In this section dedicated to contemporary music, you can listen to a selection of compositions of mine and read essays I wrote during my studies. A complete works list can be downloaded here.
1. Compositions
Toccata for organ (Paris, May 2012)
This Toccata for Organ is actually the second piece of a diptych for Organ whose first part is the Pastorale, premièred in 2008 by Francois-Henri Houbart in the Church of la Madeleine in Paris (and also available on this page). Joyful and rather influenced by American and English music, the Toccata contrasts with the Pastorale which is darker and in some way more French. It was composed in 2008 as well but had to wait a few years before Eric Lebrun premièred it on the 13th of May 2012 in the Church Saint-Antoine-des-Quinze-Vingts in Paris. Eric Lebrun’s recordings of the organ music of Cesar Franck, Jehan Alain or Maurice Duruflé are landmarks in my passion for organ music and it was very symbolic for me to have him choosing and performing one of my composition. This is the recording we made after the concert.
La Simplifiée – Sonate pour violon baroque et clavecin (Berlin, February 2012)
La Simplifiée (The simplified One) is a sonata for baroque violin and harpsichord inspired by the sonatas of Bach and Biber as well as Ligeti’s and Sciarrino’s musical discoveries. The French violinist Raphaëlle Pacault and the Finnish Harpsichordist Aura Visala premièred it on the 16th of February in the Kammersaal Friedenau in Berlin. The première occurred within the frame of a concert entitled “Upload II: Aus Alt mach Neu” consisting of contemporary pieces played on baroque instruments. This event was presented by the Berlin University of the Arts (UDK).
[This piece will be recorded in June 2012.]
Le Consensus (Berlin, May 2011)
A piece for two soprano saxophones I wrote for Christoph Enzel and Adrian Tully. The première occurred on the 24th of May at the BKA theater.
Germania an ihre Kinder (Berlin, April 2011)
This a composition for 3 female voices based on the poem “Germania an ihre Kinder” by Heinrich von Kleist. The poem was written in 1809 and is an agressive and lyrical call to arms against France and Napoleon. Lotta Hultmark, Kristina Elfversson and Sabine Eyer premiered the piece on the 2. of May in the Heinrich Böll Foundation to close an theater evening dedicated to Kleist. The work was commissioned by Miriam Sachs for the project Neunmalkleist wich celebrates the jubilee of the German writer and poet who died in 1811.
Prélude, Vocalise et Variation for organ (Berlin, November 2010)
A long organ piece that gave me many sleepless nights and shows my love for french organ music (Franck, Vierne, Dupré, Messiaen). The première by Matthias Schmelmer took place on the 7th of november 2010 in the Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche in Berlin.
Treffpunkte (Berlin, September 2010)
Treffpunkte is a set of 5 pieces the saxophonist Christoph Enzel and I composed for the festival “Ankunft: neue Musik”, the premiere occurred on the 4th of september. Christoph composed 3 duets for alto saxophone and electric guitar (5, 8 and 14) and I composed one for solo tenor saxophone and tape (Rotterdam) and one for solo electric guitar and tape (Bruxelles).
Here-below are the studio recordings of two of them:
14
Rotterdam
Les Chants de Pierres (Berlin, June 2010)
After reading Gaspard de la Nuit by Aloysius Bertrand, I started composing in 2009 a cycle of 5 pieces for carillon called Les Chants de Pierres (The songs of stone). It took several months and I never thought that the work would be played on a real carillion someday. The work was premiered on the 6th of June 2010 by Jeffrey Bossin at the carillion in Berlin-Tiergarten. Thanks to him for having been so dedicated and helpful.
I. L’Angélus
II. Au Gibet
III. La jeune Fille au Fuseau
IV. Les Lépreux
V. La Nuit froide et sombre
Le Malentendu (Berlin, January 2010)
this is a piece for two tenor saxophones I composed for Christoph Enzel and Carl-Emmanuel Fisbach. The premiere occured on the 26th of January 2010 in the BKA theater as a conclusion to their concert Tenor Madness. Here below is a recording made in January 2012 by Christoph Enzel and Adrian Tully.
Pastorale for organ (Paris, December 2008)
the première by Francois-Henri Houbart occured on the 25th of December 2008 a the église de la Madeleine during the Christmas organ concert. I would like to thank Francois-Henri Houbart and dedicate the piece to him. The piece has since been played several times by different organists in different places and the recording here below is by Matthias Schmelmer.
Musique florale et animale (Berlin, June 2008)
Like Inner Sea one year before, this piece was conceptualized as a sound installation but is a composition and not a soundscape. The title can be translated as “Floral-and-animal music” and the première occurred on the 27th of june in an exhibit called “Ist das ein Frosch?”.
Inner Sea (Berlin, June 2007)
Like many compositions of mine, Inner Sea has got mixed blood: it’s been produced as an electroacoustic piece designed for a surround installation but sounds more like an orchestral piece. This quiet piece evokes pictures but is no soundsscape as the narrative aspect remains strong. The première occurred on the 22nd of June 2007 at the Galerie Der Kuenst in Berlin during “lauf.werk . tmp . data.rescue”.
2. Essays
Here is an essay about Spectral Music, a music based on the inner properties of sound. Some kind of Rough Guide to Spectral Music.
As the cherry on the cake, here’s my dissertation about Spectralism. For those who like this fascinating topic, here are 73 pages of sheer pleasure. Just a little detail: it’s in french.
© 2006-2012 justin lepany
