Creation : 27 August 2008 at Abbaye de Royaumont, France
Musicians : 4 percussionists + 1 flautist
Duration: 13′
Publishing : Lemoine
Composed with the support of the Sacem as part of the centenary of the birth of André Jolivet, Un souffle pays homage to this composer’s “Suite en concert” by taking up his training again (one flute and four percussion instruments). It is a tribute in terms of the number of musicians, but also a musical tribute, as the piece refers to the notion of ritual, so dear to Jolivet. Indeed, in the first part of the work, a haunting periodicity made of tiles between the different instruments underpins the discourse. The gyratory aspect of the discourse is then progressively put into abyss by the flute, which leaves this weft logic to introduce figures, at first very pointillistic, then increasingly complex. It is the progressive birth of these figures that will allow the music to shift towards an assertive pulsating energy, itself a generator of imbalance when a process of shifting different strata appears. The work ends in a restless contemplation, in a statism disturbed by brief elements evoking the sound morphologies typical of electroacoustic work.