Joel-Francois Durand in the Mirror Land

“As if to illustrate the process of creation itself”: Joël-François Durand’s Lichtung

“AS IF TO ILLUSTRATE THE PROCESS OF CREATION ITSELF”: JOËL-FRANÇOIS DURAND’S LICHTUNG CHRISTIAN ASPLUND RITTEN IN 1986–7 for string quartet with alto flute, clarinet, horn, trumpet, piano, and contrabass on commission from the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Lichtung is one of a series of compositions that Durand wrote during the years 1984–91 exploring the dynamics of presenting essential thematic material at the end rather than the beginning of a piece. Instead of presenting a pair of ideas that are then developed in the middle, then returned to at the end, Lichtung reveals an essence at the end, after a complex clearing process pursued throughout the course of the piece. I. THE UR-CHORDS NARRATIVE This “essence” is a series of thirty-two pitch classes, called the “UrMelodie ” in Durand’s sketches (see Example 1).1 From this series, Durand W 184 Joël-François Durand In the Mirror Land generated thirty-two different series of chords that he called Ur-chords, numbered from U1 to U32 (Example 2). The U-number is more than an ordinal position in the collection of Ur-chords; it also indicates how many chords are in the series. U32 is actually the Ur-melody itself, consisting exclusively of monads. The Ur-melody folds in on itself in stages to form the successively shorter and denser Ur-chords from U31 (a succession of thirty-one dyads and monads), to U15 (a succession of fifteen trichords and dyads), to U11 (a succession of tetrachords and trichords), to U1, which is a single huge chord containing all twelve pitch classes. Durand uses this collection of chord series throughout the piece to generate melodies, chords, textures, and even rhythms, but it also guides the underlying form of the whole piece. Lichtung begins in pyramiding fashion, revealing the first Ur-chord (U1) at measure 2 (see Example 3). Its voicing is highlighted by an all-interval tetrachord, A 3/D4/G4/ E5 (Tn type [0256]), played by the winds and vibraphone, that foreshadows the fundamental structure both of the Ur-melody and of the entire piece. From this point until rehearsal letter Q (measure 176), the piano and percussion, often doubled by the strings, play a straightforward statement of all the Ur-chords in order from U1 to U32, as other material is played by other instruments. From measure 172, U32, or the Ur-melody itself, played by the piano, leads to a climax of a tutti U1 at measure 176 (see Example 4).2 This is followed by Ur-chords U2 through U8 in rapid succession, as tutti simultaneities. Then, beginning with U9 in measure 185, the Ur-chords begin to splinter into multiple strata, divided among different instrumental groups. This proliferation reaches an apex at measure 193, where U19 (violin and cello), U20 (flute and clarinet), U21 (trumpet and bass), and U22 (viola and horn) appear simultaneously in different irregular subdivisions of the beat. From that point on, the textural complexity thins, little by little, until measure 203, where the violin begins a frenetic transposed version of U31, almost as if in defiance of something—a gesture that continues until the last few notes of the piece. In measure 209, the flute and horn begin the final statement of U32: the essence that is uncovered. This melody is exposed in long notes with varying unison orchestrations in the winds, while the violin, accompanied by its less & U32 œ œ b œ œ n œ œ œ # œ # œ œ # œ # œ n œ œ # œ # œ # œ n œ œ # œ œ # œ # œ œ œ # œ œ œ n œ # œ œ œ # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 EXAMPLE 1: DURAND, LICHTUNG: UR-MELODIE ♭ “As If to Illustrate the Process of Creation Itself ” 185 E X A M P L E 2: L I C H T U N G : T H E T H I R T Y T W O S E R I E S O F U R C H O R D S 186 Joël-François Durand In the Mirror Land EXAMPLE 2 ( CONT .) “As If to Illustrate the Process of Creation Itself ” 187 EXAMPLE 2 ( CONT. ) 188 Joël-François Durand In the Mirror Land EXAMPLE 2 ( CONT. ) “As If to Illustrate the Process of Creation Itself ” 189 urgent partner, the viola, is sawing...