Pascal Dusapin: Etudes, Á Quia

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Pascal Dusapin: Etudes, Á Quia

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Pascal Dusapin has only recently begun writing for piano. But in the recents years, he produced two major works one after the other: a cycle of seven Études (1998-2001) and the Concerto A quia (2002). The Études are, according to Dusapin himself, "not exercises in digital virtuosity intended for the acquisition of piano technique, but true compositional studies conceived to fit into one another, like Russian dolls." Yet there is no lack of technical difficulties in these sometimes breathtaking pieces, masterfully performed by Ian Pace who premiered the complete cycle.
As for the concerto, written immediately after the Études and the opera Perelà, uomo di fuma, it once more shows Dusapin's involvement with the world around him: the score is studded with references to events as disparate as 11 September 2001 and the death of his master Xenakis, both of which occurred during the period of composition. But the predominantly sombre and tragic atmosphere leads to an open ending that leaves the possibility of a ray of hope.

This "extended, deeply subjective and disturbing monologue, deeply emotional in quality" (Harry Halbreich) is played here by Ian Pace and the Orchestre de Paris under Christoph Eschenbach, who gave the work its first performances at Bonn and Strasbourg in September 2002.

-andante.com