http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmVS
This Friday, we will play Luc Ferrari’s ‘A la recherche du rythme perdu’ in our new series News from the Front. Here is a brief description of this piece, and a clip from YouTube:
‘“It is a rather complex affair, if, as the title suggests, one gives the matter a minute’s thought. First came in 1972 a composition entitled ‘Programme commun pour clavecin et bande magnétique’ (Common programme for harpsichord and tape) created and played many times by Elisabeth Chojnacka. Then, in 1978, the same tape was used for another score entitled ‘A la recherche du rythme perdu’ (Searching for the lost rhythm) for piano, percussion and tape, which was always played without percussion. Last came in 1989 this recording that profits by the active participation of a tambourine player (this instrument takes the percussion role). This ‘rocambolesque’ story tells the interesting adventure (thus the title: Reflection on writing) of a score and a magnetic tape that gave birth to several ‘compostions’. ’A la recherche du rhythme perdu’ is truly linked to oral tradition, i. e. speech replaces writing. And even though the code still exists, it isn’t there anymore to point to the score, but rather as an appeal to musical intuition. The same for the rhythm – a body becomes animated with a rhythmic reality through all those slight variations which do not appear in the score. This is what the title points to. As for the sound and the story it tells, it’s up to the listener to find his way.’
(Source: Luc Ferrari ‘A la recherche du rythme perdu’.)