Ravages - piano concerto n°1 (2021)

for piano and large ensemble

(3/0/1/0/1-0/0/0/0-3 perc-clav-1/0/1/1-electronics)

Commissioned by the french Ministry of Culture

Dédication : Hilomi Sakaguchi

and ensembles Paramirabo, HanatsuMiroir and Proxima Centauri

Creation: October 21, 2021

La MECA Scène, Bordeaux (France)

Hilomi Sakaguchi, piano

ensembles Paramirabo, HanatsuMiroir and Proxima Centauri

Duration : 26'30 

Publisher : BabelScores

buy the score

In 1943, in occupied France, René Barjavel wrote his famous dystopian novel Ravage, in which a hyper-technological society, governed by castes and hierarchized according to capital, environment, borders, beliefs. . . abruptly descends into chaos. Today, in the face of tensions coming from all sides, the climatic, economic and social emergency, many groups or individuals believe in solutions for life in society different from the one which is currently leading us to the same breaking point as the one mentioned in this novel.

Written for the pianist Hilomi Sakaguchi, Ravages is a concerto for piano, ensemble and electronics organized in three movements, three tableaux evoking Barjavel's novel. Didier Rotella's work questions the place and future of what has long been called the "Western cultural model". In general, the music of Didier Rotella seeks to create an area of insecurity which leads the listener to modify his listening during the work. It is an approach that is clearly intended to be discursive, and in no way denies past influences, Henri Dutilleux in mind. This is also why Didier Rotella often associates a literary argument, but in a distant way, with a musical form. The musical gesture becomes in a way a testimony of the societal impact.