To Sarah Nicolls

“Such is the life of a man. Moments of joy, obliterated by unforgettable sorrow. There is no need to tell the children so.” — Marcel Pagnol, My Mother’s Castle (1958)

Bull fighting disgusted me by principle, until I actually attended to a corrida: the smell of sweat, dust and blood, the cheers and the music, moreover the beauty of the ritual touched me deeply. And then, the bull in the arena as an allegory of life: one enters, is stirred up by the throes of destiny until one’s only possible end…

[ix-13]

Un clou, son marteau, et le béton [A Nail, Its Hammer, and The Concrete] was realized in 2008-09 at the composer’s studio and the studios of the University of Huddersfield (UK) and premiered by Sarah Nicolls on March 6, 2009 in Phipps Concert Hall of the Creative Arts Building of the University of Huddersfield. The piece was commissioned by Sarah Nicolls.

Premiere

• March 6, 2009, Sarah Nicolls, piano; Pierre Alexandre Tremblay, diffusion • Sarah Nicolls Presents Interactivity, Phipps Hall — Creative Arts Building — University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield (England, UK)