HENRI POUSSEUR

We come back to our exploration of Henri Pousseur's works with a four-CD series which, along with what has already been released, will cover all his electronic music and his most radical works between 1953 and 1988 - 35 years of research and experiments. These recordings are a continuation of our earlier releases, namely: Liège à Paris (a piece composed thanks to Luciano Berio and premiered at the grand opening of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, in 1977 - SR117, 2000), the 8 Études Paraboliques box set (over 220 minutes of music realised in Cologne, 1972, at the WDR's studios - the last étude featuring Stockhausen's participation SR 174, 4 CD's, 2001), and 4 Parabolic Mixes, four takes on the work by Henri Pousseur himself, Robert Hampson (Main), Philip Jeck and Markus Popp (Oval), these variations moving gradually away from the original (SR199, 2 CD's, 2002). Crosses of crossed colors: Joy Blackett + Ensemble Musiques nouvelles Pianos: Robert Leuridan, Francette & Pierre Bartholomée Jeux de miroirs de Votre Faust : Marcelle Mercenier, piano and Basia Retchitska, soprano, Cathy Berberian, Louis Devos & Jules Bastin. The two pieces featured on Mixed Music (Voice, Pianos, Various Electro-Acoustic Devices) are magnum opuses in Pousseur's body of work, though they are seldom heard - Jeu de Miroirs de Votre Faust has been unavailable for a long time, while Crosses of Crossed Colors is released here for the first time ever. Already for Couleurs croisées (Crossed Colors, 1967), my initial idea was to add an amplified voice to the orchestra, a voice that could stand up to it and would clarify and explain the meaning of the piece, in the form of a black Baptist minister-style preach. So, besides the voice ("black," if possible), we have: 5 pianos, whose assembled parts reuse almost all the harmonic-rhythmic contents of the orchestral piece. Henri Pousseur (label info)