"Soap Opera : Journal d'un disparaissant" raconte, à la première personne et en 16 miniatures, l'histoire d'un savon qui ignore sa condition évanescente : il aime nager, se cacher dans le bain, est amoureux de sa maîtresse, jaloux du gant de toilette et ne comprend pas pourquoi il perd constamment du poids. Bien sûr, ça finira mal. Comique, certainement, mais aussi étrangement touchant : une sorte de métaphysique de l'article de toilette. Trente-cinq minutes de fantaisie et une métaphore pour la relation de l'homme avec la mort. 
Enregistrement de la création avec Robert Expert, contre ténor, et Laurent Cuniot dirigeant l'ensemble TM+.

"Soap Opera: the diary of one who disappears" is a 35 minute song cycle for countertenor and chamber ensemble (fl, cl, vn, vc, pno, perc). Here in its French version, Soap Opera relates, in 16 miniatures, the story of a bar of soap who ignores his own ephemeral condition: he likes to swim and hide in the bath, is in love with his mistress, resentful of the washcloth, and doesn't understand why he's exiled on this uncomfortable soap dish or always losing weight. Of course, it ends badly...  Comic but also strangely affecting, the piece is a sort of metaphysics of toiletries which stands as a metaphor for man's relationship with death.
This is the recording of the live premiere in Nanterre in May 2010, with Robert Expert (countertenor) and the TM+ Ensemble conducted by Laurent Cuniot.

Soap Opera, for countertenor & ensemble

Chamber Music - Musique de Chambre

Sur un poème de Paul Verlaine. Roxane Chalard, soprano; Yoan Hereau, piano. CNSMDP, 30 Mars 2013

La lune blanche

In the vast forests
Of the dark and Maluku islands
Lives the Spotted Cuscus
In laziness and shade.

Its fur is wooly and long
Of the color of chickpea
It doesn't own a house
Because the Cuscus is not rich.

It eats simply:
Finds banana to its liking
And the pulp of sago
(succulent Malukan fruit).

With its hooked tail
It hangs from low branches
All day long without making a sound
It hangs, swaying its hips.

To catch the Cuscus
No need for a bow and arrow
Nor a three shooter rifle
Or even a fishing cane.

It's enough to get near
Its red eyes in the dark
And fixedly fix it
It pisses of fear and falls down.

Le Couscous Tacheté

A duet for cellos inspired by a poem by W. B Yeats

Dancing

A duet for cellos inspired by a poem by Rabindranath Tagore.

Offering

A duet for cellos inspired by a poem by Fernando Pessoa

Playing

Cello Duet, consisting mostly of an inverted canon.

Meditating

Missa Brevissima (Commande de Radio France) par le choeur de Radio France dirigé par Sébastien Boin. Enregistrement du 2 avril 2014 au Studio 101 à la Maison de la Radio.

Missa Brevissima (Commission from Radio-France) by the Radio France Choir under the direction of Sébastien Boin. April 2 2014 recording.

Missa Brevissima

The middle movement of Stringware (1996). Performed here by Rebecca van der Post, Julia Wedman, Heide Sibley, violins; Mark Newman, viola; Corina Reeves, Alexa Muhly, cellos; Edgar Meyer, Bass; Philippe Bodin, conductor. Recorded at the Banff Center.

Le mouvement médian de Stringware (1996), avec Rebecca van der Post, Julia Wedman, Heide Sibley, violons; Mark Newman, alto; Corina Reeves, Alexa Muhly, violoncelles; Edgar Meyer, contrebasse; Philippe Bodin, direction. Enregistré au Banff Center.

Switch, for seven strings

In the immense forest
Of the islands Moluccan and tenebrous
Lives the Spotted Cuscus
In shadow and laziness

Cuscus, Cuscus
O, red-eyed Cuscus
Beware of everyone
Of everything that moves.

His coat is long and laniferous
Of the color of chickpea
He does not own a house
For the Cuscus is not wealthy.

