Gérard Pesson - Affûts (2001/rev 2002) 4K

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Composition:
Gérard Pesson
www.henry-lemo...
Performed By:
Paulo Amendoeira
www.pauloamend...
Zoi Argyriou
/ @zoi_argyriou
Núria Carbó
www.nuriacarbo...
Severin Rusch
www.severinrus...
Conducted and produced by
Brian Archinal
www.brianarchin...
Special Thanks:
Beat Müller / HKB Sound Arts
hkb-soundarts.ch/
www.hkb-musik.ch/
Justin Auer
Sébastien Lafosse
In his work Affûts, Gérard Pesson surprises us with a playful use of percussion instruments and the implements that serve us percussionists, namely, our hands, fingers, nails and their musical extensions - mallets (in all possible forms thereof - in this case toilet brushes and pipe cleaners).In this sense he is also playing with the title and its various connotations. "Affûts," perhaps first calling to mind a place of intense waiting like a hunting blind or a nature photographer who may wait for hours just to act in a split second with the highest precision.
Perhaps he is amused by the pipe cleaners, which remind us of the tools used to clean ancient artillery cannons, as if the instruments themselves are the Affûts, the supporting structures to the the musical canons - the percussionists….
Or even from the verb "affûter" which suggests a sharpening of tools, or perhaps weapons as Jules Verne suggests:
“Les hommes s'occupaient diversement, les uns nettoyant leurs armes, les autres réparant ou affûtant leurs outils. - (Jules Verne, Le Pays des fourrures, 1873)”
“The men occupied themselves in various ways, some cleaning their weapons, others repairing or sharpening their tools.”
But there is another meaning, which points towards a sharpening of the senses, to be on one’s toes:
“Le burgmaester aimait taquiner ce ramenard de Reyber en le faisant constamment marcher sur des œufs. C'était à la fois un bon moyen d’affûter le caractère de Reyber, tout en lui rabaissant le caquet quand sa proximité avec le pouvoir lui faisait choper le melon. - (Cédric Ferrand, Wastburg, 2012)”
(The mayor liked to tease the boastful Reyber by constantly making him walk on eggshells. It was a good way of honing Reyber's character, while at the same time keeping him on his toes when his proximity to power got the better of him.)
Is it not also peculiar that by sharpening our skills as percussionists by leaving behind traditional mallets and beaters for a direct contact of the body to the instruments, or through unusual rubbing and scraping implements, that we might also be sharpening our skills of listening as well? The depth of detail in the various granulations of brushes, skin and nails, is brought about musically in the transformation of line, meter and phrase through instrument and mallet materials and through harmonies and gradations of pitch and noise.
-B. A.