ROBERT PASCAL (b.1952): e'l bianco more for 2 Sopranos, 2 Mezzo-Sopranos, 2 Altos and Clarinet, Au front de la lune for Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano and Ensemble, Chant d'aubes for Solo Cello, sur Bleus for Solo Piano, Déchirure d'un temps plissé for 5 Violas, Dulwan nimindi for Mezzo-Soprano and Ensemble.

Description: Throughout these works, Pascal's studies of mediæval and renaissance music constantly influence his melodic lines and contrapuntal lines, even within the context of a modern, largely atonal idiom in some cases involving comply;en electroacoustic treatment of the sounds. The solo piano work is something of an exception, with echoes of Messiaen and to a lesser extent, Prokofiev. Elsewhere, layering of instrumental or vocal lines is of great importance; even in the solo cello work, the addition of real-time electronic processing of recorded material based on the cello part creates a kind of fractal chaconne, with accumulated textures derived from a four-note ground. 'Tearing a folded time' contains the most violent contrast between layers; the highly transmuted electronic sounds tear apart the surface of the music, revealing a distorted shadow of a Schubert minuet, and farther still in the background the textures of a consort of viols. Dulwan nimindi introduces another influence; Australian aboriginal music, evoked through odd instrumental timbres (with electronic treatment again) and percussion, with ten texts sung in a dramatic, ornamented recitative. Ensemble Résonance Contemporaine, Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain; Fabrice Pierre.