The piece is based on three simple thematic elements which, each in their own way, refer to the past and therefore to the central idea of the work. A rhythmic formula, a sort of "ticking", image of inexorable time and which, in various variations, calibrates the whole piece. A melodic theme launched by the trumpet in a modal E minor, pseudo-medieval or reborn chant (like an old song). A cell of three notes in long values, a call motif that sounds like the start of a Gregorian cantus firmus or a chorale. The work is divided into four sections ...

The tender and nostalgic melody of the beginning of the piece appears in a profoundly peaceful and luminous atmosphere. This single and omnipresent theme, supported by warm harmonies, never stops rising, desperate, until it reaches a poignant climax.
Doors to heavenly music then open, instruments suspended in the high register, while a violin, as a comforting Angel, introduces itself into the dialogue.
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1. Tictac tictac / Tick-tock tock-tock
2. Mouvement stellaire / Stellar movement
3. Les secondes danses / The second dances
4. Goutte de temps / Drop of time
5. Entrechoc / Entrechoc

Commission from Ctésibios Ensemble : Khrystyna Sarksyan, flute / Thibaut Rezniceck, cello andQuentin Guérillot, organ.
Recording in Saint-Etienne-du-Mont, Paris, le 24-25 june 2019

Pulse is an energetic and rhythmic work
that draws its inspiration from the Brazilian percussion of Batacuda without sacrificing a musical language both fully contemporary and personal. A darting, two-voiced theme emerges progressively. Distant and mysterious, it leads to a rhythmic, dancing motif that will continue to be developed throughout. The composition expresses itself around these two thematic elements, which form the building blocks of the whole. Through them, the listener travels
to the heart of a pulsating world in which saxophones resonate with force and colour.
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Also available in CD by Ellipsos Quartet. United Colors Album, NoMadMusic CD label.

This work describes the ascent of Mont-Blanc by three musicians of the Orchestre des Pays de Savoie, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the orchestra.
Details of movements:
1. Jubilations (1 mn 20 s)
2. Nuit (1 mn 30 s)
3. De l'aube vers les cimes / From dawn to the summit (4 mn 20s)
4. Les marches au Sommet / The steps at the top (3 mn 30s)
5. Postlude (1 mn)

Purchase the CD here: Romain Leleu, trumpet and the Orchestre d'Auvergne conducted by Roberto Forés Veses
The tender and nostalgic melody of the beginning of the piece appears in a profoundly peaceful and luminous atmosphere. This single and omnipresent theme, supported by warm harmonies, never stops rising, desperate, until it reaches a poignant climax.
Doors to heavenly music then open, instruments suspended in the high register, while a violin, as a comforting Angel, introduces itself into the dialogue.
Purchase the score here.

The artists' inner world is their citadel, the source of their inspiration and a refuge where they may reconnect with themselves.
A plaintive song emanates from the cello, supported by granitic, unchanging piano chords. The piano then takes the floor with a powerful theme in long note valves (meas. 13) that unfolds in various instrumental combinations.

1 - Dancing Stars (Les étoiles qui dansent)
2 - Glimmer (Lueur)
3 - Passage into the Underworld (La traversée des morts)

This work is a slow journey to death until the notes forming the name of DUTILLEUX emerge. (D=Ré, U=Sol,... in the French Sol-Fa system)
Les étoiles qui dansent (Dancing Stars) is constructed upon a theme revolving around a central note. Alternately rhythmic or lyrical, this pattern makes way for a second theme that will grimly collapse in the end.
Lueur (Glimmer) alternates a pizzicato nocturnal dance and the sound of plaintive voices (arco) in the upper register of the instrument. Halfway through the movement, the death-like atmosphere is dispelled and the mood becomes meditative with the return of the 'Étoiles' theme.
In the beginning of La traversée des morts (Passage into the Underworld), the cellist's bow evokes the oars of Charon's infernal boat in Greek mythology. The tempo increases until the enunciation of the notes that form the name of DUTILLEUX, to whom this work is a tribute. An infernal outburst brings the piece to its conclusion.
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These three "Tales" may be performed separately or as a unit. They are inspired by a legend related to the Siege of La Rochelle in 1627-28. Appel (Call) is an evocation of the Hendaye sailors who made to La Rochelle to support the French fleet. L'ange noir (Back Angel) depicts the dead calm sea as the vessels come close to their goal and the wind suddenly abates: the sailors pray to the Virgin Mary for a favorable wind. Epopée (Epic) reflects the dangers and confusion of naval warfare and the French sailors' restored hope.
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This piece in three parts is composed around a theme based on a major sixth interval (lyrical) and mirror writing processes.
In the first part, very rhythmic and tormented, the main melody of the piece is heard in the background. Harmonic music follows with colorful swings and surrounded by fragmented memories of the beginning of the piece.
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This piece was inspired by The Snow Queen, one of Hans Christian Andersen's tales describing an evil mirror which distorts real life, rendering it ugly and negative.
The story is illustrated by many symmetrical effects influencing various elements of the work. The opening modal and polytonal idiom is intended to evoke a magical realm, while the second part inhabits a completely chromatic world. After this change comes the third and final part: an absolutely precise recapitulation of the first, except that all silences/rest have disappeared. This simple technique radically transforms the nature of the musical material.

Impulsion is based on a constantly repeated melody and each new intervention is transposed from the last note of the "theme". Combining passacaglia and variation, this melody naturally goes through the cycle of twelve sounds.
This piece also presents numerous chords and reflective modes: writing procedures recently devised by the composer.
But for the listener, these hidden structures give way to rhythmic music, built by strata, and characterized by ascending lines and impulses that continue to suspend the discourse to extreme tessitura. These energies are erased at the center of the work (measure 97), the content and form are then reflected in a spread clarity.
This work was composed for my friends from the Utopik Ensemble in Nantes.