Creation : 30/03/1979, “Perspectives du XXème siècle”, Palais des Arts, Paris, France
Musicians : 6 percussionists
Commissioner : Ministère de la Culture (Direction de la Musique)
Dedicated to : les Percussions de Strasbourg
Duration : 25′
In Greek, the title means: Air. In Latin: Bronzes. In addition, he assonates with Marae, another work written for the Percussions de Strasbourg in 1974. Aera is essentially based on the harmonic dimension and the superimpositions of time. This harmony has nothing to do with the functions within a tonal or modal system to which tradition has accustomed us. It is rather a play on colours resulting from the mixing of sounds as chemical components. The law that governs the movement of these components is that of an expansion that is always repeated, sometimes on a unanimous rhythm, sometimes on the superimposition of two to six different beats. The absence of ideas in the discursive sense of the term and the particular aptitude of the timbres used to short-circuit reflection in a way, situate “Aera” within the movement of sacred music, without the work however referring to Tibet or Bali. Through an immediate sensory action, it tends to create a particular lucidity, as foreign to hypnosis as to analysis. If the word “clairvoyance” had an equivalent in the realm of sound, one could say that this is what we sought to awaken.
François-Bernard Mâche