Éternelle, Inassouvie… I (2012)

Notes:

Éternelle, Inassouvie is a series of three independent works. The first one is for clarinet and piano, the second one for viola and double bass, and the third one for two percussionists (which eventually appeared a few years later with the title ASC-2.1-III15).

All of them are, in fact, solo works written for two performers. The two instruments do not compete against each other, they do not follow independent lines of counterpoint, the do not have dialogues, and they do not have primary or secondary functions. What they do is that they are one force, seamlessly interwoven, they support each other with independent sounds and gestures and therefore they equally contribute into the synthesis of the total.

The principle musical idea of Éternelle, Inassouvie I is a high-pitched color trill in the clarinet that goes in tandem with an arpeggiated gesture in the piano, and interrupted by abrupt and violent passages. This idea, presented in the very beginning of the work, is constantly varied, developed, and transformed aiming to give the sense of an eternal repetition which never fulfills my unquenchable desire for listening to it.

À la très chère, à la très belle
Qui remplit mon coeur de clarté,
À l'ange, À l'idole immortelle,
Salut en l'immortalité!

Elle se répand dans ma vie
Comme un air imprégné de sel,
Et dans mon âme inassouvie
Verse le goût de l'éternel …

Charles Baudelaire
(1857/Fleurs Du Mal)