Cuscus, Cuscus
O, red-eyed Cuscus
Beware of everyone
Of everything that moves.

His diet is quite vanilla: 
He likes a banana
And the marrow of sagu
(exquisite fruit from Maluku).

Cuscus, Cuscus
O, red-eyed Cuscus
Beware of everyone
Of everything that moves.

With his hooked tail he’s bound
Himself to low branches
All day long without a sound
He hangs, wiggling his haunches. 

Cuscus, Cuscus
O, red-eyed Cuscus
Beware of everyone
Of everything that moves.

To capture the Cuscus
No need for bow and arrow
Or a rifle with three-shots
Nor even a fishing rod.

Cuscus, Cuscus
O, red-eyed Cuscus
Beware of everyone
Of everything that moves.

One simply creeps up to his
Red eyes when the light is dim
And fixedly fix him
He pisses himself and tumbles down.

Cuscus, Cuscus
O, red-eyed Cuscus
Beware of everyone
Of everything that moves

Le Couscous Tacheté

The Jerboa

The Jerboa awakens
In her bed of sand
Shakes the sand off her fur
With her sand-colored paws 
Washes her white-sand belly
Washes her grey-sand back
Dips her paws in her bowl of milk
Licks them



The sun rises like a big orange
Over the desert’s sands
A ray of sunshine
Tickles the whiskers
Of the Jerboa



The Jerboa sits
On her red-sand tail
Places a Muscat grape between her teeth
Sinks her lower incisors
In the tender flesh
Of the grape 
Slides her tongue on her teeth
For 7 minutes
To drink all the juice



The Jerboa takes her school bag
Kisses her jerboa mother
Takes a run up
Rushes off on the sand
In 7 seconds she runs across
The Sahara
Algeria
The Mediterranean sea
Provence
Burgundy
Champagne
And the department of Oise.

La Gerboise

The Hare sleeps with open eyes
While clicking his jaws
This makes his ears quiver
And constantly he awakens

In the spring the Hare is silvery
The Hare varies frequently.

The Hare eats clovers
Dwarf-willows, other flowers
And the bark of the daphne
Which makes his nose tickle badly

In the summer the Hare is russet
The Hare is often varied.

The Hare goes for a saunter
Hopping along in the salads
He follows the hay carts
Gleaning the blades, but from afar

In the fall the Hare is ginger
Again he has changed his color!

The Hare has fled the hunter
In the burrow of some groundhog
Choosing that of the fox 
Would have been a grave blunder

In winter the Hare is white
The Hare varies all the time.

Le Lièvre Variable

With his hippopotamus’s head
With his fish’s fin
He has been spotted often
Lazily lyin’
At the bottom of the sea 
He tears out with his fat lips algae
And chews on them calmly.


Dugong! Dugong!
Move on, eh, Dugong!


What? Heart wrenching moans?
What? Wails? What are these sounds
That come to us in the monsoon
That blows over the Indian ocean?
Those groans that emanate 
From the Dugong? It’s because he’s out 
Of algae. He’j gonna have tcho relocate.

Le Dugong

(waking up)

From the black night the sun gets out
Of his bathtub the Sheep climbs out
He eats a pear yogurt.
Before going to the market
He slips on his pink Bermudas
A dubious choice I must confess
For a Fat-Tailed Sheep.

(the Sheep at the office)

The sun makes a massive effort
The Sheep sweats everything he’s got
And although down the blind he brought
The heat keeps coming hotter than hot
It’s that we are in Uganda
Country far away from Persia
Motherland of the Fat-Tailed Sheep.

(the Sheep at the office, continued)

The sun really exaggerates
The Sheep swelters, drips, and sweats 
While another call he awaits
On the phone with the Malacca Straits
The sweat soaks his agenda
This will help me lose some weight
Thinks to himself the Fat-Tailed Sheep.

(the nap)

The sun finally goes more quiet
The Sheep thinks about his diet
Maybe a cracker? Some Gouda?
Alas he goes in his kitchenette
Where is bewitched by the chocolate
Then under the veranda
He sinks into a heavy sleep
Unfortunate Fat-Tailed Sheep.

