Lire de Soi 1

Lire de Soi was composed during summer 2020, as my first piece after the strange period of lockdown due to coronavirus that put a stop to any desire of composition. At least, summer brought back some appetite and enabled the writing of the piece. Its title Lire de Soi indicates some proximity with my previous pieces for guitar and live electronics Fil de Soi 1 and 2. The design of the live electronics in Faust language uses the same modules. But the title (which means ‘’Reading from Yourself’’ in english) also refers to the ambient surrounding of networks permanently trying to read information from what people have in their mind, without leaving them time to do it by themselves and for themselves.

The piece is dedicated to Florentino Calvo, a wonderful mandolinist I am very happy to collaborate with.

In this piece, I have worked on the idea of tremolo, which seems to me one of the most important play mode at the octave mandola. Tremolo in the instrument part of course, as well as tremolo in the electronics. Live sound processing is here based on delay lines used in two different ways: either as chains of delays enabling to create rhythmic motives at a certain tempo, or as infinite delays with a high reinjection closer to tremolos. The second ones can be considered as the limit of the first ones when for instance the tempo increases.

Vertically, an aggregate composed of intervals of major thirds augmented of a quartertone is used to provide instrumental and electronic material.