SHOUT
Reflected Shadows
SHOUT is an original transdisciplinary creation for solo saxophone and one performer. It is the last show of the trilogy “Waiting for Amon”, opened with “Glitch” (2016) and “Cairns” (2017), and premiered on the 2nd of March 2018 at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste by Valentine and Emmanuel Michaud. The last part of the performance introduce the three other members of the Toni Sax Quartet, Charles Ng, Amit Dubester and Joan Jordi Oliver Arcos.
Elusive veils
Dreamlike vision of the Being and its Shadow, the performance stages the musician and its double, who evolve on stage in an evolutionary set of transparent veils. Emmanuel Michaud, like a boatman or a puppeteer, gives life to the pieces of the veiled fabrics and draws new forms, creating games of shadows and light and underlining the scenic action. He is the Shout, shade of the saxophonist. At first discreet, the virtual character gets the upper hand little by little over its real envelope, until this one, embodied by the saxophonist, quite loses control that she practiced on him. Enigmatic rite, mysterious procession, the route ends on a paroxystic image in a saturated and unstructured landscape where shadows and characters do not distinguish themselves any more.
Stellar echos
Masterpieces of the repertoire of the contemporary saxophone, the selected works explore various effects of sound spatialisation, developing the concept of the Double within the melodic line. “Secret Procession” by Antonin Servière, a work of “théâtre musical”, stages a strange choreographed rite which leads to the appearance of the Shout. The second piece, “In freundschaft” by Karlheinz Stockhausen, evoke the duality within the central figure, who, like a snake charmer, makes dance its shade on all sides, and little by little loses control practiced on it. Pierre Boulez, in his “Dialogue de l'Ombre Double”, uses the electronics to create new sound spaces. The sound of the saxophonist on stage answers its ghostly shade which infiltrates the audience by swirling in loudspeakers around the hall, giving the impression of an almost cosmic music. The performance is inevitably concluded by the saxophone quartet by Iannis Xenakis ” XAS “, which multiplies the melodic lines and splits up powerful choral harmonies until the border of the chaos.