(the evening)

The sun finally relents 
The Sheep goes to the club to dance
Between his hooves the doe he takes 
At her with his eyes aglow he gapes
And says “do you like Dalida?”
Surprising choice I must admit
For a Fat-Tailed Sheep.

(the return)

The sun sleeps in the black night
The Sheep is filled with despair and blight
The doe in shame cast him out
She said “wow, what an idiot!“
While taking off with the panda
It’s very hard I do concede
To be a Fat-Tailed Sheep.

Le Mouton à Grosses Fesses Treble Choir and Woodwinds Sextet

troc

2019 rendering of Le Mouton à Grosses Fesses by the Vancouver Chamber Choir conducted by Kari Turunen, to whom the piece is dedicated.

Le Mouton à Grosses Fesses Vancouver

A 6 voice motet about Saint-Martin of Tours. SSATBB, piano or chimes optional.

Motetus in Laude Sancti Martini

Hors emballage
Lumière! Lumière! Oh, cet affreux papier qui me retenait prisonnier a été déchiré: lumière! Mon parfum s’élève, mes formes se révèlent. Et l'eau, l'eau: quelle merveilleuse invention! Et ses mains, ses mains! Ô douceur, volupté! Oh, je suis heureux! Quelle vie merveilleuse que la mienne!

Out of the wrapper
Light! Light! Oh, this dreadful paper that kept me prisoner has been torn: light! My perfume rises, my curves are revealed. And the water! Water: what a marvelous invention! And her hands, her hands! Oh what softness! How voluptuous! Oh, I am happy! What a wonderful life I have.


SOAP OPERA: Hors Emballage

Mal rasé
Mal dormi: passé la nuit à réfléchir sur un lit de picots de plastique. Pourquoi m'a-t-elle donné cette couche inconfortable? Que lui ai-je fait? Ne fonds-je pas pour elle? Ne moussé-je pas assez? Je ne comprends pas. Quelle est la raison de cette punition? Je sais que les Indiens se complaisent à ces pratiques barbares… et encore, pas tous! Seuls les fakirs trouvent satisfaction à s'allonger sur ces tapis de clous. Non, décidément, je ne comprends pas.

Badly shaven
Couldn’t sleep a wink: spent the night on a cot of plastic pins. Why did she give me this uncomfortable bed to sleep on? What have I done to her? Don’t I melt for her? Is my lather too thin? I just don’t understand. What can be the reason for this punishment? I have heard that some Indians delight in such barbaric practices… but anyway, not all of them! Fakirs alone could find pleasure in lying down on those carpets of nails. No to tell the truth, I just don’t get it.


SOAP OPERA: Mal Rasé

Pensées érotiques
Ses seins! Oh, ses seins! Je ne savais pas que le monde pût contenir pareils trésors... Oh, splendeurs! Je ne me lasserai jamais de les caresser. Rien que d'y penser, je mousse!

Erotic thoughts
Her breasts! Oh, her breasts! I just did not know that the world could hold such treasures... Oh, splendor! I will never tire of caressing them. Just thinking about it, I foam!


Pensées Erotiques

La tactique du savon
Aha! Quel tour je lui ai joué ce soir! Dans le bain, je me suis caché longtemps. Ah! j'ai bien dû passer dix minutes à me dérober (je retiens facilement mon souffle). Je voyais sa main me poursuivre, et je m'échappais, virevoltant. Ah! Ça me vient vraiment tout naturellement. Il faudra le refaire. 

Soap’s tactic
Aha! What a trick I played on her tonight! In the bath, I hid for a long time. Ah! I must have spent at least ten minutes hiding (it’s so easy for me to hold my breath). I could see her hand sweeping for me, and I was always escaping, swimming further… Ah! It comes so naturally to me. We’ll have to do it again.


