New Intimacy in Spectral Music Hurel PDF
New Intimacy in Spectral Music Hurel PDF
New Intimacy in Spectral Music Hurel PDF
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TristanPugin
PHILIPPE HUREL
'L'importantpour moi n'est donepas d'etreexpressif
mais degererla tensionet la detente,le passaged'un
pBlea un autre,d'organiser
desanamorphoses sonores.'
Philippe Hurel is an exact contemporaryof Pascal Philippe Hurel (photo: Bruno Mace, courtesyof United Music
Dusapin. His early training with Yvo Malec and Publishers)
Betsy Jolas, both committed to ecritureas the
fundamental tool of musical expression, was imagination. Thus it has been possible for him
followed by two years of study with Tristan to project forms independent of spectral models
Murail when he was closely involved with within the context of that spectral mimesis
acoustic theory and computer applications. He and transformation characteristic of L'itineraire.
was one of the first to seek out a synthesis Perhaps the most important sign of this is
between these two seeming opposed approaches Hurel's punctual application of subliminal trans-
to composition. This has led one of his admirers, formation not to the iterof an entire piece, as so
Guy Lelong, to speak of his 'parcours paradoxaux'. often happens in spectral composers of strict
In fact what Hurel has been doing, with obedience, but to something very like a formal
resourcefulness and patience, is a natural and transition.Thus Pourl'image(1986/87) consistsof
even necessary step in the evolution of French a series of variationswhich fade into one another
music and has been perceived as such by a so that it is impossible to specify just where one
younger generation of composers. For from the variation ceases and another one begins. Far
moment when la musiquespectralecould be seen from being contradictory or even a tourdeforce,
to have a style it could become a part only of a this solution was there for the taking once spectral
composer's equipment. This was particularly device could be distinguished from spectral
important to Hurel, not so much because of his theorizing. The so-called 'anamorphic'effect is a
talent for polyphony as such but because of his result of fruitful ambiguity of a kind occasionally
harmonic thinking, which remains close to that present in Stravinsky'suse of variationtechnique
ofDutilleux, Messiaen and through them to that not only in the late sets of variationsbut already
of French music from the earlier part of the in the soft serialism of 'neo-classical' works like
century. Listening to Opcit for solo clarinet Dansesconcertantes and the Sonatafor Two Pianos.
(1984) even in the revised version of 1993, An even more impressive formal virtuosity is
makes it clear that he could not have followed to be found in the Six miniaturesen trompel'oeil
the road of Dusapin since the shaping of line is (1991/93).' In them Hurel takes up one of the
far less instinctive to him. more responsible aleatoric procedures of the
In the polyphonic pieces this is more than made 1960s, the multimovement through-composed
up for by an exceptionally inventive formal work with fixed opening and closing movements
40 Throughthe Spectrum:The New Intimacyin FrenchMusic(II)
but with two or more different itineraries who 'se soucientpeu defaire percevoirles structures
between them. A particularlysuccessful 'classic' qu'ils mettenten oeuvre,parcequ'ils sont davantage
example is Nine or Ten Hosannasby Anthony interessespar unecertaineformegestuelled'expression'
Gilbert, where the choice of central movements and composers like himself who try to make
can vary in number and order though with an their forms readable.This is to forget that form,
eye to proportion and to careful interpretation even spectral form, is even more a result of
on the part of the conductor. In Gilbert's piece ecritureor its equivalent than it is a fixed point of
there is necessarily an element of risk, though reference. It is only in academic manualsthat all
one quite in keeping with the spirit of the times. sonata movements are essentiallythe same. And
But Hurel, in going back to a scheme which in fact no form worthy the name is ever wholly
neither Malec nor Jolas would rule out whether readable. The simplest minuet by Leopold
or not they choose to use it personally, found Mozart becomes mysterious as soon as two or
himself after his work with Tristan Murail in three bars of it have slipped by. Notes, like
possession of a art of transition too fine (and words and images, have a way of changing their
deliberatelyso) for the ear to perceive sectionally. shape as they pass from the field of perception to
By applying this art to what had been a non- the field of memory. Even the densest page of
spectral,necessarilysectional form or para-form, Ferneyhough may issue on something very like
Hurel simply invented a new kind of Satztechnik Donne's 'goldto aery thinnessbeat' - or, if you
to realize his vision and at the same time to prefer, a doughty twirl of Uncle Toby's stick.
