J O H N C R O F T

A F U R Y ’ S C U R S E S

M A L É D I C T I O N S D ’ U N E F U R I E

T E X T B Y J E A N T A R D I E U

MALÉDICTIONS D’UNE FURIEA MONODRAMA BY JOHN CROFTTEXT BY JEAN TARDIEUFILM BY RICHARD CRAIG

Lore Lixenberg – voiceRichard Craig – bass and contrabass !utesRobin Michael – celloSimon Limbrick – percussionJohn Croft – conductorCarl Faia – live electronics

I. Par la libation mince et noire…Voice, ensemble, live electronics and "xed sounds

II. IntermedioBass !ute solo — ensemble and live electronics

III. ô phosphorescenceVoice and live electronics

IV. Ah par le poing, par la gri!e et la dent…Voice, ensemble, live electronics and "xed sounds

V. par cette vie in"rme et vacillante…Voice and bass !ute

VI. Par tout ce qui fuit…Voice, ensemble and live electronics

VII. Je te maudis, temps insondable…Voice, ensemble and live electronics

VIII. Je ris avec toiVoice, ensemble and live electronics

10 May 2012, 20:00, Turner Contemporary, MargateIn association with Brunel University, London

Malédictions d’une furie takes Jean Tardieu’s short one-woman theatre piece of the same

title as the basis for a 45-minute opera-monodrama for female voice, bass and contrabass

!utes, cello, percussion, live electronics and electroacoustic sounds. In Tardieu’s work,

dating from the late 1950s, a Fury – one of the chthonic deities charged with the pursuit or

wrong-doers and punishment of unavenged crimes – turns her wrath against Chronos,

god of time; the Fury curses the god who from a position of aloof timelessness oversees

the endless and pointless torrent of birth and destruction that is human history. She

laments the condition of those whom she is required to pursue and torment.

The music sets the ostensible message of the text (that impermanence is a travesty and

something to rage against) against the opposite perspective, namely that there is

consolation and beauty to be found in the universal necessity of constant change. This is

achieved by taking the few brief moments in which the Fury seems to evoke this

perspective, and drawing these out into extended meditations, giving them more time to

resonate, relative to the whole, than they receive in the original text.

The work, heard this evening in a concert version with "lm projection, is in eight sections,

which fall roughly into two types (perhaps distantly evocative of the distinction between

recitative and aria): some movements re!ect the relentless fulmination that is the most

readily apparent aspect of Tardieu's text (I, IV), while others (II, III, V) are meditations on a

short fragment of text, sometimes hovering, sometimes combining wavering

ornamentation with a vacillating ‘!orid’ style distantly indebted to early baroque vocal and

!ute music. Starting with Movement VI, which culminates in the pivotal curse, these two

styles begin to merge.

With the exception of Movements I and IV, which contain some pre-composed

electroacoustic sounds, the electronic sounds heard are all real-time transformations of

the live vocal and instrumental sound. These treatments have been created and

programmed by the composer and are controlled in performance by a MIDI percussion

controller. Versions of Movements II (Intermedio), III (ô phosophorescence) and V (par

cette vie in"rme et vacillante) also exist as independent pieces.

Jean TardieuMalédictions d’une Furie

SOLILOQUE TRAGIQUE

Il n’y a pas de scène, mais une sorte de lieu vague, sans âge, sans forme et sans limite, à la fois obscur et fascinant où passent les couleurs fugitives d’un univers en fusion, plein de !ammes et de cendres, sans cesse agité d’enfantements et de désastres.

LA FURIE, belle, frénétique et blanche, sortant des ténèbres. D’abord à voix basse et si"ante.

Par la libation mince et noire, par le sang,par l’odeur fade et écœurante de la bête égorgée,par la blessure et par la colère, par le galop et par le cri,par la "èvre, par la folie,par toutes les races dont la chair mortenourrit la terre et porte la vie,ô pourriture, ô phosphorescence couleur de la nuit sidérale,

Comme une plainte, qui se termine par un cri.