La tactique du Savon

Un ennemi
Rencontré le gant. Je ne l'aime pas! Il me regarde de haut. Enfin, de haut, c’est beaucoup dire, comme il est vautré dans l’eau à longueur de journée… C’est un mou, un fainéant. Et puis, vraiment, cette couleur... Enfin, tous les goûts sont dans la nature, je suppose. Ah! Et cette voix ridicule! Il se croit important, il pontifie, il glose! Et puis, ce regard embué, cette peau pustuleuse, il fait horreur. Et puis, vraiment, quel imbécile! Ne voit-il pas combien je suis indispensable? Qu'il n'est rien sans moi? Qu'on peut très bien se passer de lui. D'ailleurs, ça arrive souvent. 

An enemy
Met the washcloth. I don’t like him! He looks down on me. Well, look down, that’s only an expression, as he lies around all day halfway sprawled in the water. Such a lout, a lazybones. And really, that color… Well, it takes all sorts I suppose. Oh! And this ridiculous voice! Thinks he’s important, pontificates, preachifies! And that dank expression, that pocked skin: he’s repulsive. And really, what an ass! Can’t he see how indispensable I am? That he’s nothing without me? That we can very well manage without him. And that indeed it happens often.


SOAP OPERA: Un Ennemi

Confession
J'ai confié au gant que j'étais amoureux d'elle! Il s’est moqué de moi: “Mais, mon pauvre garçon, vous êtes tous amoureux d'elle, et pourtant, vous ne durez pas longtemps. Aucun de vous ne dure.” Qu'a-t-il voulu dire par là? Il y en aurait eu d'autres avant moi? Et ils n’ont pas duré? C'est parce qu'ils n'ont pas su s'y prendre, parce qu’ils n’ont pas su la tenir amusée, la tenir propre et parfumée. Avec mon parfum, elle me gardera. Avec ma douceur, je saurai la convaincre. Je vaincrai. J'en suis sûr.

Confession
I told the washcloth that I was in love with her! He made fun of me: “But my poor boy, you are all in love with her, and yet you don’t last long, none among you last.” What ever could he mean by that? Have there been others before me? And they didn’t last? Probably because they could not keep her amused, keep her clean and perfumed. With my fragrance, she will not part with me. With my softness, I will convince her. I will vanquish. Of that I am sure.


Confession

A ten minute piece for 'Pierrot' ensemble written in 2000 on commission from the Da Capo Chamber Players. This is the live premiere.

PEAL

Inspired by the last page of Albert Camus' eponymous novella and composed for the Empyrean Ensemble based in Davis, California, La Femme adultère evokes the physical, emotional, and metaphysical encounter of a woman with the Sahara during a cold winter night. This composition relies on this notion of suspended time that I cherish so and is found in so many of my pieces: st(r)ay, stretch, chains, pools, etc.. The piece starts in aridity and solitude, goes through passion and ecstasy before culminating in renouncement and loss of self.

La Femme adultère, for string quartet & percussion

Composed in the Fall of 2005, vers le bleu - vers le rouge is a study about acceleration and deceleration. Everything, starting with the title is about perceived speed: redshift and blueshift are terms used in astrophysics to describe the shortening or lenghtening wavelengths of the radiations of stars or galaxies as they move away from (rouge/red) or towards (bleu/blue) us. Without trying to be too descriptive or hung up on these concepts, I wrote a piece where the material doesn’t sit still, constantly evolving in some way, accelerating or slowing down, shortening or elongating, getting thicker or thinner, sometimes to the point of complete rarefaction and stillness. To counteract this avalanche of processes, I tried to keep as firm a grip as possible on the material and the form, trying to retain as much clarity as possible. This composition received the Second prize in the 2005 Lutoslawski Competition in Warsaw, Poland, and the Top Prize in the 2006 Angelo-Comneno Competition in Rome, Italy.

