Franck Bedrossian: Feu sur moi (2023/24)

Franck Bedrossian (*1971) Feu sur moi, for 24-part choir and electronics (2023/24) SWR Vokalensemble SWR Experimentalstudio: Maurice Oeser, Thomas Hummel & Daniel Miska, sound direction/music informatics Yuval Weinberg, conductor World Première, 20 October 2024, Donaueschinger Musiktage '24 «Feu ! feu sur moi ! Là ! ou je me rends. – Lâches ! – Je me tue ! Je me jette aux pieds des chevaux !» Both autobiography and fiction, oscillating between spiritual combat and derision, Une saison en enfer, written by Arthur Rimbaud in 1873, is based on the myth of the Fall. The narrative, alternately monologue or dialogue with oneself, describes the process of damnation, questions its cause, and expresses the desire of returning to life. The Saison is also the book of Rimbaud’s rebellion against his catechism. This rebellion overflows language and overturns the codes of narrative. The poet’s inner voices, in perpetual transformation, cross into the underworld as prisoners of the impossibility of speaking, but also of the impossibility of remaining silent. They become the sparks of a solitary, overwhelmed word. With Feu sur moi, I wanted to present a musical extrapolation of this singular expression. The form of the piece, which lasts 11 minutes, was modeled on the envelope, dramaturgy, and proportions of the nine brief, dense parts that make up Une saison en enfer: Prologue Mauvais sang Nuit de l’enfer Délires I – Vierge folle Délires II – Alchimie du verbe L’impossible L’éclair Matin Adieu Several salient aspects of Rimbaud’s writing seem to suggest the conditions for a musicalisation of the poetic text. Firstly, the fragmentation and multiplication of the «I» – between the disappearance of individuality and the haunting of the crowd – recurrently suggest the opposition between soloists and polyphonic writing. Elsewhere, the oral and theatrical dimensions caught my attention, particularly regarding certain quasi-declaimed parts, contrasting with the sections written in verse or prose. This latter characteristic prompted me to imagine a musical itinerary in which certain phrases had to be spoken rather than sung, depending on their formal role and the need for intelligibility. Conversely, I chose to use the most literary passages of the text for their sonority rather than their meaning: in this case, contrapuntal writing aims to create a polyphony that tends towards fusion, a singular timbre, or a texture. Finally, some chapters (notably the Prologue, and to some extent also Délires I: Vierge folle) have been exploited without vocal treatment of the text. Sometimes, only a few words, consonants and vowels remain, and electronic sounds literally replace speech. Textual density and intelligibility were often filtered out as sound objects, or the semantic level was erased when the musical dramaturgy demanded it. At the beginning of the compositional process, the vocal ensemble emerged as the ideal group to embody Rimbaud’s text in its theatrical and religious dimensions. However, the electronic device, which extends and develops the vocal transformations in real time, also brings to light another, more discreet but crucial perspective of the poetic text. Indeed, Rimbaud does not stage a single hell, but two: the theological hell, and the real, everyday hell, which constantly overlap, communicate, and clash. Thus, in Feu sur moi, I chose to assign the space of the first, theological and acousmatic hell to the electronics, while the choir takes over the everyday hell on stage. This play of mirrors and resonances guided the treatment of the voices, the development of the electronic sounds, and their interactions. Donaueschinger Musiktage '24 #domt24 https://www.swr.de/swrkultur/musik-kl... Ausführliches Programmbuch der Donaueschinger Musiktage '24 https://cutt.ly/weSK6xYV Official Soundcloud Page   / franck-bedrossian   This video has a purpose of promotion, not for profit. If you have any complaints about copyright issues, please write me a direct message at dhdmlwls03(at)gmail(dot)com before submitting a report to YouTube. Then I will delete the video as soon as possible.