for organ
Shortly before writing ‘‘Laus’’, I had had the opportunity of composing a series of (very) short musical sequences meant to accompany a documentary film about stained glass; for one of them I had devoted myself to creating a medieval polyphony dealt with in my own fashion: in spite of easily perceivable auditory references made to medieval composer Guillaume de Machault, there was more than a hint pointing to the fact that the author of this seconds-long piece belonged to our times.
When the musical association ‘‘Domaine-Musiques’’ called upon me in 1992 to write a required piece for the ‘‘International Organ Contest of Wasquehal-St-Omer’’, I started to map out the possible itinerary which the initial musical idea would take, by following the curve of its own fluctuations, likening itself to an imaginary church service (hence the title ‘‘Laus’’, i.e. praise).
Thus a piece of different dimensions (about 9’ long) slowly came into existence, in which the original polyphony became successively more complex, restless and anxious, uplifting and annihilating, lyrical and then again abundant, to finally evaporate mysteriously in a sort of transitory conclusion.
composed in: 1991-1992
commissioned work premiered in: 1993, Wasquehal, by the finalists of the ‘‘International Organ Contest of Wasquehal-St-Omer’’
duration: 9’
publisher: Combre
discography:
Véronique Le Guen, playing the Quoirin organ of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, 2004 (« De profundis » HORTUS 036)
John Walthausen, playing the Kern ogan of Sapporo Concert Hall (Japan), 2016 ("De fil en aiguille" SAPPORO CONCERT HALL, SCH-017)
also in the repertoire of Béatrice Piertot, Hina Ikawa, Emmanuel Arakélian, Henri-Franck Beaupérin and Iain Simcock
YouTube Laus