MCD's blog

The new CD of Christian ZANESI, Soixante dix-huit tours (Vibrö)

Sémaphores  (2009 / 15’)
Music commission from the EOLE studio in Toulouse For Yann Geslin
The choice of title became obvious towards the end of the compositional work, when a whole series of electronic signals, initially in the background, appeared as essential elements of the piece. Even though they are heard in the distance, or very eroded, the presence of these sounds is sustained. To come through the noise is part of the very nature of a signal. The title is therefore to be understood as a metaphor for the signal as matter.

There is another layer in this work, linked to old sounds I dug up and that were made in the ‘80s on the "non-real-time" computer of the GRM. These sounds considerably renewed the materials of electroacoustic music at the time, giving new impetus to composers working in the studio.

Tours et détours en 78 tours  (2009 / 15’)
It is down to chance, (so convenient at times), that in spring 2007 a famous 78 rpm record fell into my hands: pressed by Pierre Schaeffer in 1949, it is essentially made up of basic instrumental sounds (including oboes, flutes, metallic percussions, "radio" voice...) presented as closed grooves, that is to say identically repeated over a short time span. This is one of the two records containing basic material used for composing the « Suite Pour 14 Instruments » heard for the first time on the radio station Paris Inter in November 1949.

I was impressed by the tenuous softness emanating from these sounds and I felt like a child, discovering a very old family film in a forgotten box. I took just a few of these fragments, and I worked on them by associating electronic materials relevant to me today. I also kept - whilst slightly altering it - this famous 78 rpm beat (78 at the black) which I believe is one of the keys of the success of concrete music in its early days. Gradually, I understood that I was working on the idea of fragility with the feeling of the ineluctable passing away of things and beings.

Christian Zanési currently is the artistic director of the Ina GRM. He has initiated many projects in the field of radio, publications and musical events including: the Electromania radio show on France Musique, the festival Présences électronique and the CD box sets « Archives GRM », « Bernard Parmegiani, l’œuvre musicale », « Luc Ferrari, l’œuvre électronique ».

CHRISTIAN ZANESI LIVE :

• 17 DEC. 2009 / Cabaret Voltaire / Zürich / Suisse
• 20 FEV. 2010 / CCMC Festival / Institut Franco-Japonais / Tokyo
• 02 MAR. 2010 / De Montfort University (DMU) / Leicester / UK
• 05 MAR. 2010 / Festival Kontact Sonores / Chalon sur Saône
• 13 MAR. 2010 / Festival SONOR, (dans le cadre de Popsonics radio ) / Nantes
• 23 AVR. 2010 / Espace Mendès France (Carte blanche à Vibrö) / Poitiers

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