creation : 01.03.1979
musicians : 6 percussionists
duration : 12′
publishing : Jobert
This piece was originally part of the Erewhon series, created by the Strasbourg Percussions at the Royan Festival in 1977, under the direction of Giuseppe Sinopoli. Hugues Dufourt cut it off from the cycle because it did not fit in with the other parts of the work, which already formed a complete set. Now independent, the old « Erewhon III » will be called « Sombre Journée ». It is an attempt of instrumental poetics, with reduced means: skins and metals mainly.
« Sombre Journée » is the middle between the concept of sounds-noises inherited from Edgar Varese and the hybridization of the musical obtained through the use of electro-acoustic and computer techniques. « Sombre Journée » plays on the deforming mirroring of flows, densities and acoustic volumes.