Farait un vers de dreit nien is a playful poem written in medieval Occitan by William IX, the Duke of Aquitaine (1071-1126). When I first came across the poem many years ago, I knew I would end up using it somehow and when I was given the opportunity to write for Jean-François Laporte and his incredible Siren Organ was a match made in medieval heaven. Jean-François’ instrument is based on principles a medieval musician would immediately be comfortable with and of course the singing voice has a natural affinity with wind instruments. Besides, William of Aquitaine was, like Jean–François Laporte the first of his kind: troubadour and air-compressor equilibrist, respectively.
The
piece is based around a three-channel tape part and Jean-François' playing. It was premiered in Phipps Hall at the University of Huddersfield on the 17 May 2014 and travelled a few days later to the Conservatorio de Giuseppe Verdi in Turin, Italy. |
