[ PORTUGUÊS ]
Christophe Desjardins, or the inventive interpreter
Interview conducted by Diana Ferreira in November 2005; translated by Catarina Martins
photography: Pierre Johan Laffitte
4/9
You are having a concert at Grame Institute (“White letter to C. Desjardins”), in Lyon.[1]
For that project I wanted pieces with electronics, pieces with viola and ensemble and pieces with viola and instruments from different musical instruments families. I also wanted to play both renowned composers and young composers. And that was agreed with the Grame Institute. I've chosen the renowned composers Philippe Manoury (but his première was postponed to next year [2007] for technical reasons) and Robert Pascal, who teaches composition at the Lyon Conservatoire. The young composers are Franck Bedrossian, which follows Lachenmann's line of work and has an approach that isn't much developed in France (and I'm interested in his electronics’ work), and Pedro Amaral. I asked him a piece without electroacoustics (therefore acoustic), but with a small group of instruments from different instruments families (strings, woodwind, brass and piano) [Luminescences, 2006], that would relate among them and with the viola. What I asked Pedro was to develop the idea (that is specific of the Contemporary Music) of original instruments' associations to create a world of sound, a world of relations that is new.
Do you often play pieces by composers that the audience doesn't know?
It's true that nowadays I have a stable musical relationship with composers well known by the audiences, like Emmanuel Nunes, Philippe Manoury, Michael Jarrell, Jonathan Harvey. But I'm also interested in discovering young composers, and working with them. Sometimes I work with them even closely because they have less experience with solo instruments, or less experience with the viola, or quite simply, less experience in writing. My experience helps them and allows them to make the piece closer to their musical project of composition.
And it also helps, because for a young composer it's great to have his piece played by someone known by the audience and that can help him launching his work.
I certainly hope so! [laughs]
How do you get to know young composers?
It varies. They can come to me, or I can meet them in different activities at the Conservatory or in workshops at the Paris Conservatoire or other institutions. For instance, I like to give a kind of master class with violists just to talk about the Solo Viola repertoire. And usually there are some composers that drop by to find out how I play the Prologue by Grisey, or the Sequenza by Berio, or the Sonata by Zimmermann, or the two pieces by Emmanuel Nunes, Einspielung III and Improvisation II - Portrait, ... that are already five major pieces from the Music History...
You've already performed in Portugal a few times. What do you think about the Portuguese musical scene?
I know four musical institutions in Portugal. The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is an absolutely mythic institution. It has a remarkable space, its own orchestra, a special relation with certain composers and an extraordinary programme. That was the first institution I got to know. On my first tour with the EIC – I still didn't had a permanent position, I was doing a replacement (it must have been in 1984) – we came to Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and it's a wonderful recollection.
The second institution I got to know was Centro Cultural de Belém, also in Lisbon, when that big Portrait by Emmanuel Nunes took place in...
… 2002.
Then there was the Opera, Teatro de S. Carlos, where I played the Portrait Feldman, in 2004. And the festival in Aveiro [Jornadas Nova Música]!
... Very small [laughs]
And now, of course, the new Casa da Música, that is magnificent.
But what do you think about music in Portugal?
Each time I played, solo or with the EIC, I had a very warm reception. The EIC, the French musicians, have a very favourable reception. We feel that there is a great respect to all we can bring. And I also have experienced working with Portuguese musicians from the Teatro de S. Carlos, including the choir, and the musicians from the Remix Ensemble. The Portuguese make contact with foreigners very easily, and I really like that. There's no arrogance. And I can sincerely say that I truly admire the organization of a festival like the one in Aveiro [Jornadas Nova Música], where a small group of composers puts an enormous amount of energy with so little means and such conviction.
[timid] Thank you.
... Those are striking experiences. [>]