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SR 547CD
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Seen from the outside, Ensemble(s) is in a sense a kind of compilation of unreleased or rare pieces covering nearly three decades. Five essential pieces that count in the evolution of the Jean-Luc Fafchamps' writing. Post-spectral works that definitively position Fafchamps as one of the important European composers. It also weaves subtle links between him and Jean-Paul Dessy and Musiques Nouvelles, once created by Henri Pousseur. This disc is undoubtedly the best introduction to his work. Performed by Musiques Nouvelles. Conducted by Jean-Paul Dessy.
"At the instigation of Jean-Paul Dessy, the Musiques Nouvelles ensemble initiated all sorts of configurations to which I was often associated, and glad to be. This album is the journal of these criss-crossing collaborations: sometimes as part of the ECO (European Contemporary Orchestra) project, through which Musiques Nouvelles met the Ensemble Télémaque (from France) and Orkest de ereprijs (from the Netherlands) in a large orchestral formation; sometimes for a project produced with Art Zoyd (France); sometimes as a string ensemble or with Claire Bourdet as a soloist. I am glad to present, united in one album, such different periods, contrasting collaborations and multiple encounters not merely due to coincidence but also to affinities. May my style, and the story of my questionings, give a certain consistency to this ensemble of beautiful collaborations." --Jean-Luc Fachamps
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SR 445CD
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The third chapter in the Sufi Word's series. Jean-Luc Fafchamps on the release: "The Sufi Letters is a vast project of 28 compositions (for the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet) undertaken in 2000 and still ongoing. I am drawing inspiration from the symbolic charts found in Sufi mysticism. Each Letter is a sonic meditation on the frontiers of conscience and the paradoxes of time. Today's word, 'Du seuil' ('From the threshold'), is the third word to be released by Sub Rosa. It is a journey of sort through grief: stages of conscience, journey through hell, nocturnal anxieties, meditation, resilience. Do not worry too much though, for isn't it from the distance of death that one can shine the best light on life. Isn't all grief also a threshold?" H1KhH2WM (Du Seuil), a Five-letter Sufi Word features Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles, Centre Henri Pousseur; conducted by Jean-Paul Dessy. Includes 20-page booklet.
Jean-Luc Fafchamps is a pianist and composer. He studied at the Conservatoire in Mons and at Louvain University. A member of the Ictus Ensemble, he has taken part in many concert performances in large ensembles or chamber groups (performances of works by Lindberg, Reich, Aperghis, Mernier, Leroux, Harada, Francesconi, etc.) and in mixed performances, particularly accompanying dance -- multiple performances with Rosas (Anne-Teresa de Keersmaeker -- and theater -- several creations with Aperghis. He has made recordings for Sub Rosa -- with the Bureau des Pianistes and as a soloist -- of works by Bowles, Liszt, Feldman, Dallapiccola, Duchamp, Scelsi, and Berio and has contributed to numerous recordings with the Ictus Ensemble and has accompanied many singers.
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CD+DVD
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SR 397CD
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"In the pieces featured on this record, I have chosen simple electronic means -- the kind that are commonplace, accessible, cheap, and easy to use -- and I put them to work in a mostly-theatrical way: a situation of representation, one that is unique, new, and creative, where the focus lies in esthetics and poetics instead of in technological prowess. An imagination of otherness, where you don't know anymore whether the other is the soundworld produced out of time in the 'black box' of electronics or the musician -- or even the instrument itself -- pushed away, alienated, lost, despite the fact that there appears to be evidence of his/her/its physical presence." This CD contains Beth/Veth (2012), for piano, metallic percussion, and electronic installation, performed by Stéphane Ginsburgh (piano and percussion). The accompanying DVD contains Street Music for Plugged Viola (2009), a film by Manon de Boer with Vincent Royer (viola). DVD format is European PAL, region-free, stereo audio. Jean-Luc Fafchamps (born 1960) is a pianist and composer. He studied at the Royal Conservatory of Mons and Louvain University. A member of the Ictus Ensemble, he has taken part in many concert performances in large ensembles and chamber groups (performances of works by Lindberg, Reich, Aperghis, Mernier, Leroux, Harada, Francesconi, etc.), and in mixed performances, particularly accompanying dance (multiple performances with Rosas (Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker)) and theater (several creations with Aperghis). He has made recordings for Sub Rosa -- with the Bureau des Pianistes and as a soloist -- of works by Bowles, Liszt, Feldman, Dallapiccola, Duchamp, Scelsi, and Berio; has contributed to numerous recordings with the Ictus Ensemble (Francesconi, Aperghis, Lindberg, Harada, De Mey, Mernier, Harvey, etc.); and has accompanied many singers.
