Performing Gérard GRISEY’s Les espaces acoustiques

1. Performing Gérard GRISEY’s Les espacesacoustiques A project of the GREAM-Labex (Strasbourg), of the Zurich Highschool of the Arts and with the collaboration of the conductor Pierre-André Valade

2. This project (to be developped in ACTOR’ perspective) was realized till now by Pierre MICHEL, Nathalie HEROLD, Ingrid PUSTIJANAC and Camille LIENHARD.

3. This Project of the GREAM Laboratory (“Experimental Research Group on the Creative Musical Act”, Strasbourg University) is based on filmed rehearsals and interviews during the preparation of a concert by the “Orchester der Zürcher Hochschule der Künste“ (Orchestra oftheZurichHighschoolforthe Arts, Switzerland) conductedby Pierre-André Valade. April 2016 It‘s a kindofdocumentationoftheperformance („documenterl‘actemusical“).

4. Gérard Grisey(1946-1998), french composer and teacher, • Was one of the founders of the group called« L’Itinéraire » in the seventies one of the most representative composers ofthe so-called « spectral music », togetherwithTristan Murail, Hugues Dufourt and Michaël Lévinas.

5. Pierre-André Valadehas long experience in conducting these pieces in concert in many countries since a very long time(he knew Gérard Grisey very well too), and he recorded Périodesand Partiels with Ensemble Court Circuit for the world's first recording of the complete cycle of Espacesacoustiques (on Accord Label, 1999).

6. Les espaces acoustiques (1974-1985) : Prologue for viola ; Périodes for 7 musicians, wascomposed first, before all otherpieces of this cycle ; Partiels, for 18 musicians; Modulationsfor 33 musicians; Transitoiresfor full orchestra; Épilogue, for 4 solo horns and full orchestra.

7. We recorded and filmed (with four cameras and a parallel sound recording system) three complete rehearsals in the concert room of the “Highschool for the arts”, and the first part of the final rehearsal in the “Tonhalle Zürich”. Also several interviews with the conductor and some of the musicians were filmed. The concert was recorded (audio take) by the students of the Highschool(sound recording department), under the direction of a teacher.

8. The study of interpretation and performance is particularly relevant in this case, because the works in this cycle overturn a number of conventional instrumental traditions and practices; it will thus be a question of showing and making music accessible in its concrete realization, while reflecting experimental work carried out in collaboration with musicians. Pierre Michel had gone to rehearsals in Zurich for the first time on April 8, 2016, and he had recorded rehearsals on audio files of Periodes and Partiels (that means the second day of the rehearsals on these two pieces). These audio files allow us to evaluate the path taken by the musicians from the first rehearsals to the last ones we filmed on April 20 and 21.

9. Our films can be useful : 1 – To know the point of view of Pierre-André Valade, a kind of “expert” of spectral music 2- To understand and study the musician’s feeling and difficulties / and then the conductor’s device 3 – to understand the specific questions of timbre, instrumental techniques and orchestration for the performance

10. Further developments of this project: A - List all queries related to the interpretation of this music (in relation to timbre) on the basis of : - these films (also further interviews with these musicians) - new analysis or research about these pieces

11. B - Study how the form of a piece (with regard to the composer's instructions or his papers) can be managed by the conductor and by the musicians

12. C- Study how to obtain the right sound and the right balance in the pieces for full orchestra. For example : details about percussion, electric guitar, accordion, and so on.

13. D – Study differences in interpretation and timbre between several published recordings (Boulez and Cambreling for Modulations) and this of Valade (concert version in audi file).

14. And last : E – What function for the score ? A “Bible” (Valade spoke so) or not ? What’s about the annotated scores of the conductor (Ingrid Pustijanac made pictures of it in Zürich) ? What’s about the sketches (Paul Sacher Foundation) ?

15. This documentation is (only) a basis on which to develop various themes concerning timbre, periodicity, orchestration in spectral music. The bibliography about spectral music is already abundant, but a special issue on performance and timbre about Les espacesacoustiques (book with DVD or a special Website with all kind of resources) could be original, we have to discuss about it ! Pierre Michel

16. Nathalie Hérold, Camille Lienhard, Ingrid Pustijanace et Pierre Michel – Les espaces acoustiques de Grisey Bibliographieindicative Baillet, Jérôme, Gérard Grisey : fondements d’une écriture, L’Harmattan, 2000 Besharse, Kari E., The role of texture in french spectral music, ProQuest, 2010 Decarsin, La musique, architecture du temps, L’Harmattan, 2001 Donin, Nicolas, « L’interprétation comme lecture ? », Musimédiane2 (2006) Féron, François-Xavier, « Analyse de Prologue de Gérard Grisey » : http://brahms.ircam.fr/analyses/Prologue/ Grisey, Gérard, Écrits ou l'invention de la musique spectrale, MF, 2008 Pustijanac, Ingrid, « Natura e calcolo nella concezione del tempo di Gérard Grisey», Musicalia, 2004. –, « La polifonia rivisitata: lo studio degli schizzi alla luce degli studi sul processo creativo in Ligeti, Lachenmann e Grisey », 2016 : http://riviste.paviauniversitypress.it/index.php/phi/article/view/1840 Ravet, Hyacinthe, L’orchestre au travail, Vrin, 2015 Wilson, Peter Niklas, « Vers une écologie des sons - Partiels de Gérard Grisey et l’esthétique de l’Itinéraire », Analyse Musicale (2000)