Fifteen poems, each based on a single verb. Echoing Andrée Chedid, I decided to associate each verb thus evoked with the purest vocal gesture: singing in unison, monody as it had developed before harmonic thought, before the advent of “chords”. A search for the line, combining timbre and pitch as finely as possible, the word and the melodic figure, free rhythm and the diversity of modes…
Recordings, audio extracts: recorded in Montreuil-sur-mer in 2009 with the Monnaie de Bruxelles choir (Denis Menier), the Boulonnais Conservatoire choir (Patrick Pouget), the Dames de chœur (Anne Koppé), the Lyriade choir (Isabelle Oriez) and Chœur en spectacle, with Pascal Lelièvre on English horn.
A video was also produced with the Dames de chœur (Anne Koppé) by film-maker Arnaud Bel, in Mauléon as part of the Éclats de voix festival.
Difficulty rating: easy to moderate
Andrée Chédid
French
Women’s choir (SMA), with divisi and clarinet (or English horn)
This work was once included in 13,7 milliards d’années, the framework of which required a more powerful instrument than the clarinet, hence the English horn.
Duration: 25 minutes
A cycle of 12 verbs: Saluer, S’exiler, Respirer, Contenir, Trébucher, Dénouer, Inquiéter, Recueillir, Nommer, Emerger, Creuser, S’acheminer.
Each of the 12 pieces is a monody in a different mode, with some semi-improvised interplay.