To Francis Dhomont

extrémités lointaines uses recordings I made during a four-week concert tour in Asia in the summer of 1997. I recorded city sounds, the music of churches and temples, and the songs of children in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. These unexpectedly rich sound worlds, quite different from ours, remain inscrutable even if they open doors for us.

For many years, I have been integrating vocal and instrumental sounds into my electroacoustic compositions with the esthetic concern to maintain the cultural context of the source. Even though in extrémités lointaines I use a wide variety of sounds resulting from travels through four countries, these connections remain very strong. The piece is structured in 15 sections describing different locations. The intensity of the impressions I experienced during the trip has resulted in a dense compositional structure.

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extrémités lointaines was realized in 1998 in the studios of Ina-GRM (Paris) and first performed in the original 8-channel version on 23 February 1998 during the Cycle acousmatique Son-Mu of GRM. The piece was commissioned by the French State (Music Office) and the Ina-GRM (Paris). extrémités lointaines has obtained a Mention in the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition (France, 1998) and a Distinction at the Prix Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria, 1998).

Premiere

• February 23, 1998, Cycle acousmatique Son-Mu 98: Concert, Salle Olivier Messiaen — Maison de Radio France, Paris (France)

Awards

• Mention, Studio Electroacoustic Music Prize, 25th Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition 1998, Bourges (Cher, France)
• Distinction, Computer Music, Prix Ars Electronica 1998, Linz (Austria)