Music

Cubic Symmetries is a cycle for felt piano and electronics in six movements — Faces A through F — each a distinct perspective on shared material. The electronics are derived entirely from the piano itself through analysis and resynthesis. Face B is among the more concentrated of the six, its material compressed into just over three minutes.

Instrumentation — Piano, electronics

From the same cycle. Face E sits near the end of the sequence, the material by now transformed through its passage across the preceding movements.

Instrumentation — Piano, electronics

The culminating movement of Cubic Symmetries — nearly five times the length of any other face. Where the earlier movements compress and concentrate, Face F opens outward.

Instrumentation — Piano, electronics

A work that explores the expressive range of the piano through a simple song form, with harmonic roots in American hymn tradition. Direct in material, unhurried in temperament — a deliberate departure in both style and form.

Instrumentation — Piano solo

Commissioned by Art Zoyd Studios, premiered by Nadia Ratsimandresy at the Why Note Festival in Dijon, November 2015. The title carries a dual meaning: the wake left by a body passing through water, and the vigil kept for the dead. Sound samples taken from recordings of the ondes Martenot are analysed and resynthesised to form the harmonic and structural material. The work was composed in the shadow of the ongoing deaths in the Mediterranean and the Channel.

Instrumentation — Ondes Martenot, electronics

Written during a long stay in the Alps, Lointains — a painting term for the backgrounds of landscapes — explores the way perspective transforms familiar terrain into something entirely foreign. The formal models, built with the Patchwork computer-aided composition software, apply sinusoidal interpolation and FM/ring modulation to create harmonies corrected to the nearest semitone. Composed under the influence of Gérard Grisey's algorithms, though in pursuit of its own logic. First performed by Andrew Russo at the MANCA Festival, Nice, 2001.

Instrumentation — Piano solo

Written for pianist Guy Livingston while working at IRCAM in Paris. Livingston's voice was recorded and subjected to analysis and resynthesis — most of the electronic material derives from this transformation. The complete phrase 'What if I just said stop' is gradually revealed across the piece, the word 'stop' heard only at the end. Released on Don't Panic! 60 Seconds For Piano (WERGO WER 6649 2).

Instrumentation — Piano, electronics

Commissioned by Antigone, the independent Parisian literary and arts revue, this work takes its title from a moment that precedes Camus — the simple, poetic image of Sisyphus finally at rest. Extended flute techniques are used not as surface effect but as narrative device, tracing the contours of the myth. The score was subsequently taken up by flautist Pierre-André Valade for his collection with Éditions Henry Lemoine, Paris.

Instrumentation — Flute solo

Written for Ensemble SIC while at IRCAM. Several people close to the composer were asked to write a short text based on the word and idea of drifting. Their voices were recorded, and the rhythmic and harmonic data extracted from those recordings was used to generate the musical material for each section. Premiered Paris, Théâtre de Renard, 1997.

Instrumentation — Violin, viola, violoncello