Description

Résurgence
(ou La Sorgue à Fontaine de Vaucluse)
For ages, the Fontaine (that is to say the spring) de Vaucluse (vallis clausa: the closed valley), was a place of legends and mysteries. A massive bubbling rises unexpectedly from the ground, water suddenly appears from everywhere, creates whirlpools, clouds of spray, like a small provincial Niagara… Today, we know that it is the resurgence (the exact word is: exsurgence) of a vast system of underground pools and rivers that extends underneath the mountainous area of the region. Weary of Avignon, where Petrarch lived for many years, before returning to his native Italy – and thus the base of the connections: during his years of pilgrimage, Franz Liszt devoted pieces to three of Petrarch’s sonnets, but also to the Villa d’Este and its water displays. When composing Résurgence, I thought a lot about these pieces by Liszt. My piece tries to recreate the sonic turbulence, frothy clouds, iridescence – sometime using instrumental techniques invented by Liszt.
Tristan Murail