Le cri du Choucas
Francis Dhomont, Franz Kafka
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1Le cri du Choucas: Entr’ouverture (2014, 15)1:56
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2Le cri du Choucas: La loi (2014, 15)4:28
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3Le cri du Choucas: La colonie pénitentiaire (2014, 15)4:37
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4Le cri du Choucas: Paraphrase I (2014, 15)1:20
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5Le cri du Choucas: Attente (2014, 15)5:10
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6Le cri du Choucas: Le père (2014, 15)14:55
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7Le cri du Choucas: Le Choucas (2014, 15)10:11
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8Le cri du Choucas: Un message impérial (2014, 15)7:14
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9Le cri du Choucas: Paraphrase II (2014, 15)1:48
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10Le cri du Choucas: Inquiétante étrangeté (2014, 15)11:36
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11Le cri du Choucas: Kafka (2014, 15)2:31
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12Le cri du Choucas: La métamorphose (2014, 15)4:34
Programme notes
To my father (the one Franz did not have)
Conceived in 1997 and left to mature slowly, Le cri du Choucas is the third and final instalment in my “Cycle des profondeurs” [Cycle of Depths], the first two parts of this long triptych (about three hours) being Sous le regard d’un soleil noir (1981) and Forêt profonde (1994-96), of which a few reminders are included in this instalment. All three are “electroacoustic melodramas” (Michel Chion) inspired by a psychoanalytic approach — Marthe Robert’s in this case, especially an insightful essay by this literary critic, translator, and psychoanalyst entitled As Lonely as Franz Kafka (1979). As Pierre Schaeffer said, “[…] how could we not wonder about the development of music itself, which mysteriously seems to build a bridge between psychology of perceptions and psychology of depths
About the title Le cri du choucas, which means “The Jackdaw’s Call”… Kavka is the Czech word for jackdaw, a bird akin to a crow whose effigy Hermann Kafka, Franz’s father, used for his store sign. Kafka himself wrote “I am a jackdaw, a helpless kavka.” This match and this title are inspired by the animal symbolism found in Kafka’s works
Before the Law, a famous section of The Trial, serves as the red thread of my piece, the Law being a metaphoric representation of the impenetrable realms the human mind hits, and not — as what the Vulgate and the adjective “Kafkaesque” usually reduce Kafka’s complex thoughts to — a portrait of bureaucratic aberrations. It is mostly “what you cannot possibly escape from”
Before this long piece, there were four Études pour Kafka which form, alongside new elements, the musical materials of this melodrama. However, these materials are assembled in a different order to fit a script highlighted by texts by and about Kafka told by multiple voices, some of them known, unknown, or transformed.
These are some of the themes covered in this work
— Francis Dhomont [English translation
Le cri du Choucas [The Jackdaw’s Call] was realized at the composer’s studio in Avignon (France), and premiered on October 15, 2014 at Théâtre Marni as part of the festival L’Espace du son in Brussels (Belgium). It was commissioned by Musiques & Recherches (Ohain, Belgium). This piece benefited, in its long research stage, of a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA) in 1997. Franz Kafka’s original texts have been translated anew in French by Francis Dhomont. Recorded voices
Premiere
- October 15, 2014, L’Espace du son 2014
: Création mondiale de Francis Dhomont, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium) - June 5, 2015, Premiere of the Spring 2015 version
: Klang électroacoustique 2015! : Concert 3: Around the World, Salle Pétrarque — Hôtel de Varennes, Montpellier (Hérault, France) - April 28, 2016, Premiere of the final version (Autumn 2015)
: T-Son 2016: T-Son 90: Kafka Revisitado, Teatro Maria de Lourdes Sekeff — Instituto de Artes da Unesp, São Paulo (Brazil)
- Writer(s): Franz Kafka
- Composer(s): Francis Dhomont
- Year of composition: 2014, 15
- Version: Trad. Francis Dhomont
- Cycle: Cycle des profondeurs
- Instrumentation: stereo fixed medium
- Publisher(s): Ymx média
- Commission: Musiques & Recherches
Movements
Entr’ouverture
- Movement of: Le cri du Choucas
- Duration: 1:56
- ISRC: CAD501610012
La loi
- Movement of: Le cri du Choucas
- Duration: 4:28
- ISRC: CAD501610013
La colonie pénitentiaire
- Movement of: Le cri du Choucas
- Duration: 4:37
- ISRC: CAD501610014
Paraphrase I
- Movement of: Le cri du Choucas
- Duration: 1:20
- ISRC: CAD501610015
Attente
- Movement of: Le cri du Choucas
- Duration: 5:10
- ISRC: CAD501610016
Le père
- Movement of: Le cri du Choucas
- Duration: 14:55
- ISRC: CAD501610017
Le Choucas
- Movement of: Le cri du Choucas
- Duration: 10:11
- ISRC: CAD501610018
Un message impérial
- Movement of: Le cri du Choucas
- Duration: 7:14
- ISRC: CAD501610019
Paraphrase II
- Movement of: Le cri du Choucas
- Duration: 1:48
- ISRC: CAD501610020
Inquiétante étrangeté
- Movement of: Le cri du Choucas
- Duration: 11:36
- ISRC: CAD501610021
Kafka
- Movement of: Le cri du Choucas
- Duration: 2:31
- ISRC: CAD501610022
La métamorphose
- Movement of: Le cri du Choucas
- Duration: 4:34
- ISRC: CAD501610023
