Michel Chion: Préludes à la vie: track detail

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Préludes à la vie
CD out of print

Le prisonnier du son (1972-91) 34m35s imed_9523-1.1 | 14225 | ISRC CAD509511210

concrète melodrama in two parts:
first part: Générique [Credits]; Ouverture [Overture]; Monologue; Appel [Call]; Danse [Dance]; Réveil [Awakening]; Travail [Work]; Apparitions; L’usine à sons [The Sound Factory]
second part: Nocturne; Larsen [Feedback]; Apparition; Danse du n’importe quoi [The Dance of Anything]; Rencontre [Meeting]; Révolte [Revolt]; Cataclysme; Le Mur du Son [The Wall of Sound]
text and performance by the composer

Composer: Michel Chion

Commission: Ina-GRM

Premiere: May 19, 1972, Musée Guimet (Paris, France)

During the period when I composed Le prisonnier du son (The Prisonner of Sound), I was easily captivated by the sounds from loudspeakers and submerged in their abundance, from which arose the romantic idea to explicitly treat this impasse by more or less comic or serious episodes and by placing and directing a hero in the same situation. This was also a dramatic project in which the voice is no longer the vehicle of a text or narration but the incarnation of a character who lives and speaks in the present, who right before us does battle with sounds and is immersed in these sounds. The production of this piece was for me, paradoxically, a liberating gesture, as much in the sense of expression as in its duration and its sonic orchestration.

It is this form of the monodrama, excluding the dialogue between two voices and situating the human individual in a world of sounds, which I called an electroacoustic melodrama or concrète melodrama, and returned to this several times after with Diktat in 1979, Tu in 1977-86, La Tentation de saint Antoine, in 1984, and Nuit noire, in 1985. But while Flaubert served as librettist (involuntarily) for La tentation… , all of the text of Le prisonnier du son was, if one could say, ‘orally written,’ in a face-off with the sounds, as if these very sounds were alive.

Le prisonnier du son was premiered on May 19th, 1972 at the Musée Guimet in Paris (France) during a concert organized by the Groupe de recherches musicales (GRM). It was reworked in 1991 to create this definitive version which was premiered the same year at the Centre culturel Noroit in Arras (France). Le prisonnier du son was commissioned by the Groupe de recherches musicales (Ina-GRM), written, realized and performed by the composer in the studios of the Ina-GRM. Voice of the opening credits: Agnès Tanguy.

1a. Générique (1972-91) 38s imed_9523-1.1.1a | 21105 |

Composer: Michel Chion

1b. Ouverture (1972-91) 5m18s imed_9523-1.1.1b | 21106 |

MP3 Real

Composer: Michel Chion

1c. Monologue (1972-91) 52s imed_9523-1.1.1c | 21107 |

Composer: Michel Chion

1d. Appel (1972-91) 1m23s imed_9523-1.1.1d | 21108 |

Composer: Michel Chion

1e. Danse (1972-91) 1m31s imed_9523-1.1.1e | 21109 |

Composer: Michel Chion

1f. Réveil (1972-91) 1m02s imed_9523-1.1.1f | 21110 |

Composer: Michel Chion

1g. Travail (1972-91) 1m30s imed_9523-1.1.1g | 21111 |

Composer: Michel Chion

1h. Apparitions (1972-91) 58s imed_9523-1.1.1h | 21112 |

Composer: Michel Chion

1i. L’usine à sons (1972-91) 2m42s imed_9523-1.1.1i | 21113 |

Composer: Michel Chion

2a. Nocturne (1972-91) 3m07s imed_9523-1.1.2a | 21114 | ISRC CAD509511220

Composer: Michel Chion

2b. Larsen (1972-91) 45s imed_9523-1.1.2b | 21115 |

Composer: Michel Chion

2c. Apparition (1972-91) 1m38s imed_9523-1.1.2c | 21116 |

Composer: Michel Chion

2d. Danse du n’importe quoi (1972-91) 1m22s imed_9523-1.1.2d | 21117 |

Composer: Michel Chion

2e. Rencontre (1972-91) 3m41s imed_9523-1.1.2e | 21118 |

Composer: Michel Chion

2f. Révolte (1972-91) 47s imed_9523-1.1.2f | 21119 |

Composer: Michel Chion

2g. Cataclysme (1972-91) 2m26s imed_9523-1.1.2g | 21120 |

Composer: Michel Chion

2h. Le Mur du Son (1972-91) 4m50s imed_9523-1.1.2h | 21121 |

Composer: Michel Chion

24 préludes à la vie (1989-91) 42m17s imed_9523-1.3 | 14226 | ISRC CAD509511300

[in 2 books]
first book: Linceul [Shroud]; Libera me; Aux morts [To the Dead]; La Piazza; Éveil [Awakening]; Dans la nurserie [In the Nursery]; Chant simple [Simple Song]; La source [The Spring]; Oubli [Forgotten]; Matines [Matins]; Danse de l’Ombre [Dance of the Shadow]; Qu’est-ce que? [What is…?]
second book: Ronde de nuit [Song In The Night]; En songe [In a Dream]; Sursauts [Startled]; Les pleurs [Tears]; Des hauts et des bas [The Highs and Lows]; Terre et ciel [Heaven and Earth]; À Pierre Schaeffer [To Pierre Schaeffer]; Tumulte [Uproar]; Le couple [The Couple]; Rêve de valse [Waltz Dream]; Annonce [Declaration]; Nous sommes vivants [We are Alive]
Christiane Sacco-Zagaroli, text of the 24th prelude

Commission: French State (Music Office), Ina-GRM

Premiere: April 10, 1989, Grand Auditorium — Maison de Radio France (Paris, France)

“He cried out in a loud voice: Lazarus, come out! And the dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a shroud.”