satisfy his instincts as a composer. For what he Whereas computerized shapes legitimized by
does in fact is to organize a six-movement piece 'scientific'models (as in the more naive examples
so it can be cogently played with in a straight- of L'itinerairemusic-making), despite the busy
forward 123456 order or in an alternativeorder: sophistication of their surface texture, can give
142536. Hurel's ingenuity, indeed his wit, can the formal effect of a sonorizedBarbie doll.
be seen even in the assignmentof these numbers Then there is the idea that intuitive writing is
to his miniatures since it is the 'aberrant'order to be avoided because by so doing 'onnepeut que
which produces a continuum- or, if you like, retombersur des chosesconnues.'The example of
an impression of symphonic structure- whereas Scelsi is there to prove the opposite, unless
the 'normal' order yields a suite. Hurel meansby 'intuitive''routine',in which case
All this comes about because in Hurel's music his argumentis circular.Hurel's practice is that of
the conventional approach to formal scansion one who has learned to live with his strengths
has been turned inside out: that is to say, the and weaknesses, his sensibility and his pace. It is
transitions are more significant formally than also that of one who adopts, and when need be
what they separate. Leconde chosesgoes a step extends, the techniques available to him in the
further in making the complex play of variation interests of an aesthetic vision which has only
and transition depend on the tension between the most tenuous of connexions with that
ornamental foreground and structural back- 20th-century mountebank's notion, 'the truth
ground, as when a painter brings his formal grid about sound'.
into the composition of his canvas, through
architecture perhaps or crossed branches, while FRANC(OIS PARIS
very nearly effacing it through his representation '[la necessited'une loi preeatablie]alieneplus qu'elle
of clouds overhead. Only in the present case the n'exalte, exigeplus qu'elle ne propose,disposeplus
fleeting melodic sequences that seem on the qu'ellene soutient.'
point of coalescing (Sibelius again) in the third
and final 'section' produce an effect uncannily Francois Paris has gone a step further in the
like that of the closing pages of D'Indy's Istar recuperationof spectralnovelty for the aesthetic
where the theme appears only after a set of mainstream.Of the song cycle Leschampsde l'ombre
variations upon it. blanche,IvankaStoianovaremarks'Contrairement a
The artificial way (in the baroque sense) la pratiqueetablied'ecrirepour dispositiftechnologique
Hurel goes about justifying his invention is to donne, FrancoisParis demandea la technologiede
some degree obscured by remnantsof L'itineraire realiserce qu'il ecrit. En ecrivantdans la partition
theorizing. Oddly enough the reason for this l'electroniqede maniereassezprecise- doncassezpeu
would seem to lie with the generallyconservative -
prcise quela musiqueinstrumentale, le compositeur
nature of Hurel's musical sensibility, which as I confie aux techniciens du son la responsabilite
have already suggested is not without parallels d'interpretes au memetftrequ'au chefet aux instru-
with a composer like Dukas. One example of mentalistesde l'ensemble.'It is important to realize
this is the contrasthe makes between composers that this is indeed an aesthetic criterion and not
Throughthe Spectrum:The New Intimacyin FrenchMusic (II) 41
PhilippeLeroux(photo:Guy Vivien,courtesy
of UnitedMusicPublishers)
solely an attempt to humanize technology. For time: Surla nuquede la mrer etoilee.The title is taken
only if the electronic stream of a composition from a 1917 poetic text by the German expres-
flows with the same elasticity as the acoustic sionist painter, Ludwig Meidner, which describes
streamdoes the overall result cohere in a sponta- an inner journey, this time in terms of careering
neous way. Varese understoodthis so well that he nocturnal flight through the outskirts of a town
chose to alternate tape and ensemble in Deserts, where the poet feels dogged by his own
allowing them to clash in transitionaloverlap as grotesqueshadow. The music is conceived as three
if to underline the point he was making. All this panels, each with its own prevailing colours.
works quite well in Champswhere the art of The first grows out of rhythmic figures on the
transition is less important than the ductile crotalesclosely associatedwith moon and starlight,
continuum which allows foreground effects to the twinkling gradually diffused through the
drift by like constellations before a distant surrounding textural continuum. In the central
galaxy. The vocal lines smack at times of Berio, panel it is the frantic careering that comes to the
but this is quite in keeping with the choice of fore with that thicket- and woodland-haunting
literaryreference- Le cosmicomiche
ofItalo Calvino, instrument, the horn; while in the third panel
a tiresomely written but not unsuggestive book unpitched wooden and then metal percussion
which allowsfor generousamountsofhi-tech tone evoke the crotales of the opening, but as if
painting. As with Voyagerby Mefano, fairy-tale blunted by darknessand fatigue. The unabashed
cosmology has here produced that great rarityin electric timbre of the keyboards finds literary
radical contemporary music, divertimento-like justification in the non-pastoral side of what one
charm and grace. sees when poussevers la ville while the progres-
An altogether more disconcerting affairis the sive tightening of the interval structure of the
ensemble piece with electronic keyboardsin real scales involved (which reaches eighths of tones
42 Throughthe Spectrum:The New Intimacyin FrenchMusic(II)
in the third panel) read maybe as the galloping down into pools of harp 'scordatura'sprung by
anxiety of the lines 'le crisdes nuagesme cement, the wayward slither of the baguettesuperballe.
