Biennale College Musica - SARHAN / APERGHIS / BAUCKHOLT

Vice versa is the fourth of the (currently) thirty-one Situations composed by François Sarhan, each one of which imagines a specific gestural and expressive situation, precisely indicated in the score, for between one and four performers. In Vice versa, for example, the two performers sit opposite each other with their knees touching and act by changing places with each other several times following a rigid theatrical rhythmic pattern dictated by the score. The text is nothing more than a sequence of words with no context, which are repeated obsessively, the remains of a discussion which, through its absurd repetition, loses its banality. This allows Sarhan to separate the music from any formal, semantic element, thus creating an inevitable clash with our perceptual structure, which is based historically on the link between music and its relationship with the sense of words.

Graffitis, written and performed in 1981, is a work that presents a large set of percussion instruments, the choice of which is left to the performer to decide in the light of the author’s suggestions. The performance also includes the use of the voice, which sketches out a mini-masterpiece of linguistic ambiguity. In the first half of the work and the 

finale, in fact, a grammelot invented by Aperghis himself is used, while the middle of the piece cites sentences in German taken from the chapter entitled Des Gegenkaisers Zelt from Goethe’s Faust, Part Two. Additionally, during the performance the percussionist must also position him/herself in relation to various objects, the choice of which is also up to the interpreter.

As stressed by percussionist Davide Collu, Graffitis might refer to the “graffiti” scrawled on public property, as a metaphor for struggle and opposition to power, or it could simply be the representation of an artistic action. There is no doubt that it tells a story, which, however, is not narrated in simple linear fashion but in fits and starts, alternating moments of explosive euphoria with sudden hiatuses in a frenetic flow.

Of sand that (some) chased the butterflies (strong wind) wind that blew hard chased whirlwinds (very) the sand fort (wind whirlwinds) of sand very the sand (whirlwinds) chased very hard the winds (strong) blew them chased that strong (strong blew) whir- lwinds (very) of whom of sand chased (the sand chased) the wind very very (of) blew the chased (who the wind blew) who the (very) blowing whirlwinds strong (very of sand) chased strong very (wind) chased – blew strong who the (very sand) whirlwinds wind strong the sands who chased (whirlwinds of) blew the whirlwinds blew the (fort) chased the winds that forts whirlwinds who very – very fort (of) sand blew (of) blew very who (very) chased wind (strong winds) the whirlwinds blew the winds of sand that swirled (of sand) forts chased) whirlwinds it chased wind (of whom) it blew very – very – very strong chased (very) whirlwinds the wind blew sand (wind blowing the sand that) strong whirlwinds (who the very) who blowing wind very blew whirlwinds of sand (chased very of) sand of forts (the whirlwinds – winds chased) the wind that blew very hard chassed the whirlwinds of sand.

As in many works by Georges Aperghis, the spoken or sung voice, the gesture (whether it generates the production of sound or the evocation of a situation) are closely linked and form an integral part of the composition. In this piece written for Brigitte Sylvestre, the gesture of the harpist, captured in the specific action of preparing sounds, is associa- ted with speaking and singing. To evoke “a moment” in the life of the woman performer, this privileged parenthesis where everything could be said, are closely linked: the rela- tionship of the woman with her instrument (joy of being able to play), with the music (anxiety of the interpreter in the face of the language of sounds) and her own identity vis-à-vis her life as a woman (wife). This triangle forms a world that is tearing itself apart.

7 crimes de l’amour imposes the spirit of instrumental theatre. The score indicates the positions that the three protagonists must adopt throughout the seven pieces. The music is rigorously articulated in sequences, with no other staging than that imagined to produce the sound. Accessories (as symbolic as an apple), the diverted use of instruments (the body of the clarinet without a mouthpiece, the zarb as a megaphone, etc.) contribute to the scenic aspect.

Hirn & Ei was commissioned by Brigitte Feldtmann for the Schlagquartett Köln in 2010/2011. Knowing how well Thomas Meixner, Boris Müller, Dirk Rothbrust and Achim Seyler communicate, both rhythmically and cognitively with their hands alone, on this occasion I gave up instruments. Virtually all that is left is a Gore-Tex jacket of the kind seen everywhere nowadays. These jackets are also present acoustically in each movement, but we do not notice. During my many years of collaboration with the Schlagquartett I have always been fascinated by their work, which is so varied in terms of the configuration of rhythms: the wealth of possibilities offered by articulation.

In this piece one hears basically only the sounds of rubbing, which are altered and reinterpreted by means of subtle changes in articulation. The piece was written in close collaboration with the Schlagquartett Köln and was, so to speak, tailor-made for them.