Connesson looks back

‍Tickets are now on sale for August!

While there is an emphasis on American music this summer, it isn’t all American. The centerpiece is Beethoven’s great Opus 127 string quartet and we’ve also got Mozart’s clarinet quintet and a little bonbon by contemporary French composer Guillaume Connesson. Inspired by American pop music of the 1970’s – it is called “Disco Toccata” – the USA can lay claim at least to some influence here. A mere two minutes, this work for clarinet and cello will be over in a flash.

French composer Guillaume Connesson wrote his "Disco-Toccata" in one morning in 1994. This piece is written for clarinet and cello, and is influenced by disco music: strong beat and specific melodic formulas. The amazing energy of the piece comes from the fast tempo, which gave Guillaume Connesson the idea of the baroque toccata. He wrote:

‍“We had just founded the Phoenix Ensemble with a group of composers that brought together many musical colors: Zavaro, Escaich, Florentz, Philippe Hersant, and I shared a common spirit. These are people I really like and whose work I appreciate and we gave concerts together. For one of these concerts, when we needed a piece for clarinet and cello, Jean Francoise Zygel, who was the conductor at the time, said ‘we have to have a piece for clarinet and cello!’ So I wrote it in one morning, I think, really in a rush, as a little encore so the two musicians could play something together. It’s quite funny that it has become one of my most performed works!

Todd Palmer and Christopher Costanza
will be performing the Connesson this summer

I can’t imagine the world without pop music. It’s part of my musical world. If someone told me ‘you’re going to a place without pop music,’ I’d really miss it. So I don’t disdain it at all. The only difference is that it doesn’t have the same effect on me as on everyone else. This kind of music, disco, and today’s dance music, gives me sensation, good feelings, a kind of physical ecstasy that’s very strong and immediate. It’s also superficial and doesn’t stand up to being listened over and over. But at a certain point this music gave me really strong sensations. It’s not like listening to a Debussy sonata, but different, and in truth I couldn’t pass up either one.”

‍David Yang, Artistic Director