ZOURNA
08′ – 2007
for clarinet (saxophone version as well)
Zourna
“With the eye of the heart, I saw my Lord. / And told him: who are you? He said to me: You “(Hallaj muqatta’a 10)
The clarinet is taken for a zourna, this rustic oboe found in the Balkans and the Middle East. It sings, almost a fast lamento. Vibrations, oscillations, and ornaments want to exist and take shape, they separate, stretch as in a split. Always higher, enough to be caught in a vertigo. In the second movement it is the opposite tension, the sounds try to recollect, a slow movement of union. This solo piece combines two sound spaces and borrows a lot from the Arab world: tempi, energy, auditory illusions.
Constants and variants
” Constants and variants
“The zourna is a small oriental instrument with a diabolical character. It’s nasal tone, it’s undeserved notes and it’s great virtuosity inspired the development of this piece originally written for the clarinet. Despite the rapidity of the first movement, the difficulties of certain intervals must always bow to musicality. It is indeed necessary to release from this wave of notes:
a melodic line and a continuous expressiveness. For this, dare the rubato micros to never fall into a mechanical and cold game. Zourna players use continuous breathing, an interesting technique to question. The second movement is a slow inner meditation. ”
Zad Moultaka
Zad Moultaka
September 22, 2007, Premiere clarinet version
Royaumont Musical Season – Asnières-sur-Oise, France
by Armand Angster, clarinet
November 7, 2007, Premiere saxophone version
Toulon Theater
by Joël Versavaud, saxophone
October 13, 2007 contemporary dance festival iDans, Bogaziçi Üniversitesi (Université du Bosphore), Istanbul (Turquie)
by Armand Angster, clarinet
November 15, 2007 Théâtre Comédia, Journée Seul « Ecritures et nouvelles écritures », Toulon by Joël Versavaud, saxophone
Novembre 24, 2007 Festival 38e Rugissants, Grenoble par Joël Versavaud, saxophone
December 6, 2007 Concert « Echo » Salle de la Bourse, Festival Strasbourg Méditerranée, Strasbourg by Armand Angster, clarinet
January 22, 2008 Institut français d’Istanbul, 5e journée de musique contemporaine, Istanbul, Turquie by Armand Angster, clarinet
March 15, 2008 Alençon, France, by Joël Versavaud, saxophone
June 21, 2008 Goluchow, Pologne by Joël Versavaud, saxophone
November 15, 2008 Festival Novelum, auditorium Saint-Pierre-Les-Cuisines, Toulouse, France by Jean Jacques Godron, clarinet
June 16, 2009 Festival Utreria, Espagne by Joël Versavaud, saxophone
June 20, 2009 Printemps d’Olivary, Aix-en-Provence by Joël Versavaud, saxophone
July 16, 2009 Festival d’Avignon by Joël Versavaud, saxophone
July 24, 2009 Festival International de Céret by Joël Versavaud, saxophone
June 8, 2011 Bâle (Gare du Nord) by Yugi Nogushi, saxophone
August 2 & 3, 2012 Festival de Chaillol, Buissard & La Bâtie-Vieille par Joël Versavaud, saxophone
September 27, 2012 Festival Ebruitez-vous, Rennes by Gilles Gastou, clarinet
March 24, 2013 Jade-La Citerne, Les Baux de Provence par Joël Versavaud, saxophone
November 4, 2014 Festival des Musiques démesurées, Clermont-Ferrand by Hélène Mourot, oboe
April 3, 2016 Kiev, Ukraine by Olivier Duverger, saxophone
Commissioned by Royaumont Musical Season & Mezwej ensemble
© ŠamaŠ éditions musicales 2007