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SR 353CD
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"For me, to write for the piano, the instrument that led me to a career in music, is always to 'get back to' something: back to my first musical feelings, but also my first writing techniques, which were quite remote from my current aesthetical concerns. Back to the music pieces engrained in my fingers through practice; finally, back to the numerous hours of free improvisation of my lazy youth. In my case, the piano, this old buddy of mine, is not the medium through which I hoped to shine in front of other people. It is the tool I keep using to meet the music of my mentors and the music of my peers. Therefore, in essence, these Back To... are works about memory." --Jean-Luc Fafchamps
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SR 365CD
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"My second complete Sufi word -- or cycle -- consists of five contrasting letters -- or movements -- calling for various combinations of soloists [2, 3, 4, 5], instrumental ensemble [1, 3, 5], and real-time electronics [2, 4, 5]. It confidently extends a global poetic design made of a quest for meaning, a taste for extraordinary adventures, an interest in the perfume of mystical ecstasy, and the pleasure of carefully sculpting the time and shapes that make up writing." Jean-Luc Fafchamps initially devoted himself to writing for small groups in which the piano plays a central role ("Dynamiques," for two pianos; "Melencholia si...," for two pianos and two percussionists; "Neurosuite," for a keyboard trio), before his interest in non-tempered harmonies and polyphonies of timbres led him towards other sound combinations ("A Garden," for wind quintet; "Bryce," for clarinet quintet, etc.). He is currently moving towards working for larger formations in which his taste for paradoxical constructions and his sense of synthesis are blossoming into mutually referential pieces. He is working on the development of a vast network of cycles - the Lettres Soufies - a manifesto for writing, stylistic openness as rhetoric and the use of analog correspondences as the basis for a system: "T" for ensemble and electronics, "K" for orchestra, "A" for ensemble and orchestra, "Z3" for trombone and electronics, and so on.
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SR 313CD
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Belgian composer and pianist Jean-Luc Fafchamps initially devoted himself to writing for small groups in which the piano plays a central role (Dynamiques, for two pianos; Melancholia Si..., for two pianos and two percussionists; Neurosuite, for a keyboard trio), before his interest in non-tempered harmonies and polyphonies of timbres led him towards other sound combinations (a garden, for wind quintet; Bryce, for clarinet quintet, etc.). He is currently moving towards working for larger formations in which his taste for paradoxical constructions and his sense of synthesis are blossoming into mutually-referential pieces. He is working on the development of a vast network of cycles -- the Lettres Soufies -- a manifesto for writing, stylistic openness as rhetoric and the use of analog correspondences as the basis for a system: "T" for ensemble and electronics, "K" for orchestra, "A" for ensemble and orchestra, "Z3" for trombone and electronics, and so on. "In total darkness, or in a very large room, very quietly since 2000, I have been spending much time writing Sufi letters, despite the fact that I am not a Sufi, or even Muslim, and I do not speak Arabic. They are based on a Sufi chart connecting a vast system of symbolic interrelations to the 28 letters in the Arabic alphabet -- a sort of methodical summary of metaphorical and mystical thinking, as it has been drawn once by Sheikh Abul-Muwwayid of Gujarat (India) for incantations. So Sufi Letters is a common work process, not a cycle in the classical sense of the word. The pieces are written for different instrumentations, according to the needs of the selected letter and the vagaries of life, and the global project is not a priori-unified. Each letter is both unique -- and so could be performed on its own -- and deeply connected to all the other letters -- and as such designed to be combined and form words. Meanwhile, I am moving and changing, possibly maturing, certainly aging, and so this project also comes as a tale of initiation, to music and things. It took me ten years to write the first 13 letters and it is safe to say that I will probably need that much time to write the other 15." --Jean-Luc Fafchamps
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