To Elena and Sacha; a tribute to Stephan Dunkelman

A low, multichannel pulse gradually disintegrates — entropy always prevails — and is transformed into thunderous rumblings that encompass the listener.

Then it doubles, reminiscent of a heartbeat.

Vocal transformations, sometimes melodious, sometimes dissonant, draw us into their polyphonic metamorphoses, accompanied by rubbing, sliding and crumpling sounds which materialize the enduring presence. And there is this distant door that refuses to close definitively, that slams, but then opens again and again with a creak that sounds like a call.

Composed in September 2022 in Sandvika (Norway), staying in the very hotel where, in total isolation for COVID-19 in 2020, I learned incredulously of Stephan’s death, two days after that of another close friend, even younger, both taken taken far too soon by cancer.

And composed at night in this very theatre where we were unable to perform in 2020 with Cie Michèle Noiret because of my COVID.

Is it a coincidence that it is precisely this company that brings me back here today, revives my memories and reminds me of the state of disbelief I felt then? This same company was the occasion of my first artistic collaboration with Stephan, exactly 25 years ago, on the show < En jeu > for which we co-wrote the original music.

So many memories…

[ix-22]

Premiere

• September 13, 2022, Festival Loop 12: Concert hommage à Stephan Dunkelman, Le Senghor, Brussels (Belgium)