SUR LA PRÉSENCE
Instrumentation: double bass solo
Duration: 6’
Commissioned by: Moritz Baerens with support from Stipendienprogramm 2021 des MKW NRW
Year: 2021
Programme notes
Are we closer nowadays, immerse in a time of utter connectivity, or is there something essentially lost when interactions do not occur in situ? Can we experience, interact, understand in a similar way virtually and physically?
The musical material of Sur la présance is intimately related to the concept of aura, what surrounds a presence creating a distinctive but intangible quality. The sound of the drawing of the bow, the emphasis on the spectrum of the strings in diverse ways... Those elements are inherently embedded in the sound of the instrument but unusually occupying an articulation role. Sur la présance brings them to the foreground, poetically pondering on what essentially defines the presence.
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This piece was composed in collaboration with the double bassist Moritz Baerens in a time where cooperation needed to be done virtually. As many creators during this time, we had to adapt to this new circumstance but never refusing to take artistic risks and research together for the composition of this work.
The poetics of Sur la présence arise tightly related to this context.