Athanor, for orchestra (2001)
Athanor uses as its central image the idea of the alchemical furnace (the “athanor”) in which ordinary matter was traditionally transformed into gold. In this orchestral piece, the transformation involves primarily the dimensions of color – as the combination of pitch, harmony, and timbre – and time. Throughout the course of the work, we witness the progressive unveiling of a long melody which appears clearly only at the very end, but is active in various ways during most of the piece.
At the beginning of the work the pitches that comprise this melody are set within a temporal scale that is too large to afford the perception of a direct melodic continuity: each note occupies from one to three measures, and is constantly varied in color and inflection. Consequently, what is primarily focused on during the first large part of the work is the combination of harmonies and instrumental timbres attached to the tones. In the second part, the role of the melody becomes more diffuse and guides the formal progression in a hidden and subcutaneous manner. In the third and final part of the work, which starts after an extended polyphonic section heard in the strings, longer continuous lines are pitted against harmonics blocks in a series of dramatic oppositions that signal a more direct influence of the basic melody: parts of it soon start to appear openly, played in unison by various instrumental groups. The coda that follows finally exposes the whole melody in a perceptible manner: the temporal scale of the first part has now been sufficiently reduced to allow the individual tones to be heard in clear connection.
The large-scale movement outlined here points to a general semantic displacement through which the changing temporal structures bring the basic melodic elements in varying formal perspectives. As the work progresses, the perception of the discourse changes from being attached to the elemental details of the sound (its harmonic and timbral constituents) to becoming more and more aware of the relations between the sounds (the melodic contour that connects them). In that sense, the alchemical image dominating Athanor consists in the transformation from a material, analytical perception into a more global and holistic one. Far from being negated, the material nature becomes integrated in a higher consciousness of its role and function in the whole.
Athanor was commissioned by Radio France, and premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pierre-André Valade, in London, 2003.