O, ohé, ohi, ah, aha, ahé, ahi, ahiii!

Elle s’arrête. Elle reprend son sou"e un instant. Le crescendo va commencer par un trépignement rythmé.

Ah par le poing, ah par la gri#e et la dent, ah par la corne et le sabot,par cette vie in"rme et vacillante,ô lampe creuse, ô !amme qui se meurt à tout moment!Par cette race que je guette et que je torture et que j’incarnejusqu’à prendre sa forme et sa voix quand je remonte de l’Érèbeet que j’ai cent mille ans de cris amassés dans ma gorge…

Elle reprend sou"e encore une fois, plus profondément, comme parvenue à un nouveau palier, avant la dernière montée jusqu’à la malédiction furibonde.

Par tout ce qui fuit et rampe et s’accroit et dépérit,par le tumulte du désordre à chaque instant du fond des ombres secoué,terre, terre, terre, terre, si$ementde tous les serpents de tous les ouragans dans ma chevelure,de tous les sillages de toutes les ailes,

Jean TardieuA Fury’s Curses

A TRAGIC SOLILOQUYTranslated by Colin Duckworth

There is no precise setting, just a vague sort of place, ageless, formless, limitless, both obscure and fascinating. The !eeting colours of a molten universe !icker over it, full of !ames and ash, ceaselessly agitated by giving birth and disasters.

THE FURY comes out of the shadows. She is beautiful, frenetic and all white. Her voice to start with is low and hissing.

By thin black libation, by blood,by the slaughtered beast’s stale sickening smell,by wound and temper, gallop and cry,by fever, by stark madness,by bodies whose dead !eshnourishes the earth and brings forth life,O putrescence, O phosphorescence colour of sidereal night,

Like a lament ending with a cry.

O, o-ay, o-ee, ah, a-ay, a-ee, a-heee!

She stops. Gets her breath back for a moment. The crescendo begins with a rhythmic stamping.

Ah, by "st and claw and tooth, ah, by horn and hoof,by this ailing and vacillating life,O empty lamp, O suddenly extinguished !ame !By the human race that I hunt and torture, that I embodyTaking on its form and voice when I ascend from the dark underworldWith the cries of a hundred thousand years surging in my throat…

She gets her breath back again, more deeply this time, as if she has reached a new level before rising to the #nal climactic and #erce curse.

By all that !ees and crawls and grows and wastes away,by the frenzy and disorder unleashed in deepest darkness,earth, earth, earth, earth, hiss of serpents and wild winds writhing in my hair,the furrows cut by myriad wings,

de toutes les démences de toutes les vagues,de tous les chariots grinçant dans le ciel,terre, océan, azur, abîme,astres, astres, poussière d’astres, ah! pluie, ah! délire, ah!ah, ahé, ahi, ahiii,JE TE MAUDIS, TEMPS INSONDABLE!…

Elle s’arrête, comme égarée, puis reprend, encore haletante, un ton plus bas.

Je te maudis, temps insondable et monotone,je sors pour cela des ténèbres,hors de moi, blanche et noire comme la fumée du sacri"ce,je te maudis, Temps nourricier des siècles ronds,empereur le pied posé sur le globe,silence peuplé de tous les sou$es d’agonie,silence à ta hauteur, à ta distance immémoriale,mais vacarme et tonnerre, et plainte et hurlement lorsqu’on écoute de plus près,je te maudis, Père et Dévorateur de ce qui est, Chronos,mâchoire horrible, dégoulinant du sang de tes propres enfantset l’œil fou là-haut sous la broussaille des sourcils,je maudis le torrent des créatures dans ta boucheet la vaine circulation de toutes choses sous ton front,danse cruelle, danse fatale, danse hagarde qui te fait rire!…

Sur le « i » qui la secoue tout entière, renversée en arrière comme en proie à l’amour et à la mort, elle se rassemble soudain, devient droite, grande, majestueuse, lente, solennelle — presque humaine.

