commission : Les Percussions de Strasbourg
creation : 12.02.1983 at Nice (France)
duration: 25′
This work can be considered as a suite for percussion ensemble. In the first, second and fourth parts, the choice of instrumentation has been deliberately limited to instruments of the same family:
1st part: 6 keyboards
2nd part: rattlesnakes, glockenspiels
Part 4: pipe bells, cowbells, Philippine gongs
These three movements define a kind of “sound geography” of the musical space constituted by the percussion instruments.
This sound geography is totally “exploded” in movements 3 and 5 where each of the groupings of instruments is partially used.
The writing of each part constantly puts in parallel or in opposition a dense material spread over 5 voices to an independent voice, solitary but complementary and necessary to the 5 others.
Hence the title “Cinque per sei”.
Gerard Garcin