«Pour Thalès, tout est eau ; l'eau constitue le principe de toutes choses. Le mot chinois du titre, homophone de « eau », signifie « néant », qui est également considéré comme l’origine de toute chose dans le taoïsme.
Grâce à l'eau, nous atteignons une origine où émerge une harmonie précieuse entre notre vie et l'univers. Elle contient à la fois le lieu le plus intime et l'espace le plus profond ; c'est là que le spirituel et le sensuel se réunissent et ne font plus qu'un ; elles, l’eau, l’origine, coulent entre rien et tout.»


“For Thales of Miletus, all is water; water constitutes the principle of all things. The homophonic Chinese character stands for “nothingness”, which is also considered as the origin of everything in Taoism. 
Through water, we reach an origin where a precious harmony emerges between our life and the universe. It contains at the same time the most intimate place and the most profound space; it is where the spiritual and the sensual reunites and become one; it flows between nothing and everything.”

“Eau, Où, 无”

“A Distant Chant” for string quartet —2024

— Played by the Velvet Quartet.
 
(Accidental phone buzzing sound during recording)

“A Distant Chant”  for String Quartet (rehearsal recording)

7 Miniatures (2023-2024) by Sophia Chambon for violin, viola, cello and piano

Performed by Reika Sato, Sengyun Kim, Yi Zhou and Arzhel Rouxel.

1. Clair - 
2. - obscur 
3. Sur un élan 
4. À fleur d'oreille 
5. L'éternel début du commencement d 
6. Sur un souffle 
7. À même le tympan

7 Miniatures

"38 St Stephen" for ensemble of 15 musicians - dedicated to Xiaoqing Yu. 
Performed by Orchestre du CNSMDP and conducted by Julien Leroy on 11/22/2024.

Program Notes:

Knocking on the door of the small chamber where the fragments of lost time are stored, an aura of nostalgia invites us inside. 
Attempting to reassemble these fragments to resemble the continuity of time, like recalling a forgotten melody; meanwhile, this chamber becomes a prison which prevents time from reaching the present and flowing freely.


                                                           



"38 St Stephen" for ensemble

(binaural track)

The word “utter” originates from the Germanic root “ūt”, meaning out. Over time, it evolved in English to signify putting forth, speaking, or expressing. As an adjective, it also came to mean absolute or complete.

In the context of this music, by amplifying the most intimate friction between the skin of the fingers and the strings of the piano, the hidden shadow of the instrument’s psyche is brought forth and externalized in the form of sound. Different and opposite from the instrument’s familiar nature, yet intrinsically authentic to its identity, this shadow completes the essence of the piano as a living organism.

However, as the voice of this shadow emerges, it becomes evident that it exists not merely as part of the piano’s essence but also incorporates the characteristics of strings, percussion, and wind instruments. Perhaps its voice carries an ancient, collective identity of sound that predates the existence of concrete instruments, now dwelling solely within the body of the piano.



"Utter" for amplified rubbing of piano strings and live electronics (2021-2025)

Lin, Jenny: The Eleventh Finger

Stefano Gervasoni: Studio Di Disabitudine

©Florent Caron Darras & Otmani Éditions

SENTINELLE NORD - for 21 musicians and FM synthesis (8 Channels)


Dedicated to David Reiland, Luis Naon, Stefano Gervasoni

World Premiere September 26, 2017
Orchestre des Lauréats du CNSMDP (OLC)
David REILAND, conductor

Violins
Irène DUVAL & Apolline KIRKLAR

Violas
Sonia MOSHNYAGER & Marion PLARD

Cellos
Michèle PIERRE & Aurore MONTAULIEU

Double-Bass
Tsui-Ju LI

Flutes
Ludivine MOREAU & Nei ASAKAWA

Oboe
Bastien NOURI & Anne-Marie GAY

Bass Clarinets
Bogdan SYDORENKO & Masako MIYAKO

Bassoons
Lorraine GUYOT & Antoine BERQUET

Pianos
Chae-Um KIM & Cécile SAGNIER

Microtonal Accordion XAMP
Jean-Etienne SOTTY

Electric Guitar
Christelle SERY

Percussions
Guillaume VITTEL & Thibault LEPRI

Sound technicians & Ingeneers
Sébastien TONDO, Jacques WARNIER

Recording & Transaural / Binaural Mix
Jean-Marc LYZWA, Arthur DELZESCAUX

Sentinelle Nord - for large ensemble and spatialized electronics - David Reiland cond. (2017)

