- Après l’Aurore
- Capriccios (clarinet/accordion)
- Capriccios (clarinet/organ)
- Cérémonial
- Choral’s Dream
- Comme l’écho d’une fantaisie
- Ground I
- Ground II
- Ground III
- Ground IV
- Ground V
- Ground VI
- Introït à l’Office des ténèbres
- Le Bal
- Lettres mêlées
- Psalmodie à l’Office des ténèbres
- Scènes de bal
- Scènes d’enfant au crépuscule
- Short Stories
- Sopra la Folia
- Spring’s Dance
- Tango virtuoso (arr. for clarinets)
- Tango virtuoso
- Tanz-Fantasie trp & organ
- Tanz-Fantasie trp & piano
- Trio américain (“Suppliques”)
- Trois Intermezzi
- Variations gothiques
- Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra
- Concerto for Organ No. 1
- Concerto for Organ No. 2
- Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
- Concerto for Violin, Oboe and Orchestra
- Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
- Élégie
- Fantaisie concertante
- La Nuit des Chants (Concerto for viola)
- Le Chant des ténèbres (clar. & strings)
- Le Chant des ténèbres (solo sax & 12 sax)
- Miroir d’ombres
- Quatre Visages du temps (Concerto for Organ No. 3)
- Résurgences
- Scherzo fantasque
Chorus
1998
Clarinet, string quartet & piano
11 min
• World premiere: 22/03/1998, Envols festival, Lyon (
• Publisher: Gérard Billaudot.
• CD “Chorus” (Accord/Universal 476 1282).
Initially, there were two directions for this sextet: the first was to write a ground in the tradition of the English Renaissance; the second was to let myself go, making a piece inspired by Jazz improvisations. In fact, Chorus is the conjunction of the two. On the one hand, here one finds the descending chromatic bass characteristic of Purcellian grounds on which a certain number of variations are built; and, on the other, the more the piece advances, the more the presence of syncopated rhythms and rapid pizzicato ostinati make one think of jazz. Four linked sequences follow each other without a break: the first, during which the theme is in long values in the bass in an atmosphere both mysterious and immobile. Then tension and progressive agitation lead to the second, based on the persistence of a pizzicato ostinato round which the instruments seem to improvise. This ostinato progressively dissolves, making room for a third sequence in which steadier harmonies appear in the string quartet. Finally, after a slow transformation, a syncopated rhythmic motor forms again, bringing a particularly lively final section.
Thierry Escaich
Translated by John Tyler Tuttle