Tristan Murail

Contes cruels

Contes cruels for two electric guitars and orchestra is not a double concerto per se: the guitars are stealthy intruders within the orchestra and give the cruel tales an unusual colour. The second guitar is therefore tuned a quartertone higher in order to reach a broader arsenal of overtones. Murail also uses ring modulators : an effect machine from the seventies - the years Murail slowly began to make his name as a composer. Contes cruels consists of a chain of expansive and reductive melodic motions: transparent colours which move towards and into one other contrast with gestures which approach each other only to jump back to their initial positions. Contes cruels refers to the stories of French writer Villiers de l'Isle-Adam. The form of Murail's work can also be summed up as a series of 'tales', even if the composer is quick to remind us that there is no question here of programmatic music. Sometimes, however, like in the beginning, the soloist plays a motive which Murail based on the words 'Il était une fois' (there was once). Murail also points to the story La secret de l'ancienne musique in a humourous way, says Murail : 'It is the bizarre story of a chinese hat player (the Chinese hat is a percusion instrument which consists in numerous little bells arranged around a central rod, and which is very difficult to prevent from sounding). The Chinese hat player is hired to play a solo part in a new piece by an avant-garde composer (of the XIXth century !) - his part consists of crescendos of silence. At the end of the concert, the player publicly protests against the novelty of the music, so vehemently that he falls into the bass drum, breaking its membrane and vanishing inside. An attentive listener will hear few humoristic allusions to this tale in my piece...' - Program note from the world premiere in Amsterdam (September, 28 2007 - Output Festival 2007)