"Disiecta Membra" (2014)
for six voices

Live Recording 
February 5th 2015 
Festival ECLAT Theaterhaus Stuttgart
Neue Vocalsolisten

Disiecta Membra, latin for “scattered fragments” is an expression used to refer to surviving fragments of ancient poetry, manuscripts and other literary or cultural objects, but can also literally means "scattered limbs" or "scattered members". 
The membra this piece is dealing with are the different cuts of Grunnius Cocotta, the imaginary pig whose last wills are summoned in the Testamentum Porcelli, a parodic middle-age text. The short excerpt of this text that I decided to use is an inventory of twelve body parts that the pig, right before being slaughtered, bequeaths to twelve categories of will beneficiaries.

Et de meis visceribus dabo donabo sutoribus saetas, 
rixoribus capitinas, 
surdis auriculas, 
causidicis et verbosis linguam, 
bubulariis intestina, 
isiciariis femora, 
mulieribus lumbulos, 
pueris vesicam, 
puellis caudam, 
cinaedis musculos, 
cursoribus et venatoribus talos, 
latronibus ungulas

[And from my body I shall give and contribute to the cobblers my bristles, to quarrelers my head-parts, to the deaf my ears, to lawyers and the wordy my tongue, to sausage-makers my intestines, to makers of meat products my thighs, to women my little loins, to boys my bladder, to girls my tail, to poofters my muscles, to runners and hunters my ankles, to brigands my hooves]
	
One can easily draw a comparison between this parodic list and the amass of dismembered bodies of saints that (still) populate catholic churches all around Europe. 
Mikhail Bakhtin in his “Rabelais and his time” elaborated the concept of grotesque body and wrote extensively about these holy remains: 

"At the time of Rabelais ridicule relics were quite common, especially, of course, in the Protestant satire […]
Dismembered body of the saint in medieval literature has repeatedly given rise to grotesque images, and transfers. In one of the best medieval parody travesties - in "Treatise Garcia" (1099), the hero, a wealthy Simonist archbishop of Toledo, brings to Rome as a gift the miraculous relics of holy martyrs Rufus and Albina […] "… from the kidneys Albina, from the innards Rufina, from the stomach, from the back, from the backside, from the edges of chest from the legs, the hands, from the neck. What else? - From all the members of both bodies of the martyrs. " We see that already in the XI century relics gave rise to a purely grotesque anatomy of the dismembered body"

While the catalog of pig cuts of the Testamentum has a direct influence on the form of the piece - which is indeed a catalog of short pieces, each related to a different body part -, this reference to relics is suggested by the use of several musical quotations issued from Membra Jesu Nostri, the famous set of seven cantatas by Dietrich Buxtehude, which is also a catalog of limbs: feet, knees, hands, side, breast, heart, and head. Curiously enough, what is considered to be the first Lutheran oratorio has the form of a massive immaterial reliquary for a body that left no material remains. 

The contrast between this longing for the absent flesh and the carnavalesque exuberance of the Testamentum was the basic source of inspiration for the composition of Disiecta Membra. 


Mauro Lanza - "Disiecta Membra" (2014)

piece for chamber choir / 24 singers
composed to a poem of the same name 
by Serbian poet Vladislav Petković Dis (1880 - 1917)
Performed by: Latvian Chamber Choir
Conductor: James Wood
Recorded during TENSO days in Nova Gorica (SLO)

Nirvana (2017) - for chamber choir

Carlo Siega, electric guitar

versione integrale, Milano, 30.112019

La Sola Distanza 2015 (rev. 2019)

In una e Lei (2018)

Acousmatique 4
Quadriphonie

Version stéréophonique, Mars 2019
© 2019 Samir Amarouch

Acousmatique 4, Quadriphonie | 2019 • mix stereo

discomedusæ -  for Totem (radiation control multi-loudspeaker device), ensemble (11 instruments) and loudspeakers.
Stereo mix down.

Conductor: Rut Schereiner
Sound engineer: Jean-Marc Lyzwa

Recorded at CNSMDP, 13.3.2020.

discomedusæ (excerpt)

Little Tommy and themselves - pour 8 musiciens et jouets (2020)
Créée par: l'Ensemble Intercontemporain & Simon Proust

(excerpt: 3AM - the gathering, 3:30 - the grumpy-talk)

Notice:

Invitation

Cher(e) Madame/Monsieur,
Toutes nos félicitations !  

Vous avez été sélectionné(e) pour assister ce soir au rassemblement nocturne de «Little Tommy et eux-mêmes» où les jouets prennent vie la nuit pour discuter de toutes sortes des choses pendant que les bons enfants rêvent de moutons.
Le porte-parole de ce soir est notre favori de longue date, le vieux caneton grincheux. 

Le programme est le suivant :
					02h00 - ouverture des portes, introduction
					03h00 - rassemblement 
					03h30 - discours suivi d’un débat

À 05h00, il vous sera demandé d'assister au rituel de l’aube : la cérémonie de clôture. Les jouets doivent retourner à leurs places avant que les enfants ne se réveillent.

Attention ! Assurez-vous d'éteindre vos téléphones et de garder le silence pendant le rassemblement. Nous ne voulons pas effrayer les jouets. Comme vous le savez, ils ne prennent vie que lorsque vous êtes endormis.

Little Tommy and themselves (excerpt)

Intégrale sur toutes fréquences

Ce titre suscite plusieurs sens : la transformation de Fourier, le bruit blanc, le glissando. J’ai synthétisé les prises de son des objets du quotidien, des sons numériques, et des enregistrements de mes pièces instrumentales. J’ai intégré ces éléments disparates à travers un spectre de couleurs.

 EN

Integration Over All Frequencies

This title refers to several things: the Fourier transformation, white noise, the frequency sweep.  I fused recorded sounds of ordinary objects, synthetic sounds, and recordings of my instrumental pieces.  I integrated these elements together, weaving through all their different colours.

∫(~)∂f | remix nov 2020

Electronica B • Minor Crush

for Microtonals Accordions ©Xamp
Electric Guitar, Amplified Harpsichord, 
Piano, 3 Percussions, 3 doublebass,
& Wind Ensemble (with NO electronics)

For my beloved friends <3
Tribute to Mark Fell

Conducted by Julien Leroy
With Duo Xamp (F.Vicens & J.-E.Sotty)
R.Reber (Guit.), P.Hattat-Colin (Pno.),C.-U.Kim(Clav.),
& Musicians from the CNSMDP Orchestra
Live Recording by Jean Marc Lyzwa 18th September 2020
Paris CNSMDP
Edit & Mix Samir Amarouch
Master Charles D. Wajnberg

Electronica B • Minor Crush , for 21 musicians | 2020 • J. Leroy

Taken from the album 'De Natura Sonorum' released as 2LP
Premiered at the Salle Wagram in Paris on 3rd June 1975.

Little Tommy and themselves (excerpt)

nini

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