Anges Nus

Program note

Commissioned by the Chœur de Radio France, ANGES NUS is written for three eight-part choirs deployed laterally across the performance space. From shifting diatonic clusters emerge harmonic strata of various densities that continually change shape and colour. Melodic lines occasionally crystallize and emerge from the texture, migrating from choir to choir before being reabsorbed into the surrounding sonority. More active and volatile than its companion piece LEURS SAUVAGES ÉCHOS, the work unfolds through a succession of transformations, climaxes, and unexpected turns, at times violent and dark, its harmonic landscape remaining in almost constant motion.

The voices carry no text, only vowels, although consonants occasionally emerge to underline accents.

The title is an anagram of nuages (clouds), with the addition of the letters s and n.

Also available is a version with a small group of strings (3.3.2.2.2).

Computer rendering