2012

 


ARRANGEMENTS

All time high

(J. Barry / T. Rice)

3 flutes, 3 oboes, 3 clarinets in Bb, 3 bassoons, 4 french horns, 3 trumpets in C, 2 trombones, tuba, timpani, suspended cymbal, glockenspiel, harp, vocal (C3 - G4), 3 backing vocals (B4 - A4), electric guitar, keyboard, drum set, 4-string bass guitar, strings. Duration: 3m 10s. Key: C major. Commissioned by the Flanders International Film Festival Ghent. Unpublished.
 


Figaro 2012
(W. Mozart / L. Da Ponte)
 
Flute, clarinet in Bb, bassoon, solo voices, mixed choir, strings. Duration: 40m. Created on June 22, 2012 by the students of the Royal Conservatoire of Music, Brussels, at the Théâtre Royal du Parc, Brussels. Conducting: Philippe Gérard. Commissioned by the Conservatoire of Music, Brussels. Unpublished.
 


I get a kick out of you
(C. Porter)

2 flutes, oboe, english horn, bassoon, 3 french horns, triangle, glockenspiel, harp, voice (G2 - C4), strings. Duration: 3m 35s. Key: Bb major. Unpublished.
 


Wind of changes 
(K. Meine)
 
Piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, english horn, 2 clarinets in Bb, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 french horns, 3 trumpets in C, 2 trombones, tuba, timpani, suspended cymbal, voice (G2 - G3 + optional whistle), strings. Duration: 7m 10s. Key: C major. Commissioned by the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Unpublished.
 



COMPOSITION
 
3 snow haikus 
 
Voice (D4 - F#5) and piano. Duration: 6m. Commissioned by Dirk Brossé. CD recording and creation in 2013 by Hanne Roos, soprano and Daniel Blumenthal, piano. Unpublished.
 
Dirk Brossé's project was to produce a CD with new original compositions for soprano and piano, written by international renowned composers, and based on well known old and new haikus. It was for me another challenge to write three (not so) short pieces, where the text of the haikus is purely used, only once by song, with no repetition. I selected the haikus from a list of about 50 poems. It was asked to keep the vocal line "kind-of-lyrical", with an open musical style and genre.
 

 
Clarilogue
 
Clarinetist, clarinet in Bb. Duration: 2m 20s. Unpublished.
 
Clarilogue is a musical role play for clarinetist and... clarinet. The instrument, driven by his own will, is trying to escape the control of the musician, and to play its own music. At the end, the clarinetist will eventually solve the conflict, playing a simple melody, « along with » the instrument. In the score, the black notes are those « required » by the clarinetist, gradually supplanted by the blue colored notes of the clarinet. The piece can be played anywhere, as long as a backstage (or any equivalent) exists where the musician begins to play before appearing to the audience. Clarilogue was premiered on September 22, 2012, at the Théâtre du Vaudeville, Brussels. The clarinet was a Buffet Crampon Tosca, and the clarinetist my good friend Ronald Van Spaendonck.
 


Hommage à Clément Marot
 
Clarinet in Bb, trumpet in C, mixed choir, harpsichord, violin, violoncello. Duration: 5m 20s. Unpublished.

I wrote a first version of this music dedicated to Clément Marot and the medieval music more than a decade earlier. The original piece was substantially longer, developed through 6 or 7 parts and songs. It was commissioned by the Centre de Chant Choral de Namur, but for some obscure reasons, they never performed it… and the original score was lost, somewhere between Namur and Brussels!
By chance, I found back a few pages of the preliminary sketches, and I decided to rewrite partially the piece, in order to create this little suite, a playful, Middle Age-sounding divertimento.