Je ris avec toi, du rire de l’épouvante et de la honte et du dégoût,car il est inutile et dérisoire, le sacri"ce éternel des vivantset lorsque l’urne abominable dans le gou#reverse le !ot épais de toutes les douleurs,elle ne comble pas les déserts de l’espaceplus que ne le ferait dans ta coupe tremblante,ô sacri"cateur, une goutte de sang!

Text © Copyright 1969 by Éditions Gallimard. Used with the kind permission of Éditions Gallimard and of the estate of Jean Tardieu.

the lunacy of waves createdby chariots grating across the sky, earth, ocean, azure, abyss,stars, stars, stardust, ah! deluge, ah! delirium, ah!ah, a-ay, a-ee, a-heee,I CURSE YOU, UNFATHOMABLE TIME! …

She stops as if bewildered. Then resumes, still panting for breath, in a lower voice.

I curse you, unfathomable and monotonous time,for this I seep out from the shadows,Out of myself, black and white like the smoke of sacri"ce,I curse you, foster-father of the rounded centuries,an emperor one foot placed upon the globe,silence full of cries of agony,a silence worthy of you, of your immemorial aloofness,but uproar and thunder, sobs and howling when one listens closely,I curse you, Chronos, Father and Devourer of all that is,with your grisly maw dripping with the blood of your childrentopped by crazy eyes under bushy brows,I curse the stream of creatures in your mouth,and in your head the senseless whirling of all things cavorting in a wild cruel dance of death under your mocking gaze! …

Her whole body shudders as she utters “gaze”, and she arches her back as if in ecstasy or death-throes. Then she suddenly pulls herself together and stands straight, becoming majestic, almost human, with slow and solemn delivery.

My laughter joins with yours. A laugh of fear, shame, and disgust.For the endless sacri"ce of living beings is pointless and derisory.The thick stream of universal su#ering pours into the abyssfrom your abominable urn, but never !oods the deserts of space.One more drop of sacri"cial blood never over"lls your trembling cup.

Translation Copyright © Colin Duckworth 2009

John Croft (b. 1971) studied philosophy and music at the Victoria University of Wellington, and composition and music cognition at the University of She%eld. He has a PhD from the University of Manchester, where he studied with John Casken. He is currently Senior Lecturer at Brunel University, West London. His music draws on the spectral properties of sounds as the basis for harmonic and temporal structures, and recent work focusses on the use of live electronics in ways that extend rather than obscure the bodily relationship between performer and instrument; examples include la terra lagrimosa...una luce vermiglia (2006), for cello and live electronics, ...ne l'aura che trema (2007) for alto !ute and live electronics and Intermedio III for bass clarinet and live electronics (2012). His music has been played by many ensembles and soloists, including the BBC Philharmonic, the London Sinfonietta, the Arditti String Quartet, Ensemble Exposé, Studiya Novoi Muzyki, 175 East, Stroma, Philip Thomas, Matthew Barley, Richard Craig, Marij van Gorkom, Barbara Lüneburg, and Xenia Pestova. He received First Prize in the 2001 Jurgenson International Composers' Competition for his String Quartet and the 2011 ICMA European Regional Award for ...ne l'aura che trema. He also writes on the philosophy of music.

