Creation : 28/03/1992, Paris
Music and conception : Gilles Racot
Number of musicians : 6 percussionnists et electroacoustic sound
Duration : 20 mn
Commissioned by : Maison de Radio France and INA/GRM
Homage to the work of the painter Zao Wou-ki.
When I emerged from childhood I was deeply affected by the works of certain contemporary painters. They marked the beginning of my education in the visual arts and, in a far more personal way, became guidelines and represented an intersection where other areas of the imagination and awareness, such as that of music, confronted each other and merged together. The space and pictorial light in Zao Wou-Ki’s work, its play with transparency, fluidity, opacity, textures, emptiness and the energy the paintings suggest had a major influence on the direction my early musical compositions took and doubtless remain, albeit subconsciously, my guidelines. The title clearly has its roots in the painting style of the master and in the choice of percussion instruments whose playing techniques are particularly physical. Even though Subgestuel may not be an exact equivalent of the master’s works the piece, nevertheless, evokes certain artist’s gestures ; varied ranges of pitch with different intensity of energy that are concentrated, lashed, whipped, nervous, separated, scraped and smoothed out, « light, broad brush strokes ». The initial aim in writing the percussion parts was to move away from their role of « percussive » instruments and to compose in such a way as to render the sound more flexible, fluid and melodious. One of the aspects of work on the sound of the electroacoustic parts involvec accentuating and forcing the instrumental writing beyond the technical possibilities of the instruments, such as the speed at which certain passages were played, reducing harmonics, the line of phrases, etc…
Subgestuel is the second work written in homage to the work of a painter, the first being Noctuel (1987) for bassoon and electroacoustic sound in homage to the work of Pierre Soulages. Following the example of these two painters, who incidentally were close friends, the two compositions are very different in terms of the basic sound material and concept, event to the extent of being exact opposites and representing two complementary aspects of my work : one revolves around energy and movement while the other is an in-depth exploration of sound material.
Gilles Racot