Rebecca Saunders, Ensemble Intercontemporain

Chroma I–XXIV (2003–26)

Every space is an instrument in its own right, not simply a neutral receptacle for the music. Rebecca Saunders listens to it and gauges the distances, often vast, which determine the arrangement of the groups, the emergence of sound, and the duration of independent miniatures that come together to form a landscape.

Chroma is born from a specific space and time, and from the interaction between architecture— its planes, volumes and materials, and acoustics—the musicians, and the audience. Indeed, positions and movements do away with the idea that there is only one possible form of listening. In doing so, they open up a host of others and constantly modify the different balances at work, bringing us closer, or distancing us, from a particular source: the multiple ensembles of musicians; the music boxes whose melodies are barely audible in themselves; and the portable turntables, with built-in loudspeakers—or a wind-up gramophone. 

There is no overarching score for Chroma, but each source has its own, just as each listener charts their own path between them.

The Festival d’Automne in Paris and the GrandPalaisRmn present this production as a co-production.

With the support of the Fondation d’entreprise Société Générale, sponsor of music at the Festival d’Automne.