[#266] August 26, 2024
2013 | Wind Ensemble | Grade 6 | 10’- 15’ | Solo Work
Le tournoiement des songes (Whirling dreams) by French composer and educator Anthony Girard is our Composition of the Week.
Le tournoiement des songes was written in 2013 and was dedicated to French trumpet soloist Clément Saunier (Ensemble Intercontemporain).
The concerto has a duration of 13 minutes, and it is structured in a single movement.
It is scored for the following instrumentation:
3(Picc).33.EbCl.BCl.2.Sax(221)/333.Euph(4).2.Timpani(5).Percussion(4).String Bass
Percussion includes:
Glockenspiel / Crotales (E and B) / Xylophone / Tambour de Basque- Vibraphone / Snare drum / Snare drum / 3 Woodblocks /Claves / Bass drum- Marimba / 5 Temple blocks / 3 Toms- Tam-tam / 2 large, suspended cymbals (one studded) / crash cymbals / Glass chimes / Thunder plate / Tubular bells (A low - C #) / Whip
Anthony Girard has done a second version of the concert in 2016, which only changes slightly the ending, but the essential part of the work remains unchanged. The version presented in this recording is the one from 2013.
“Anthony Girard's music unfolds in a mysterious, dreamlike atmosphere, in which the multiplicity of colors and the élan of melodic design play an essential role. The title of this work, Le tournoiement des songes, is emblematic of the composer's style. The compositional techniques used in this work encourage gyratory sensations, as if the music were unfolding in successive spirals. The formal construction resembles a timeless voyage, in search of space, elevation and weightlessness. A light, sometimes transparent orchestration allows the solo instrument to unfold its lyricism and vivacity, and to approach, at times, even in the most tenuous nuance, the extreme high register. The trumpet thus abandons some of its traditional prerogatives - its imperious vigor - to explore the most secret and mysterious regions of its expressive possibilities.
Program Notes from the recording booklet
Anthony Girard was born in New York in 1959, he studied at the “Conservatoire National de Musique de Paris”, where he earned five “Premiers Prix” (harmony, counterpoint, analysis, orchestration and composition) from 1980 to 1986, and at the Sorbonne University (DEA in Music History in 1985).
His first compositions opened him the doors to the “Casa de Velàsquez”, where he stayed from 1986 to 1988. Winner of the “Concours International de Besançon” in 1988, he was awarded the “Prix Paul Belmondo” by the “Académie des Beaux-Arts” in 1992, and in 2001 received the “Grand Prix Lycéen des Compositeurs”.
His orchestral works have been the subject of five monographic CDs “Le cercle de la vie” (Naxos 2013), “Music for harp” (Harp&Co 2015), “Behind the Light” (Naxos 2015), “Chemins couleur du temps” (double CD-book, Folle avoine 2016).
His research into musical analysis led to the publication of a two-volume work on musical language, which won awards from SACEM in 2002 and 2006. He went on to publish a series of musical analysis notebooks (Debussy, Chopin, Haydn, Bach, Schubert, Bartòk, Stravinsky, Ravel...) and a work on orchestration.
For his entire “Analyse du langage musical” collection, he was awarded the “Prix de l'enseignement musical” 2014 ("Coup de Cœur" by the jury).
He is also the author of a narrative-essay (Minos - les dédales de l'expérience créatrice), a biographical and analytical essay (Dans les replis de la mémoire - Les sonates pour piano de Valéry Arzoumanov) and numerous articles. The book “Franchir l'horizon” (Aedam Musicae) features a presentation of his works and an interview.
Anthony Girard has taught orchestration and musical analysis at the CRR de Paris since 2009, and orchestration at the CNSMDP since 2012.
Other works for winds include:
Gaïa (2006), for Wind Ensemble, 8’30
Au-devant du soleil (2012) for Euphonium and Wind Ensemble, 13’
Avec des ailes d’or (2012), for Wind Ensemble, 10’
Spirales (2016), Concerto for Saxophone and Wind Ensemble, 21’ (manuscript)
More information on Anthony Girard
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