Walter Feldmann «monstrueuse vécut dans le cadre»

Commissioned by the Ensemble Intercontemporain

In 1989 I first discovered the writings of Anne-Marie Albiach. “H II“ linéaires especially impressed me, on the one hand through the sensual presence of the words, and on the other hand, above all, through the spatial disposition of the typography. This is a form of writing which has nothing to do with all that has existed before it. This impression was the starting point for a creative work which has since become a kind of a project to which I will dedicate myself throughout my life. Since that time of my first discovery (in which hundreds of pages of sketches and a published excerpt of a score of a syntagma have been composed, namely « monstrueuse vécut dans le cadre » la mémoire) I have attempted to develop a new musical system that encompasses all the parameters of composition. All of these works which I have composed are independent from this enormous project, but at the same time they form the experimental laboratory for the all-encompassing musical system towards which I am working and developing: a new system of determining pitches, metre, dynamics, musical diction, manner of performance, etc.

With « monstrueuse vécut dans le cadre » la mémoire it appears that the research for this project has been concluded. After the two large cycles « Les Géorgiques » on texts from Claude Simon and « Tristram Shandy » from Laurence Sterne, both employing techniques from my work with Albiach’s texts, I could finally compose this work, which was originally conceived for voice and 6 instrumental groups – the system was mastered, so to speak.

Anne-Marie Albiach’s establishes the genetic code for the piece, without the words having to be spoken.. Her text is, in the true sense of the word, “measured” from one syntagma (syntactical element), from one “void” (space) to another, and this results in temporal structures of ensemble texture. This is opposed to another texture, which is the temporal measurement of a recitation of the text by the author: her voice, using the range of her voice, is the viola solo – a recitation, in its unique individuality, on which the cold, “typographical” structure of the ensemble superimposed.

Every time I read a text of Anne-Marie Albiach, it seems to me that she is saying that which I do. An extremely rare coincidence, like that with the violist Odile Auboin, the soloist, who I think works in the same manner and has the same approach to things.

The set of parts contains the following scores:

Viola Solo, the rest of the instrumental parts are divided into 6 groups:

Group 1: double bass clarinet / bass clarinet.
Group 2: horn 1, horn 2 
Group 3: cor anglais, bassoon, bassoon / contrabassoon
Group 4: oboe / cor anglais, violin, violoncello, double bass
Group 5: tompete 1, trumpet 2, trombone1, trombone 2, tuba
Group 6: clarinet / bass clarinet, harp, violin 1, violin 2, viola, violoncello