This song has such a mesmerizing blend of haunting and uplifting melodies.

Francesco Filidei : Ballata n.2, live in Strasbourg, 2012

Rescousse - Gerard Pesson (Sound Icon, Jeffrey Means, conductor)

Procession Fragments (2020) | Mvt. 6 - Torso
Written by Peter Kramer for Pala Garcia

To be featured on an album for release on New Focus Recordings in Fall 2023.

Artists: 
Pala Garcia, violin
Peter Kramer, piano
Chris Kincaid, audio engineer

Procession Fragments: 6. Torso

On the side of Bennachie, an overgrown hill in my hometown of Northern Aberdeenshire, there is an old standing-stone engraved with pictic and catholic imagery from the 8th Century. These engravings that cover both faces are miraculously well preserved, despite the standard weather of the Scottish coast. They contain fragments of the surrounding nature, culture, and a pictic folk tale that accompanies the stone’s origin. According to the legend, a young maiden, of no particular identification other than ‘daughter to a Laird’ (Lord) lived alone on the side of Bennachie and spent her time baking a local peasant dish called a ‘bannock’. One day a man enters her doorway unannounced and offers a wager: that he can pave a road to the top of the mountain before she can bake him a bannock. Shortly after accepting this offer, he returns victorious, revealing himself as the Devil, and chases her through the woods. When he catches up with the maiden and places his hand on her shoulder, she is instantly turned to the stone that remains on that mountain, hence the title, Maiden Stone.

I grew up not twenty minutes away from this public artefact and was always fascinated by its structure, its history, and its fantastical tale. It is one that remains unrecognised yet seemingly unfinished, undeveloped. As I’ve returned to the story throughout my childhood, several questions began to emerge concerning the elements of this stone and its story: Who is this Maiden? What is her femininity? Who is this Devil? What do these images mean? And what does this stone mean for the history of the pictic people?

To respond to these questions, I wrote four poems that draw from the illustrations on the East face of the stone (the one containing four detailed illustrations of rare pictic imagery) and set them to music by focusing on the Maiden as a symbol of grieving. In this regard, the stone is totemic and its engravings are epitaphic. ‘She’ is emblematic not only of the hill and its nature, but of the entire pictic culture and its decay. What I present in this work is my authentic relation to the stone, one concerning the question of language, and one that I hope will bring forth the history of my home and inspire further inquiry into the understanding of this remarkable stone and all that encompasses it.

Mirror and Comb

This duet is based on a motif from "Oiseaux tristes" (Sad Birds), a piano piece that was written over a century ago by Maurice Ravel. Not until late into the compositional process did I actually realize that I had been fostering these gloomy musical creatures inside my score... from then on, of course, I tried my best to console them ! 

Dedicated to AND recorded by Aves Duo :
Ambre Vuillermoz, Accordion
Elena Soussi, Piano
Tom Fougedoire, Sound Engineer

Oiseaux Gris [2022-23] - for Accordion and Piano

for piano, cello & piano
Live performance at Kunstraum Walcheturm, Zurich on 3.5.15

Gérard Pesson – Ne pas oublier coq rouge dans jour craquelé

Nocturne - for woodwind quartet (2013)

02/02/17 – Tallahassee, FL – Eolian (violin solo)
Florida State University – Benjamin Sung, violin

Program Note:
Eolian refers to the mode that is today commonly known as the Aeolian mode. The nature of this piece stems from the complex history of the Aeolian mode (all modes in general) and its etymology, mainly dealing with the concept of wind and erosion finding its roots in the name of the Greek god Aeolus "ruler of the winds". Structurally this solo is based on the prelude and fugue model of the baroque era. The opening prelude presents a sound world that is interrupted by wind-like gestures, and is in part inspired by the instrument known as the Aeolian harp, an instrument placed outside or at an open window whereby the strings are put into motion by wind alone. The concluding recitative and quasi fuga (canonic fugue) never fully generate into a traditional form, rather an antiphonal call and response between pitched dyads and wind-like gestures takes place, which is further eroded over the course of the piece. Eolian is part of the Melos Cycle for string quartet, in which a series of solos and duos are performed one after another (attacca), each based on a mode and the concept of its etymology and complex historical utilization.

Eolic "...was fittest for lyric verses, as having a particular sweetness mixed with gravity."
-Brossard Dictionary (1703)

Eolian (violin solo)

Broken Face 碎脸 - Soprano/Ensemble/Electronic

Kumi Uchimoto [piano], Giovanni Mareggini [flute]

Omaggio (fl, pno) 2011, Icarus Ensemble

GÉRARD PESSON (*1958, France)
CASSATION  (2003)   
for clarinet, piano, violin, viola, cello 
recorded live at Festival d'Automne à Paris by Radio France - 13 October 2008 by Radio France
Venue: Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Paris -France


Mirror and Comb

Gabriel Fynsk

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