The French poet and dramatist Jean Tardieu (1903–1995) is known for his many collections of poetry and his highly experimental theatre pieces, as well as his translations of Hölderlin and Goethe. In the early 1930s he began publishing collections of poetry, reminiscent of surrealist verse in its combination of dark imagery and focussed lyricism (examples include le Fleuve caché of 1933, Accents of 1939, and le Témoin invisible of 1943). During the German occupation of France he published in various underground journals. After the war he began working for French Radio, eventually becoming Director of Programmes at Radio France-Musique. A concern with the irreducibly musical level of language forms a connection between his early poetry and the outwardly more experimental word-play of his post-war theatre pieces, which often work with explicitly musical forms, as well as with highly circumscribed word-play in the manner of Oulipo (he counted Raymond Queneau among his friends). Much of this work, which is also often regarded as an anticipation of later ‘absurdist’ theatre by Ionesco and Becket, is collected in Théâtre de chambre (1955) and Poèmes à jouer (1960). ‘Malédictions d’une furie’ was added to a later edition of the latter volume, and recalls, to a greater extent than the other pieces therein, the bleakly obsessive qualities of his earlier poetry. In his later years Tardieu continued to write poetry, often focussing on the relation of poetic text to painting and music; his last collection, Da Capo, was published in the year of his death.

Lore Lixenberg has performed widely in opera, concert repertoire and music-theatre, and has worked with many leading composers. She is renowned for the warmth, range and agility of her voice as well as her total absorption in any role. Loré has performed throughout Europe at numerous festivals such as Wien Modern, Oslo’s Ultima and the festivals in Salzburg, Lucerne, Edinburgh, Witten, Hudders"eld, Donaueschingen and Aldeburgh. Her rich experience in the area of music theatre includes performing the lead role in Bent Sørensen’s opera Under Himlen at the Royal Opera House in Copenhagen as well as performing in many projects with Théâtre de Complicité. Loré sang the roles of Peaches and Baby Jane in the award-winning Jerry Springer - The Opera at the Edinburgh Festival, the National Theatre and in London’s West End as well as on the subsequently released CD. In 2011 Loré sang the role of Cousin Shelley in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s opera Anna Nicole at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Loré has performed as soloist with many distinguished orchestras and ensembles including BBC Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble InterContemporain, London Sinfonietta, Klangforum Wien, BCMG, Cikada, Northern Sinfonia, Ensemble Aventure and Apartment House. Recent engagement include singing the role of Anna in Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins as well as a recital of music from the Weimar Republic with the Aurora Orchestra; performing roles in Gerald Barry’s opera The Intelligence Park in Dublin, and in Nigel Osborne’s Di$erence in Demolition with Opera Circus in Leeds, Edinburgh, Bridport and London.

Richard Craig was born in Glasgow, studied !ute at the RSAMD with Richard Blake and Sheena Gordon, continuing his studies with Mario Caroli at the CNR Strasbourg, where he attained his spécialisation diplome with unanimité et félicitations du jury. Formative experiences include working with composers Brian Ferneyhough, James Dillon, Helmut Lachenmann and musicians Roberto Fabricciani and Pierre-Yves Artaud. He has been invited to perform with groups such as musikFabrik, Klangforum Wien and ELISION, embarking on several tours around Europe. He has recorded and broadcast for the BBC, WDR Cologne, YLE Finland, Radio France, Radio Nacional de España, Swedish Radio, ARTE, and Icelandic RUV. In April 2011 his solo disc, INWARD, was released on the metier label, featuring works by Ferneyhough, Barrett and Sciarrino alongside premieres recordings of Barrett, Bång, Karski, Johnson and Croft. It has since been received to critical acclaim and nominated for the Scottish Album of the Year 2011. He currently resides in Aberdeenshire where he works in varied artistic mediums alongside music, such as assemblage and video.

