for flute, blue harp, percussion, string quartet, double bass ad libitum
In the early stages of the creation of ‘‘Le grand stellaire’’, the amplified harp appeared to me as a sort of messenger whose mission it was to unveil latent emotions, obscured till now by the limited voice of the traditional harp.
As I was composing the piece, I felt the excitement of writing for a brand new instrument, liberated from its confidentiality and now shining brilliantly; I started to discover a new musical space, comparable to a sky studded with new stars which, after thousands of light-years, one lucky night decide to let us see how they radiate.
According to the book of Genesis, God created the ‘‘great luminary’’ then the ‘‘small’’ on the fourth day of the Creation; it is with reference to such poetic material that I chose to call ‘‘Le grand stellaire’’ a piece that I consider to be an invitation to travel to the heavens and which divides itself into three parts: ‘‘Débridé’’ (Unbridled), ‘‘En éveil’’ (Awaken) and ‘‘Éclatant’’ (Brilliant).
Premiered in 1992 in its original version (a trio) by the member musicians of Trio Controverse, to whom it is dedicated, the piece was later completed by a more substantial instrumentation that included the string parts and which was first played in 1995 at the ‘‘Bel Image’’ in Valence by the same musicians and the Ravel quartet, conducted by Mark Foster.
composed in: 1991-1994 (revised in 2003 and 2014)
premiered in: 1995, Valence, ‘‘Bel Image’’ by Trio Controverse and Quatuor Ravel, conducted by Mark Foster
duration: 15’
publisher: Jobert
discography: Trio Controverse, 2003 (TRITON, « Harpe bleue », TRI 331127) (trio version, without the strings)
also in the repertoireof’Anne-Cécile Cuniot, Patricia Nagle and Thomas Prévost (fl.), Marion Lenart (harp), Stéphane Mazeau, Thierry Miroglio and Francis Petit (perc.), Tomás Garrido, Kirill Karabits and Yannis Pouspourikas (cond.)
version with string orchestra :
Thomas Prévost (flute), Martine Flaissier (harp), Francis Petit (percussion)
the Radio-France Philharmonic Orchestra, Kirill Karabits, cond.
premiere concert, Paris, Maison de la Radio, 5.02.2004, for Festival Présences
Martine Flaissier is playing a Camac "Blue Harp" (details : www.camac-harps.com)
sound recording : Radio-France for France-Musique