– Contrechamps sheds light on the poetic fragilities of Catherine Lamb
The ensemble plays “Muto Infinitas” at the 6 Toits, a piece for flute and double bass by the American composer.
Published today at 5:08 p.m.
American composer and violinist Catherine Lamb.
PHILIP FROWEIN
For his last subscription concert of the season, Reverse shots advances on tiptoe, with great discretion, armed with a fleet of instruments reduced to gasoline. The approach, Spartan in its means, nevertheless brings us closer to intriguing musical forms, which are at the heart of the double musical meeting, on Tuesday May 7 and Wednesday May 8. To 6 Roofsstronghold of the Geneva ensemble, it will be about a figure of contemporary creation, the American Catherine Lamb, and one of his emblematic pieces, “Muto Infinitas”. A long work – almost an hour – with a fragile, poetic and meditative feel, written for double bass and microtonal bass flute, in quarter tone.
Natural harmonics
We will hear what the composer’s explorations are made of, the approaches which, here as elsewhere, border on physics and an almost mathematical quest. Because Catherine Lamb has been probing the qualities of sound for a long time, she is interested in the perception we have of it by playing in a hybrid zone, where consonance and dissonance, melody and harmony, intersect and intermingle. A territory where timbres and instrumental textures merge to the point of confusing the listener. “Muto Infinitas”, with its long introduction and its suspended passages, takes us away from the tempered scale which dominates almost everything that the West has produced for eight centuries, and brings us closer to natural harmonics.
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“This sound investigation presents significant challenges for musicians,” notes the director of Contrechamps, Serge Vuille, by telephone. You have to get rid of a tradition, unlearn a lot, get rid of certain reflexes and adopt new techniques. Catherine Lamb explores questions related to just intonation and microtonal with the ensemble she founded. She often says that she creates white monochromes, which she makes absence and silence visible. Suffice to say that his music, which is increasingly popular with the public and performers, requires significant preparation. We can’t play it at any time or in any way. »
In Geneva, “Muto Infinitas” offers a perceptual experience that goes beyond musical fact as we usually understand it. Among the composer’s intentions is this: the idea that a melody can emerge slowly, among the layers of sounds, without the listener being aware of the moment when it begins.
“Muto Infinitas”, by Catherine Lamb, Ensemble Contrechamps, May 7 and May 8 at 7:30 p.m., 6 Toits. Rens. www. contrechamps.ch
Rocco Zacheo joined the editorial staff of the Tribune de Genève in 2013; he deals with classical music and opera and devotes himself, on an ad hoc basis, to literary news and disparate cultural events. Previously, he worked for nine years at the newspaper Le Temps and worked with RTS La Première. More informations
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