Born in 1976, Robin Michael studied at the the Royal Academy of Music with David Strange and Colin Carr and subsequently with Truls Mork, Steven Isserlis and Ferenc Rados. Robin is principal cello of the Orchestra Révolutionnaire et Romantique and regular guest principal of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Academy of Ancient Music, ENO, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Les Siècles and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Recent premiers include Joe Cutler's cello concerto, the U.K premier of Steve Reich's Cello Counterpoint as well as concertos by Roxburgh and Finnissy. Robin will premiere a concerto by Philip Cashian with the Trondheim soloists in the 11/12 season. Recent concert highlights include touring South Africa with both Haydn concertos, complete Bach and Britten suite cycles at Wilton's Hall, London, Beethoven sonata cycles in London, Oxford, Paris and Brussels and the Korean premiere of Harvey's Advaya for cello and electronics. Recent festival appearances include Regello (Italy), Ochrid (Macedonia), Musica Contemporania (Buenos Aires), Spier (South Africa), Cheltenham, Aldeburgh, St Magnus, Hudders"eld Festivals and Library of Congress. Robin is the cellist in the Fidelio trio with whom he has toured Europe, Asia and South Africa. They have premiered trios by Sciarrino, Nyman, Takemitsu and Volans. They recently gave a critically acclaimed Wigmore Hall debut and made their US debut in New York and Washington in the 2010/11 season. Robin also regularly appears with chamber groups such as the Dante Quartet, Eroica Quartet, Gemini and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. Recordings include the Cutler Concerto with the BBC Concert Orchestra (NMC), Ginastera complete cello works (Lorelt), Trios by Schoenberg, Korngold, Zemlinsky (NAXOS) and the "rst recording of the original version of the Mendelssohn Octet on period instruments. Robin plays on a cello made for him by German luthier Stephan von Baehr, 2010.

Simon Limbrick's involvement in music embraces performance, composing and education. He was a member of the cult systems orchestra The Lost Jockey and Man Jumping, recording for EG Editions and creating scores for leading dance companies Second Stride, London Contemporary Dance, Rosemary Lee and Sue MacLennan.He has been in demand as a percussionist performing all over the world with the Nash Ensemble, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Endymion Ensemble, Composers' Ensemble and Fibonacci Sequence as well as recording with artists such as Alabama3, Gavin Bryars Pete Lockett and for Blue Note Records. He has been guest principal with the LSO and worked under conductors, Leonard Bernstein, Oliver Knussen, Simon Rattle and Tom Ades. He has featured on "lm and television including documentaries about Steve Reich and Kenneth MacMillan's award winning Judas Tree. Compositions created for him include works by Javier Alvarez, Brian Elias (Kenneth MacMillan's last ballet The Judas Tree), Vic Hoyland and Andrew Poppy.

Carl Faia (b. 1962) studied composition at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Florida State University and the Royal Academy of Music in Denmark. Teachers included Edward Applebaum, Peter Racine Fricker, Per Nørgård and Karl Aage Rasmussen. Later, he participated in masterclasses with Tristan Murail, Philippe Manoury and Harrison Birtwistle. Since 1995 he has been active as a live electronics designer working at IRCAM in Paris, at the CIRM in Nice where he has also been studio manager and a freelancer. He has collaborated with numerous composers including James Dillon, Jonathan Harvey, Harrison Birtwistle, Fausto Romitelli, Luca Francesconi, Alejandro Viñao and Philippe Leroux. He has collaborated with artists to present new works with computer electronics in various festivals throughout Europe including Ars Musica (Brussels), Holland Festival (Amsterdam), Musica (Strasbourg), Agora (Paris), Gaida (Vilnius), MaerzMusik (Berlin), Lille 2004 as well as the Casa da Musica (Porto) et Lille 2004 and Queen Elizabeth Hall (London). He ported several pieces from the analog world to the digital, including Luigi Nono's A Pierre and Karlheinz Stockhausen's Solo. He has worked regularly with Studio Art Zoyd (France) and the Forum Neues Musiktheater der Staatsoper Stuttgart (Germany) as a live electronics designer with invited composers. In 2002, he founded the non-pro"t association Lieu, based in Nice, to promote the creation and di#usion of contemporary music using technology. Lieu has realized several projects in the development of new tools for sound creation and has been present in the production of new works using technology. As a teacher he has worked since 2005 with André Serre-Milan in the studios of Art Zoyd to develop a unique pedagogical approach to electro-acoustic composition culminating each year in the multimedia spectacle Sonoscopie. He is currently Lecturer in Sonic Arts at Brunel University London.

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