I composed the music for S.O.S. Constellations
in a linear chronological fashion, as if it were a suite. I created
each piece with a real sequence that recognizes its chronological order.
Once I had composed a piece, I wrote the next, making sure it related
to the preceding piece musically or through a melodic reference, in
order to connect each piece through links such as stars, in a way that
would generate acoustic constellations.The title of this first album
is my way of illustrating this concept.
The effect of these short pieces that succeed one another as they blend
into a longer composition is to focus the listener’s attention
through a musical frame that accompanies the un-interrupted sequence
of his or her thoughts.
Album cover 1999 |
Album cover 2009 |
The
main instrument, called cimbalom
in Asia and hammered
dulcimer in Eastern Europe, would seem to be the piano’s ancestor
but, contrary to the piano, one plays the cimbalom with hammers in hand.
I have recorded a number of the melodies and musical themes of this
first album on computer, using Midi software techniques (e.g.: Cubase)
and the step-time method, that is one note at a time. Still relying
on the computer, I then created arrangements in real time around the
main themes. Finally, I added real instruments to generate ambiance
and transform this program in sounds, including the mandolins that repeat
the sound of the cimbalom.
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However, some of the melodies that were originally
programmed were then totally replaced with real instruments such as
the recorder in Andromède or the saxophone in Dragon no 7, a
process that confers the music a human touch.
My idea was to find the point at which the human ear distinguishes natural
sounds from their synthetic counterparts.
For a number of practical and less practical reasons, the two resulting
suites, each lasting 26 minutes, were inverted during editing; thus,
the album begins with the second part and ends with the first.
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