Instrumentation: contrabass flute, bass clarinet, cello

Duration: 7 minutes

Year composed: 2017

First performance: Kamratōn: Sarah Steranka (contrabass flute), Emily Cook (bass clarinet), Cecilia Caughman (cello), Irma Freeman Center for Imagination, Pittsburgh, (PA), USA, May 7th 2017

Program note: Le soleil ne sait rien de l’ombre is developed around the idea of an interrupted palindrome distributed through the three instruments of the trio. The contrabass flute takes the lead in the beginning of the piece as the generative material. The bass clarinet and the cello will cast « shadows » of the flute and reconstruct the material, developing it at different speeds. This process of reconstruction/imitation is interrupted several times by « inserts » of different materials. These inserts represent moments of silence. They are not only recollections of the past, pulling from previous material, but also glimpses of the future. This piece is written for the ensemble Kamratōn and is a musical response to Etienne Rolin and his inspiring « Shadows Sextet ».

Le soleil ne sait rien de l’ombre – score sample