Pépin: Aux Confins de l'orage

Description

For my work Aux confins de l'orage I was inspired by three transitory light phenomena that precede a storm. They occur in the upper atmosphere and are invisible from the Earth (we can only observe flashes of lightning). To set to music my representation of them, I imagined orchestral colors specific to each one.

The Yellow-Orange Spheres are discs of light radiating in space in concentric circles. Arising from an electromagnetic impact in the ionosphere, they change color during their propagation, going from yellow to red-orange. I have represented this transformation by spherical chords traveling from one instrumental section to another. After the impact of the keyboards (harp, celesta, vibraphone), they are first played by the winds before extending to the front of the orchestra through the solo string quartet. Moving in the orchestra, they seem to hover above a celestial and motionless layer of strings. Thus, this slow movement introduces seven spherical chords that mark out the notes of the seminal motif of the piece. in this layer of the atmosphere farthest from us, the light is shimmering but fragile. Unstable, it flickers and soon a rumbling density appears, introducing the second movement.

From a thunderous aggregate are born the Red Sylphs, lower in the mesosphere. They are liquid and incandescent filaments flowing towards the Earth and resolving into intense red, luminous swirls. Played by the high-pitched woodwinds, these threads never vanish despite the explosions anticipating the storm (kettledrums, bass drum, low-pitched winds). Brass and strings alternatively present the chord-spheres. The elements come together as they ignite into a lyrical song based on the motif submerging the work. The flamboyant sky still glows a little before subsiding and returning to the slow and cold texture of the beginning of the work.

The last movement opens with a windy episode. Dark and mysterious with the orchestra's low-pitched colors, it provides the transition to the stratosphere. It is in this layer of the atmosphere closest to us that the Blue Jets fly at a hallucinating speed. These real light strokes, both brief and fast, are played by the woodwinds tinged with the brilliance of the keyboards. in the middle of this very lively movement, a suspended and cosmic moment appears, a brief lull before the storm. The horn takes up the motif of the spherical chords whose resonance permeates the woodwinds and then the muted strings. The material swells, radiates and one last time introduces the notes of this motif in a shattered chorale taken on by the brass instruments. Then, with a certain urgency, the dazzling blue jets resume their frantic race. As they approach the Earth, the sound becomes increasingly abrupt and dry. Finally, a last tumultuous rumble, a final thunderclap: the storm breaks out.

Camille Pépin