunhild always there in filigree.
The instrumental works – three recent compositions for electronics, piano and viola – were more complex to put together. We started recording at the imposing studios of the Bremen radio and carried on at La Muse en Circuit in Alforville. Recorded under Luc’s supervision, the three pieces have not been mixed yet. That will be our third and final volume, since the last piece was recorded in July and Luc passed away in August. We will get back to these recordings when we will be ready to release them.
This album is the central step, the one that offers both a retrospective (the previously unreleased Promenade symphonique dans un paysage musical from 1976-78, the final Presque rien #4) and a fresh reflection dating from the last months of 2002: Saliceburry Cocktail, a large-scale composition exploring the idea of hideout, scrambled listening, a tortuous entanglement of concrete and electronic. And that will be the end of our middle step.
Walking into sound
Luc Ferrari : Here is how the story goes, and this is an actual symphonic walk across a landscape. It is morning. A stroller, his wife, their Algerian friends, and his tape recorder, come out of the desert. The air is silent, but the acoustics are very much alive. A Nomad’s tent peaks out between dunes; women weaving a rug invite him in for coffee. The stroller resumes his walk and enters the city. Since his purpose is to listen and walk, he does just that. Among other places, he visits the market, where a symphony of voices takes shape and rhythms are sketched.
