Ascionerie n^o 6: Fantaisie diabolique — the sixth and final installment in a series started in 2003 and entitled Figures de style — is about my growing awareness of a set of habits that are inextricably tied to how I approach the world of sounds and sound treatment, my tools, and the mannerisms that take a hold of me whenever I am composing. To a point where this has become the central issue in my work, like a necessity, the unavoidable yearning for an inner universe to explore… An essential date with sounds, colours, shapes, space…

And that is how this word, “Ascionerie” (“Ascioneism”), came about; it looked strange at first, but it quickly became self-evident, because it embodies what I think is important for a composer, what accounts for his personality: the awareness and mastery of his own peculiarities, style, language, and world…

So, for the sixth time, I have bowed to my own automatic processes and writing rituals, gradually identified through time, and perhaps to my failings too. This sixth piece is about temptation, but at a different level, since the only thing I gave in to was the temptation of resisting to temptation…

More specifically, Ascionerie n^o 6: Fantaisie diabolique is about the issue that arises between artistic research (and art in general) and everything the era (ie: the market or unscrupulous individuals herein represented by “the devil”) is trying to impose on the whole world!

Thus forcing artists to keep to the margins and grow disheartened there…

— Patrick Ascione [English translation: François Couture, ii-15]

Ascionerie n^o 6: Fantaisie diabolique [Ascionism No. 6: Diabolic Fantasy] was realized in December 2011 and January 2012 at the composer’s studio and premiered on January 21, 2012 as part of the Multiphonies series presented by the Ina-GRM at the Auditorium Saint-Germain of the MPAA (Paris, France). It was commissioned by the Ina-GRM. The recorded voice is that of the composer.

Premiere

• January 21, 2012, Multiphonies 2011-12: Akousma 4, Auditorium Saint-Germain — MPAA, Paris (France)