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GEOFFROY COUTTEAU
‘
An expression of nostalgia? Probably, like the other
hallmark of his style that is the omnipresent lullaby.
The polyrhythm (with that typical “two against three”
figuration) and the polyphony require the interpretation
to achieve an absolute balance between interiority and
expressivity (op.76 is amiracle, from this point of view as
from others). Those are the great lessons I’ve learnt from
making this complete recording – the relationship with
pulse and the need to experiment with sound. Before this
project, I had a tendency to use the pulse as a framework,
a virtuous constraint; what working on the corpus as a
whole hasmademe realise is how important it is tomake
the question of time your key target – it’s the element
that generates all the rest. It’s also what enables one to
sculpt the smoothness of the sound, which must never be
vaporous, but “pure as diamond and soft as snow”.'