Why so quiet

“So that the center is displaced toward the outside” (André Du Bouchet)

Composing for a large orchestra (this work is composed for 98 musicians) offers endless musical constellations. This thrilling diversity demands a careful organization of the spatial sound.

While composing the piece, an idea came quickly to the forefront: to emphasize the impression of depth in the orchestra.

I decided to use the traditional orchestral arrangement with three groups placed one behind the other: strings/woodwinds/brass. The strings are arranged stereophonically, the first violins on the left, the second violins on the right. Only the six percussionists are distributed around the stage and the audience, and thus refer by way of their maximum distance to the depth of the hall, which is defined by its size. As a contrast, the conductor needs to be a point of maximum proximity. In this way, a “partition” of the room takes place that stretches from the centrally placed conductor, who is surrounded by the quartet of solo strings, to the mass of strings, the wind instruments, harp and piano to the six percussionists, comparable with increasingly distant concentric crescents.

It became clear to me that the conductor can no longer just be the visible trigger of events, if the center point is to be recognizable when listening. He has to participate with an unusual action in certain generative strategic impulses. Their repetition then could define the architecture of the work.

La figure d'ouverture est le germe de toute la pièce : l'impact sourd se répercute aux confins de la salle, comme une réverbération vers laquelle toute l'attention se déplace. L'idée m'en était venue lors de ma découverte, sur l'île de Teshima au Japon, de l'œuvre de Rei Naito et Ryue Nishizawa – montagne évidée où se rencontrent l'infime et l'infini, et où chaque événement, même le plus insignifiant, prend une importance démesurée.

Surgissent alors une multitude de dérivés et développements possibles : déflagration suivie de ses répliques, tremblement de l'air, propagation d'un frémissement, masse bruissante, rumeur sourde, dilatation et contraction, crépitements épars, craquement décomposé par la lenteur...

Why so quiet est dédié à François-Xavier Roth.