Patrick RUDANT
Transverse flute(S) etc.

By developing this concert, by researching the playing, the sound, the “possible” percussion timbres then finally “necessary”, we agreed:

it’s obvious, for this sonata, it’s “that” which is possible, it is with this game that we perceive even better the form, the rhythm, the dance and what Bach reinvents or preserves in the tradition. 

It is true that in the 18th century, all of Europe danced. And dance well! Dance indeed underpins all of Bach's music. The cycles, the rhythms, the supports are those of gavottes, Allemandes, minuet, Bourrée... 5 or 6 strikes on a tambourine and it is a minuet which is identified, or a gavotte, a rigaudon.

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We also clearly perceive the movements during which Bach carefully bypasses the usual markers of phrasing and forms of usual dances. No perceptible cycles, no roundel shape, no repetition, continuous development... The percussion playing then becomes smoother, more continuous, the measure less marked, the accents less predictable...

And I also discovered while working with HC CAGET how skilful and sensitive percussion playing can become almost more melodic than a fixed pitch instrument. It is very likely that his expertise in expressing Bach’s music on the “keyboards” such as the Marimba has something to do with it!

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When we deprive ourselves of harmony, of melody, what remains is the momentum, the rhythm and its shadow: the silence, the phrasing, the energy, the flows, the form and the movement... that the we hear and perceive very clearly.

For the most “heard”, played or familiar pieces, I rediscover with pleasure their agogic, structural, essential foundations...

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The work was ultimately done in two directions: reduction and increase. Reduction of orchestral parts to a sound texture, timbral one would say today... and imaginary extension of what could “orchestrate”, extend or even “enlarge” pieces for solo flute.

Yes but, harmony?

“It’s strange, but ultimately nothing is missing” say our first listeners.

We risked this meeting.

The “rout” initial, chosen with mischief but not without questions, finally allowed us both to rediscover this Bach repertoire, very fresh, free, modern and inventive, very “baroque”, in search of 'a past aesthetic certainly, but above all an elegance and a coherence which remain the fundamental quests of every artist: timeless.'

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We bet you will have the same pleasure.