The year 2022 is off to a strong start for Graciane Finzi. Barely back from Stuttgart (Germany), where the 76-year-old composer went to supervise the recording of one of her works to be released in the spring, in a monographic disc published by the Arion label, she only has a few hours to breathe before leaving. First for Lorient (Morbihan), whose conservatory welcomes her in residence until June, then in various places in France, to present her Fancy Toccata (2015), as part of the High School Composers Prize.
Despite all these trips, it is not the kilometers that count, in the eyes of Graciane Finzi. “I just spent three months writing thousands of notes,” entrusts the one who benefits from another residence (at the conservatory of 6e arrondissement of Paris, until 2023) and who is aware of being much more in demand than most composers of his age. “You should know that I am very active”, she says humbly. In fact, “we” have known it for a long time, but we had to wait until the end of 2021 to discover a first CD, What if it all started again… (Arion), exclusively devoted to his works.
His music combines freedom of language and rigor of writing
The idea came from the violist Karine Lethiec, who, with her Calliopée ensemble, is one of the faithful interpreters of a music that combines freedom of language and rigor of writing. Graciane Finzi recognizes herself in this shortcut: “Making a big chord for fifty-two musicians can take me five or six hours before it sounds really balanced. » Nothing like the two new scores that will be created during the show A transfigured night, on January 18, at La Ferme du Buisson in Noisiel (Seine-et-Marne). Firstly because they will not be intended for an orchestra, but for a string sextet, then because the goal of the composer constitutes the trademark of the ensemble Des quilibres, called upon to play them.
very personal voice
A long-time interpreter of Graciane Finzi, the violinist Agnès Pyka asked her to take part in a multidisciplinary project on the theme of The Transfigured Night, d’Arnold Schoenberg. “It all started with a painter, David Thelim, some of whose paintings made a strong impression on me, reports the composer, especially those that represent beings without a face, but not without a personality. »
Confronted with the school of Vienna (Arnold Schoenberg, but also Alexander von Zemlinsky), Graciane Finzi did not let herself be carried away by the waves of post-romanticism. The sextet that will open the program tends towards organized chaos, while The land before being born, concluding piece, releases a sober lyricism.
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