Soloist SUSAN BELLING
Narrator Michael LONSDALE
Guest vocalist Frank ROYON LE MÉE
Glass Harmonica Thomas BLOCH
Originellement au Centre International de Recherche Musicale (Cirm) en 2000 à Nice, création d'une interprétation immersive spécifique réalisée en 2020 pour le dispositif 32 voies de Micadôme, avec l'aide du Cirm et du festival Manca.
Poems : “Le temps des Anges”, Homero Arridjis / “Ce mourir entêté”, Jose Gorostiza
1 Le Calligraphe (6:39)
2 Une étoile cachée par sa propre lumière (8:45)
3 Vox in Vitro (9:17)
4 Le saut périlleux (9:53)
5 Les anges voyagent à la vitesse du silence (5:37)
Vox in Vitro is a tribute to Susan Belling, Franco-‐American soprano, prolific and eccentric diva, whose repertory evolved from classic roles at Opera de Paris to border-‐ line vocal experimentations on the international avant-‐garde scene. She often visited my studios in Nice and we recorded many sessions over the years where she was freely expressing her tumultuous life with emotional improvisations. With the exception of some celestials tracks used in my underwater concerts, most of the sessions never made their way into a piece … until Susan vanished mysteriously! Some said she flew into the sky as the angel she projected to become (S’Ange was her stage name), some said she jumped to her death from the window of a high-rise hotel, dressed in a white gown. When, in 2000, Susan left us all, I decided to give her a sonic reincarnation. It would take the form of an electroacoustic “opera noir”, performed in darkness With this complex setting, Susan Belling’s vivid recordings are brought tolife: the editing of her archives integrates subtle body noises, breathing and other fragile elements. Those shivers of life are important elements to aurally re-‐embody Susan, in vitro… I thought that for her “comeback”, Susan would also need a mediator to accompany her blind date with the audience: I invited the immensely talented actor, Michael Lonsdale, to join us. His Father-‐like voice comes as a blessing to her soul as he reads “Le Temps des Anges” by Mexican poet Homero Arridjis. Another exuberant voice is recalled from the past: the late Frank Royon Le Mée, an amazing vocal performer (who worked with Parmegiani and Berio) whom I recorded a few years before Susan, in the same CIRM studios. They should have met in life. The movement “Vox in Vitro” reunites them. The form of the piece goes through chronologic episodes of Susan Belling turbulent life and death, until resurrection, with the last movement “Les anges voyagent à la vitesse du silence” (Angels travel at the speed of silence).
CIRM, Centre National de Création Musicale
33 avenue Jean Médecin, 06000 Nice
04 93 88 74 68 - Fax 04 93 16 07 66
Email : info@cirm-manca.org