les buissonsvacillent'['the clouds' cries close in on L'octobreseul marks an important step in the use
me and the bushes stagger']. All this is not to of spectral spoils to enhance the feigned arcadia
imply that Sur la nuquede la meretoileecannot be of Western chamber music.
subjected,and impressivelyso, to a purely musical
analysis. But it underscores the exceptional
literary sensibility of Paris, which in a composer PHILIPPE LEROUX
invariably means the ability to pursue a musical '... est un compositeur
apollonien'(DominiqueDruhin)
argument seamlesslyon both formal and associa-
tive levels. For the text in this case (as so often Philipe Leroux has dealt less with l'heritage
with Debussy) is an inscription over the lintel spectralethan with its patrimoine,taking up what
that divides the music from the rest of the is useful to him among other items of invention.
world, to linger then in the back of the mind In fact what distinguishes him from the com-
like what one knows of the life of a person one posers discussed above is his attachment to the
is talking with. In the midst of so many tasteless figure. This has to do with his sensibilityand not
and irrelevanttitles on the part of those trying to at all with any reticence on his part to seek out
flog their wares to a post-modern age, this is an new territory, for he does just that. Leroux likes
encouraging sign that something of the poetry to tell stories, and for that he needs charactersso
of Les barricadesmysterieuseshas not altogether we can know what is happening to whom and
passed out of the French tradition. when it is happening. Only the charactershe
L'octobreseul for violins, 2 clarinets, 'cello and deals with are musical figures. The use of figures
harp is also associatedwith a poem, this time by in music need not be more 'traditionalist'than
Christian da Silva. Its touching disquiet, made in painting. It all depends on how they are used,
from images no sooner introduced than cut or if you like on what adventures they are sent.
free from their denotations, is reflected in the This is of course where la musiquespectrale comes
enigmatic tone of this music, a certain forlorn into the picture, though certain aspects of
quality in its inflections rather than anything minimalism, intelligent minimalism, are there as
pictorial. In some ways this is a more 'spectral' well. None of this could go without humour -
piece in the deep sense than the pieces by Paris Apollonmusicienis not without a certainwit - and
that use recognizably spectral technology. The Leroux's pieces are some of the most genuinely
harp is differently tuned in each octave, some- entertaining to be written in these last years. If
thing that continues to be the case throughout he wrote plays no doubt that they would remind
all pedal changes. Xylophone and 'superballe' us of Musset and Marivaux.
sticks are used in addition to normal plucking. Fleuveis a key work in Leroux'sfiguraldevelop-
The choice of two clarinets has nothing to do ment. The original, four-movement, version has
with juxtaposed tessiturasor virtuoso figuration. its dark incantatory moments and something of
The main purpose is to obtain a pure microtonal that 'dynamiquede la sonoritepar transmutation de
intonation, in keeping with that of string la masse' that Suzanne Demarquez finds in
double-stopping but not with that of woodwind Varese. Hearing it one would think that Leroux
multiphonics. Another is to ensure uniformity of might very well have followed the path opened
articulationin the many paralleland overlapping up by Dusapin in the early ensemble pieces. But
scalarpassages. alreadyin the second - three-movement- version
Even from such elementary descriptions it the colours are brighter, the rhythms bolt free
should be easy to see how asymmetricalconjunct from the mass and, as one might expect, the
motion permits an oblique rapprochement to figurative profile of each movement is more
those harp and ensemble pieces - by Ravel and compact. First there is a 'study' in glissando, or
Debussy to be sure but also by Koechlin, Cras better in all sounds slippery and slidy, next a
and Caplet - which are one of the collective 'study' in sounds repeated and sustained, and
glories of French music. In fact the harp writing then an eddying of the two of them together, till
itself, with its vague murmurings as if buried both fuse in an ornamental arborescence.