http://www.stefanogervasoni.net/index.asp?page=catalogue&id=63&cat=vocal

for: countertenor, oboe and trombone
text by: Luís de Camões
duration: 8’30”
commission: Contrechamps
first performance: 3.10.07, Strasbourg, Festival Musica, Kai Wessel (countertenor), Béatrice Zawodnik (oboe) and Jean-Marc Daviet (trombone)
publisher: Edizioni Suvini Zerboni
catalogue number: S. 13062 Z.

Busque Amor - Kai Wessel, Béatrice Zawodnik, Jean-Marc Daviet - live, Geneva 2007

Italian composer, born in Bergamo in 1962. Stefano Gervasoni began studying composition in 1980 on the advice of Luigi Nono: this encounter, as well as others with Brian Ferneyhough, Peter Eötvös and Helmut Lachenmann, turned out to be decisive for his career. After attending the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, Stefano Gervasoni studied with  György Ligeti in Hungary in 1990, and then, in 1992, he attended the IRCAM Course in Composition and in Computer Music in Paris. The first three years in France launched Gervasoni's international career that eventually led him to be artist-in-residence at Villa Medici in Rome for the biennium1995-1996.
With commissions from prestigious institutions such the WDR, the SWR, the Orchestra Nazionale della RAI, the Münchner Kammerorchester, the Festival d'Automne in Paris, Radio France, IRCAM, the Casa da Musica in Porto, the Festival Archipel in Geneva, the Divertimento Ensemble in Milan, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Ensemble Modern, the Ensemble Contrechamps in Geneva, the Maerzmusik festival in Berlin, the Ars Musica Bruxelles, the Festival Musica in Strasbourg, the French Ministry of Culture, Milan Teatro alla Scala and Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Stefano Gervasoni has established himself as one of the most important Italian composers of his generation. His catalogue – which includes chamber and vocal music, concertos, works for orchestra, for ensemble and an opera (Limbus-Limbo), commissioned for the 50th anniversary of the Percussions de Strasbourg (2012) – was first published by Ricordi, from 1987, and then, from 2000, by Suvini Zerboni.
A monographic CD entitled Antiterra, which features the pieces An, Animato, Antiterra, Least Bee, Godspell, and Epicadenza, released in 2008 by Aeon, bears witness to «a sonic world of great wealth, subtlety, refinement, expressive but also organic, that immediately captures one’s attention» (Philippe Albèra). Other monographic recording collections include the Harmonia Mundi CD in the series Musique Française d'Aujourd'hui (Ensemble Contrechamps), the Stradivarius CD by Divertimento Ensemble and the CD Dir-in dir released in 2014 by Winter & Winter (Académie Charles Cros price and Diapason d'or in France). A recent CD by Winter & WInter, released in 2016, entitled Le pré includes the three books of a piano cycle.
Winner of numerous prizes, including the recent Premio della Critica Musicale "Franco Abbiati" (2010), his work has allowed him to be a grant-holder at the Fondation des Treilles in Paris (1994) and at the DAAD in Berlin (2006) and composer-in-residence at the Domaine de Kerguéhennec during the period 2008-2010. He has also been invited to teach at the Darmstadt Ferienkurse, on the courses organised by the Fondation Royaumont (Paris), at Toho University in Tokyo, at the Festival International di Campos do Jordão in Brazil, at the Conservatory in Shanghai, at Columbia University (New York), at Harvard University (Boston) and at Takefu International Music Festival. He has been composer-in-residence at Lausanne Conservatoire (2005) and at Yellow Barn Summer Academy (Vermont, 2016). Moreover, he has been visiting professor at ESMUC in Barcelona for the 2012-13 academic year.
Since 2006 Stefano Gervasoni has held a regular teaching post as professor of composition at the prestigious Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris.
The musicologist Philippe Albèra wrote a substantial book on Stefano Gervasoni's work, Stefano Gervasoni. Le parti pris des sons, published in 2015 by Editions Contrechamps (Geneva).