A concert in the Castle of Blois

A concert by the "Musiques d'avance" Ensemble in the Castle of Blois (Jean-Claude Dodin, conductor) on Thursday, November 19th, 2009

Blois is a touristic town in the Loire Valley, like Chambord and Cheverny, owing to its historic castle and green surroundings where forests and ponds mingle.

It is also a city where the permanent piano and violin duet of Cathy Cousin and François Goïc, well-known artists in festivals, remains faithful to Journeau's music for violin or for piano solo. A composer now adopted by the Conservatory of Music in Blois and his Head, Mr Jean-Claude Dodin, through his chamber music works (trio, quintets, sextet).

Yet the public there is now to discover another aspect of this 20 th century French composer: his attempt, in the fifties, to use the dodecaphonic way of writing. And this just as other composers of the time (such as Pierre Boulez, to quote the most famous one from this point of view) who inherited this new language from Arnold Schönberg. An Austrian composer whose leadership in this new method of writing and musical revival was heartily praised by Maurice Ravel himself in spite of all their differences.

Interesting samples of serial music will be thus offered by Mr Jean-Claude Dodin, as a conductor of the chamber orchestra "Musiques d'avance" in Blois with, naturally, a work by Schönberg: the famous, emblematic Pierrot Lunaire. So, we must thank him for conducting the Tableaux Abstraits op.43 for a strings ensemble, composed in 1957 and issued from the piano work of 1956 formerly performed by Hélène Boschi. In memory of Darius Milhaud, who gave the first performance of Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire, we shall hear La création du monde. And then, a piece by Marcel Dortort (b. 1935), a contemporary composer using recent musical techniques (serial, electroacoustic writing): L'Ecalure (I & II) for voice and clarinet"(2003) on poems by Erwan Rougé (first world performance).

(a commentary by Chantal Virlet)

For further information about Maurice Journeau's dodecaphonic music, you may consult Maurice Journeau, 1898-1999 (Séguier), ch. IV et V. For regional information: Office de Tourisme de Blois- Pays de Chambord.