under the swirlingleaves of the 'quartet'textures, Though peculiar events do occur in Fleuvethe
is some of the strangest since Caplet's Conte piece is on the whole serious in its manner, as
fantastique.The leaf image is no idle description befits a young composer bent on giving a show
but the very essence of the autumnal dissolution of the tricks he can turn in a quarterof an hour
of the music and its formal iter, in the last bars with a well appointed ensemble. Phoniedoucefor
of the score, where the scalar passages drift oboe, saxophone and cello takes a rather differ-
Throughthe Spectrum:The New Intimacyin FrenchMusic (II) 43
two (p.88-9). Searchingfor 'structuralequivalents' front of his or her eyes as a creative response to
between sight and sound (p.14, from Dalcroze), (ratherthan a mere replicationof) the intentional
her basic thesis bears comparison with Lawrence object within his or her ears. The very invasive-
Kramer's notion of the 'structural rhythm' ness of the auralcomponent lends itself to being
between music and poetry, and at one point understood as that which is mapped or modelled
Jordan even describesthe relationbetween music by the physical movement, and the challenge of
and dance as itself'rhythmic' in nature (p.167). understandinga ballet performance is to temper
As she quotes Edwin Denby, from a passage what is seen (alltoo readilyinterpretedin terms of
which had implied that it is better choreographic an economy of light) with what is heard. This
practice - by which he meant more human(e) - involves not simply supplementingthe eyes with
to avoid demanding absolute synchronization of the earsbut taming them, in orderthat the imagi-
the aural and the visual, 'The excitement of natively constituted relation between these two
watching ballet is that two very different things sensory components might provide (psychic)
- dancing and music - fit together, not mechan- pleasure, satisfaction, 'security and relaxation'
ically but in spirit' (quoted p.77). (p.88).
Indeed, in the wake of Stravinsky and This is certainly not to dispute Jordan's basic
Balanchine, both of whom were more than premise: that for the choreographer there is a
usually sensitive to its physical qualities, music is certain flexible and imaginative reciprocity
commonly (and too simply [p.184-5]) said to be between ballet's aural and visual components,
visualized and given body by ballet, and by even a 'struggle' as Stravinskyonce said (quoted
watchedmovement in general.Bodily movement, p.122). But at the end of the book, I am left with
it is said, helps us to understandmusic as gesture. a single question: whether, as a consequence of
This view may be no more than a defence of the different structuresand temporalities of the
Balanchine's own choreographic aesthetic, but it two main sense organs- earsand eyes - through
is worth considering its correlate in the mode of which ballet is enjoyed, the listener-viewer asks
attention asked of the listener-viewer. for a different approach to that accorded the
For, by virtue of the intrinsicallymetaphorical choreographer. Perhaps such an inquiry might
nature of music's 'own' movements, the listener- inspireJordan's next book.
viewer seems to be led to understand events in Anthony Gritten
page 44)
(continuedfrom
PHILIPPE HUREL: Six miniatures en trompe-l'oeil; FRANCOIS PARIS. Sur la nuque de la mer etoil6e';
Lefon de choses; Opcit'; Pour l'image. 'Alain L'octobreseuf; Les champs de l'ombre blanche';
Damiens (cls), Ensemble InterContemporain c. Roque4. 'Ensemble TM c. Laurence Cuniot;
Ed Spanjaard.Compositeursd'aujourdhui- Ades 2"Ensemble Itineraire c. Pascal Rophe, 'Cecile
204562. Daroux (fls), Donatienne Michel-Dansac (sop),
'Florian Lauridon (vlc). Musique francaised'au-
ERIC TANGUY: Violin Concerto; Concerto for jourd'hui MFA216006.
Flute and 16 instruments. MARIUS CONSTANT:
Violin Concerto. Rodrigue Milosi (vln), Pierre- PHILIPPE LEROUX: Continuo(ns); ppp; Air-re;
Yves Artaud (fl), Orchestre de Caen c. Claude Phonie douce;Fleuve. Ensemble Court Circuit
Bardon. Collection Chaminade-Salabert CHCD c. Pierre-Andr6Valade. Musique francaised'au-
5606. jourd'hui MFA 216005.
TANGUY: Ocean, N.Y. Fantaisie;Solo; Azur C; THIERRY BLONDEAU: Ein undAus'; Ici et la I and
Towards;Alloys; Azur B; Wadi; Avenementdu II'; Vis a vis'; Plotzlich4; Ups and Downs'.
ligne.Francois-Fr6dericGuy (pno), Gabin Linale 'Companie Zigzag, Armand Angster (cl),'Cecile
(vlc), Celine Nessi (fl), Jean Goffroy (perc), Daroux (fl), 4EnsembleCourt Circuit c. Pierre-
Pierre Dutrieu (cl), Michel Bourcier (organ). Andre Valade. Musique francaised'aujourd'hui
Salabert SCD 9408. MFA216013.