Dans les abysses de lumière

Œuvre contemporaine originale pour piano

"If artists so rarely account for their inspirational moments, it is for the very simple reason that at that particular point in their creative process, they are not consciously present. They cannot spy on their own psychological state while in full effervescence of creation, no more than they can look over their own shoulders and watch themselves write. "Egon Schiele "Artists: Sometimes the best way to address a problem in your work is to go in the cage with it and let it devour you. "Jerry Saltz As I am asked to write a few words on Dans les abysses de lumière, my latest piece for piano, I am reminded of two remarks that perfectly describe my feelings at that very moment. Composed in parallel with my Sonata for violin solo, Dans les abysses de lumière, opus 17 (2021-2022) for piano solo is a significant 'back-to-basics' endeavor, like every time I write for the piano: Préludes op. 1 (2014-2015), Poème, op. 5(2016) and Quasi Variazioni op. 7(2018). The (for me) revitalizing experience of composing for piano is intimately related to my childhood. I was five when the instrument came into my life. Every single piano piece I ever wrote marks a turning point in my relationship to composition, something like the reaching of a new milestone. Opus 17 enabled me to take a more objective and open approach to such issues as musical structure and language, as well as my relationship to time and dissonances. Free from any time constraint, I was able to work at my own pace over one full year, sometimes laying the composition aside for weeks. Returning to it at periodic intervals, I would discern various landscapes, colors and moments of life echoing one another throughout the piece. I would then fiel the urge to work at it again and write an entire section in one go. My "work in progress" literally lived at my side. Élise BERTRAND