Murail, Tristan - La Conquête de l'Antarctique

According to Tristan Murail, the title alludes to the optimistic modernist period of the 1920 and '30s - when the onde Martenot and other electronic instrurnents were born - a time in which in which artists like Delaunay, Léger and Dufy celebrated the triumph of new discoveries. lt is based on successive transformations of a low D-sharp, out of which the harmonic content progressively evolves. This is written from the whole frequency Spectrum tempered and non-tempered, underpinning the use of micro-intervals. Murail plays a lot on the ambiguity between different ways of playing: keyboard or ring, resonance from loudspeakers or resonances played.

Augustin Viard
Translation: Nadia Ratsimandresy

Recording

1 CD ReR, RERV1, Les Nuages de Magellan
Ensemble Volta