— John, 11, 43-44

The 24 préludes à la vie (24 Preludes to Life) conceived, along with Dix études de musique concrète, 1988, Variations, 1990, and the Sonate, 1990, as part of a series of works of a technical character, formal and demonstrative, its purpose being to illustrate the resources of musique concrète and especially to explore the possibilities of concision appropriate to this means of expression, to fight against its distinct tendencyand mineto become stagnant. More colorful and diversified than the Dix études de musique concrète, which tend to be graphic draughts, the 24 préludes à la vie once again take up abstract and pictorial inspiration while at the same time being inspired in their form by the homonymous collection of Frédéric Chopin: a unified group of short pieces of very varying dimensions, from the sketch of several notes to more developed excursions.

In keeping with the above requirements, the work revealed itself during the course of composition to be for me a sort of echo of the Requiem and other preceding works and assumed a particular meaning that I could summarize by these four words: “Despite all, the Joy.” A religious meaning—provided that one understands this word outside of religious institutions.

The evangelical episode of the resurrection of Lazarus, already evoked in the Requiem, inspired certain pieces, notably the first and last, and the fifth prelude Éveil (Awakening) makes reference to the trembling which John mentions that Jesus experienced before the tomb of his friend.

“It is about life. About being alive, in flesh and in spirit.”

Christiane Sacco-Zagaroli

(dates of premieres corrected, January 2006)

24 préludes à la vie was commissioned by the French State (Music Office) and the Ina-GRM (Paris) and realized in its studios. The text of the 24th prelude is by Christiane Sacco-Zagaroli and is spoken by Cécile Sacco. The work was premiered in a preliminary version of twenty movements on April 10th, 1989 during a concert of the Cycle acousmatique series (produced by the GRM in Paris), and in its complete version on May 31th, 1990, during the Semaine (Week) organized by the Groupe de musiques vivantes de Lyon (GMVL) at Villa Gillet.

3. Linceul (1989-91) 59s imed_9523-1.3.3 | 21122 |

4. Libera me (1989-91) 1m39s imed_9523-1.3.4 | 21123 | ISRC CAD509511310

5. Aux morts (1989-91) 37s imed_9523-1.3.5 | 21124 | ISRC CAD509511320

6. La Piazza (1989-91) 35s imed_9523-1.3.6 | 21125 | ISRC CAD509511330

7. Éveil (1989-91) 54s imed_9523-1.3.7 | 21126 | ISRC CAD509511340

8. Dans la nurserie (1989-91) 1m16s imed_9523-1.3.8 | 21127 | ISRC CAD509511350

9. Chant simple (1989-91) 40s imed_9523-1.3.9 | 21128 | ISRC CAD509511360

10. La source (1989-91) 1m20s imed_9523-1.3.10 | 21129 | ISRC CAD509511370

11. Oubli (1989-91) 22s imed_9523-1.3.11 | 21130 | ISRC CAD509511380

12. Matines (1989-91) 1m29s imed_9523-1.3.12 | 21131 | ISRC CAD509511390

13. Danse de l’Ombre (1989-91) 2m57s imed_9523-1.3.13 | 21132 | ISRC CAD509511400

14. Qu’est-ce que? (1989-91) 48s imed_9523-1.3.14 | 21133 | ISRC CAD509511410

15. Ronde de nuit (1989-91) 2m51s imed_9523-1.3.15 | 21134 | ISRC CAD509511420

16. En songe (1989-91) 1m16s imed_9523-1.3.16 | 21135 | ISRC CAD509511430

17. Sursauts (1989-91) 2m13s imed_9523-1.3.17 | 21136 | ISRC CAD509511440

18. Les pleurs (1989-91) 50s imed_9523-1.3.18 | 21137 | ISRC CAD509511450

19. Des hauts et des bas (1989-91) 53s imed_9523-1.3.19 | 21138 | ISRC CAD509511460

20. Terre et ciel (1989-91) 53s imed_9523-1.3.20 | 21139 | ISRC CAD509511470

21. À Pierre Schaeffer (1989-91) 1m29s imed_9523-1.3.21 | 21140 | ISRC CAD509511480

22. Tumulte (1989-91) 1m56s imed_9523-1.3.22 | 21141 | ISRC CAD509511490

23. Le couple (1989-91) 1m19s imed_9523-1.3.23 | 21142 | ISRC CAD509511500

24. Rêve de valse (1989-91) 3m24s imed_9523-1.3.24 | 21143 | ISRC CAD509511520

25. Annonce (1989-91) 1m03s imed_9523-1.3.25 | 21144 | ISRC CAD509511510

26. Nous sommes vivants (1989-91) 9m12s imed_9523-1.3.26 | 21145 | ISRC CAD509511530

Michel Chion: Préludes à la vie: track detail

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