VERS LE BLEU - VERS LE ROUGE

Composed in 2006 on a commission from the Left Coast Ensemble (San Francisco) as a companion for Schubert's C Major Quintet. This composition relies on some aspects found in the slow movement of the Schubert: the use of neighboring tones for harmony and melody, a certain idea of suspended time, and the constant harmonic reinterpretation of sustained notes. The working title was 'stay', as I intended to write a completely static piece but, as it often happens, I couldn’t quite control the piece, and it escaped, thus becoming 'stray'. This is the ensemble Left Coast in the premiere in San Francisco in May 2006.

st(r)ay, for string quintet (2 cellos)

A Commission from Radio France, this is a piece for two narrators and orchestra about New York City, more precisely NYC as seen by its writers. Texts by Gorki, Le Corbusier, Whitman, Fitzgerald, Lethem, Miller, Auster, etc.. This is the 2011 premiere by Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France with Alexandre Laiter and Donald Rubinstein, narrators; Gwennolé Rufet, conductor. 

WRITING THE CITY

Commission from the Orkest de Volharding. This is the live premiere at De Doelen in Rotterdam in 2007

Elastique

Premiere of Le Dugong, by Kamarikuoro Kampin Laulu directed by Kari Turunen. March 17 2019, Ritarihuone, Helsinki, Finland.

A piece for triple choir spatially distributed. Each choir is split in 8 voices SSAATTB.  This particular version adds a small string ensemble (3.3.2.2.2).

Anges Nus

Written in 2001 for the Lawrence University Wind Ensemble, conducted here by Robert Levy. Honorable mention in the 2006 Barlow Prize. 

Talaria

A solo piano version of Le Mouton A Grosses Fesses, originally for choir.  A rare tonal piece (f minor!) for me.

Le Mouton à Grosses Fesses (piano version)

A textless piece for spatialized triple choir about waves and water.

Leurs Sauvages Échos

Described by LA Weekly as “an original composer with something important to say”, French composer Philippe Bodin is a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow and the recipient of a 2010 Goddard Lieberson Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. A Doctor of Musical Arts from Yale University School of Music where he studied with Martin Bresnick, Jacob Druckman, Ezra Laderman, and Nicholas Maw, Philippe Bodin has taught composition in the Yale University Department of Music, at Illinois Wesleyan University School of Music, and at Lawrence University Conservatory of Music.
 
His compositions have received awards and accolades in several international competitions: VocalEspoo (Winner, Helsinki, Finland, 2018), International Alkema Composition Contest (Finalist, Utrecht, Netherlands, 2014), Shipley Arts Festival (Recital Music Award, UK, 2011), American Composers Orchestra Underwood Readings (Finalist, NYC, USA, 2007), Barlow (Honorable Mention, UT, USA, 2006), Lutosławski (Second Prize, Warsaw, Poland, 2005), Asia Pacific Festival (Winner, Wellington, New Zealand, 2006), Brave New Works (Winner, MI, USA, 2006), Homage to Mozart (Grand Prize, Moscow, Russia, 2006), Utah Arts Festival (Winner, UT, USA, 2006), Angelo-Comneno (Top Prize, Rome, Italy, 2006), and Music of Changes (Winner, Los Angeles, USA, 2001).

Philippe Bodin has received commissions from the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, the Chœur de Radio-France, and Ensemble TM+ (France), Orkest de Volharding and Electra (Netherlands), Trio Kungsbacka (Sweden) and, in the US: Eroica trio, Mannes trio, trio Mojave, the Da Capo Chamber Players, the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Empyrean, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Lost Dog, pianist Genevieve Lee and the Barlow Endowment, American Composers Forum, Jerome Foundation, The Argosy Foundation, and the Utah Arts Festival, among others.

Invited in the artist colonies of MacDowell, Banff, Yaddo, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Philippe Bodin also received grants from the Copland Foundation, the American Music Center, ASCAP, and Meet the Composer.

Previous to his activities as a composer, Philippe Bodin studied mathematics, physics, architecture, piano, organ, and voice. Philippe Bodin currently resides in Paris, France, working as a freelance composer and a teacher in vocal performance in the conservatory of Kremlin-Bicêtre.

Philippe Bodin

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