Beffa: Les Ombres errantes

Description

Les Ombres errantes was first published as Les Ombres qui passent, for violin, cello (or viola) and piano, then as Cortège des ombres *, for clarinet, viola and piano.

Les Ombres errantes opposes a typical clock-like central movement to two movements whose slowness is almost crepuscular and which are built on a theme made up of often split, almost Webernian intervals – such as sometimes augmented fourths and often Major sevenths – but in an extended tonal context. It is the combination of that angular melodious pattern with clear harmonies (first movement) and a very slow harmonic rhythm (third movement) that gives the trio its low-key atmosphere.

Conversely, the central movement is more animated, concise and compact; I had first intended to entitle it Stretto.

Being partial to humour and mystifications, I had once written a short introductory text about that Trio in the form of a parody of abstruse reviews. As I consider it is now ancient history, I cannot resist the pleasure to repeat the hoax:

« That Trio illustrates the global idea of the transformation of a group of chords into another, according to the principles of thermodynamics in an adiabatic environment. The first movement is built on the first principle ΔU = 0, U being by analogy a torsion factor worked out from the valencies of each musical note in a chord- those valencies being themselves linked to phenomena of acoustic resonance (the more consonant a chord, the smaller its valency; unison has a valency of 0, that of an octave is 2, and so on). If the first movement retains global energy, the second one, conversely, retains entropy, in accordance with the second principle of thermodynamics: ΔH = 0. One or several statistical matrices were then introduced so as to account for the fundamental incertitude induced by circumstantial temperature (tempo) and pressure (dynamics). The third movement explores what could be the first principle in a non-adiabatic environment: energy is not constant, frictions are introduced between elements, along with kinetic moderators. »