Duration: around 1h30 without interlude
Orchestre Philarmonique de Radio France
Second appearance of Varèse's plethoric orchestra in ManiFeste: Arcana, an exhilarating, incantatory, modern and archaic work. Its shadow on today's music is immense but its performances remain exceptional because of the forces required. Two generations of female composers cohabit with Varèse: the young Iranian Aida Shirazi, who completed her studies at IRCAM, and the English artist Rebecca Saunders, who has imagined a concerto grosso with the Ensemble intercontemporain.
Wound builds on an earlier work, Scar, to expand its expressive possibilities. "If you start with a scar and reopen it, you make a new and bloodier wound. Wound is not about healing, but releases acoustic images, states of great density, a space of acoustic, metaphorical, and most importantly, real freedom.
Ensemble intercontemporain Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
Pascal Rophé direction
Étienne Démoulin IRCAM electronics
Luca Bagnoli IRCAM sound diffusion
Rebecca Saunders Wound, commissioned by Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, Orchestre de la Suisse romande, Ensemble intercontemporain, Casa da Música and Radio France - French Premiere
Aida Shirazi T O R N, commissioned by IRCAM-Centre Pompidou and Radio France – Premiere 2023
Edgard Varèse Arcana
Concert recorded by France Musique.
