Press Galaxies (English)

GALAXIES Press (English) ________________ SUD-OUEST Saturday, November 9, 1996 JEAN-CLAUDE ELOY Le tailleur de sons (The Sound Sculptor) Roch Bertrand * SUD OUEST MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1996 SIGMA 32 Jean-Claude Eloy Roch Bertrand		GALAXIES Press (English) ________________________________________________ SUD-OUEST Saturday, November 9, 1996 JEAN-CLAUDE ELOY Le tailleur de sons (The Sound Sculptor) Composer Jean-Claude Eloy reveres the voice and shelters it into sound areas. Three different concerts open the way to the discovery of his unknown territory. by Roch Bertrand Last time he came to the Sigma Festival was in 1986. He had presented "Anâhata", a piece involving traditional Japanese musicians. Ten years later, Jean-Claude Eloy is back in Bordeaux. Although Eastern culture has not left him, it seems to no longer influence him the same way: it remains a reference. A student of Pierre Boulez' in the 60's, he then had to find his independence. So far belonging to the post-serialism movement, he did approach the electro-acoustic creation through Stockhausen's support. "I gradually felt the need to integrate living beings into my music, but not in any way. I wanted non-standardized and creative musicians. "Yo-In" which I presented at the Sigma Festival in 80, stemmed from a meeting with an American percussionist who owned unusual Asian instruments and thus offered an exceptional instrumental situation. My interest also fell on voices, and more especially those of women who, in the area of technical exploration, are far more creative than men." Although the oddity of sound fascinates him, Jean-Claude Eloy's universe is not restrictive: "I now and then have the pleasure to compose with "normal" people. In fact, I deliberately chose three very different singers including an all-classical soprano. I am dialectic enough to appreciate one thing and be interested in its counterpart as well." VOICE SOLO Two versions of a work entitled "Galaxies" will be presented. It was developed from a few concrete sounds, including some borrowed from the shô, a traditional Japanese instrument belonging to the mouth organ family. "These sounds were sampled and reprocessed in studio so as to make them unrecognizable", the composer said. "I used them as you would use fabric because they come out fine and because their acoustic content sounded generous and interesting to me." That work on the sound texture is nevertheless not limited to a more traditional content: "I sometimes use complex harmonics of a certain precision."Galaxies" is a combination of these two extremes." The Warsaw version of "Galaxies" is only electro-acoustics. On the other hand, Jean-Claude Eloy incorporated a long voice solo in the Sigma version: "The voice is confronted to the vastness of the electro-acoustic sound; man's solitude in front of the universe." The voice part will be performed by Junko Ueda, who uses two voice techniques; those of the Shomyo, equivalent to what plain-chant is for the West, which is fairly low-pitched, and another Indonesian one, which highlights a head and nasal register. She is also heard in "Erkos". "For this piece, the whole electro-acoustics revolves around the singer. I base myself on her to set up orchestras teeming with her voice." Composing is not a gratuitous act to Jean-Claude Eloy: "It reveals a way of apprehending the world", he says. It is now up to every one of us to discover them. ROCH BERTRAND * Tonight and tomorrow night at 8:30 pm, and Monday, November 11 at 7 pm, in hangar 5. ________________________________________________ SUD OUEST MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1996 SIGMA 32 Jean-Claude Eloy by Roch Bertrand An intertwining of infinite sound arches, of cold and muffled matter, leaving to guess that they are invisibly linked to one another. The Warsaw version of "Galaxies", by Jean-Claude Eloy, is an electro-acoustic cathedral erected to the glory of the unknown. The soul loses its way. And when it thinks it found its way back and can find shelter, it is overwhelmed again by that shrill solitude. The clicking of disoriented clocks lets the listener hope for a moment's time that temporality still exists in that never-ending journey; but their arrogant laughter is only the resurgence of a vain materiality. The being never stops looking for himself in this universe that inevitably weaves its web, moved by impenetrable laws. The remedy to the aroused anxiety is meditation. It does not lead to resignation, but to the acceptance of being a tiny part of a whole, from which the sublime and disquieting chant of the absolute emanates; a vast epic where man is cradled by the unremitting coming and going, icy and sweet, of cosmic tides, whose ebb and flow merge forever. Fluidity is also in "The Consecrating Mother". For this poem by American poet Anne Sexton, Jean-Claude Eloy immersed the "spoken modulated" voice of Valérie Joly in an electro-acoustic water yielding a staccato and composite murmur. He brought out a text whose meaning escapes the one who does not know the language but which, on the other hand, puzzles by its contrasts that take on the chant of an aura both naive and mystical. Poetry again with "The Mirror" by Mabel Dodge-Luhan, another excerpt from "Several American Women". It sounds like soprano Mieko Kanesugi's voice is reflected in the vibrations of a sound mirror. A coveted reflection with which she plays and tries to get nearer, climbing on a thin thread around which an incantatory threnody is forming. Later, the chant turns silent. Then appears the electro-acoustic conclusion filled with superb desolation. ROCH BERTRAND Saturday night, as well as tonight, at 7 pm, with "Galaxies", in Hangar 5.