La Statue du Temps

Composed in 2023 in memory of the long piano-playing sessions with my father, La Statue du Temps is composed of three sections.
The first section captures time in an obvious stillness punctuated by long bass chords, interspersed with delicate high-pitched motifs on the piano.
The announcement of a second section is recognized by the appearance of ascending scales opening the way to this central part. Initiated by an arabesque motif in the upper register of the piano, the bass of the instrument responds with transformed or varied answers. These sonic volutes exchanged between the two pianists reach their climax in the extreme registers of the instrument. This brings us to the end of this second period and, as if the sound could not be any wider, the last part opens with the smallest and largest interval of all – the octave. Striking like insistent bells, these octaves elicit strange responses from the bass of the instrument thanks to a technique involving the piano strings.
The piece ends like a kind of coda which, like a slow chorale, seems to magnify the immutability of time passing inexorably.