This work, commissioned by the Paris Conservatoire as a competition piece for instrumentalists, holds a special, perhaps precursory place in the work of André Jolivet. The aesthetic is situated within the general trajectory of Jolivet’s work that began after World War II: a synthesis of a magical, incantatory style still under the direct influence of Varèse’s work of the 1930s and an attempt to create a more easily accessible music brought about by the war years.
Introduction and performing notes by Raphaël Dechoux. Musique française is a series designed for students and teachers as well as professionals. These editions offer masterworks in French music, with performance suggestions and historical and stylistic commentary by noted scholars.
