Creation : 1988
Duration : 12′
Rebonds is constructed in two main sections A and B, whose order of playing is not fixed. They use a slightly different instrumentarium: the first uses only skins, while the second introduces the five woodblocks in addition. Unlike the other works in this programme, Rebonds is part of a group of works (Pleiades, Idmen B), in which a greater rhythmic regularity asserts itself. Part A evolves in an irregular musical structure, leading to a kind of perpetual motion. Part B, on the other hand, is characterised by a regular bongo rhythm which is broken by the bass drum with staggered accents, the five woodblocks interrupting the discourse several times in a faster tempo. With very few exceptions, the nuance is always fff.
The writing that Xenakis puts the percussion through does not seek solutions in resonance, it deliberately limits itself to impact. As with Varèse, the great precursor in this field, the use of percussion is one of the multiple means Xenaxis uses to get off the beaten track of traditional pitches. If a reference had to be chosen in this musical conception, it is less in our civilisation but rather in the memory of extra-European music that Xenakis’ work seems to be rooted, by its very primitive violence. The work of Xenakis seems to be rooted in the memory of extra-European music, in its primordial violence.
I’m not sure how much of the work I’m doing is in the realm of the “old”….
Cécile Gilly. (IRCAM)