Sonate spatiale

The idea to write a piece inspired by the ‘Star Trek’ universe was given me by the pianist Etienne Murith, to whom the ‘Sonate Spatiale’ is dedicated. In searching for a starting point for my composition, I asked him to tell me about some decisive moments or events in his youth. During this conversation, he talked to me about the film ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’, the first full-length film that he had especially liked, in particular the music (by Jerry Goldsmith). As a science fiction fan, the idea grabbed me immediately and I subsequently watched the film several times to fill my mind with the atmosphere of the film. I then selected seven key moments of the film that would inspire me for each movement of the sonata: The piece begins with dark and threatening atmospheres in the first movement, entitled La nuée. Kolinhar, the second movement, describes through a very free use of certain principles of serial music composition (mixed with an omnipresent harmonic and melodic thread) the conflict within the character of Spock, part human part Vulcan, who is constantly torn between pure logic and emotions. The third, Le vaisseau Enterprise, evokes the grandiose image of a space vessel floating majestically through space. The strange, angular, though feminine, appearance of Ilia, in the fourth movement inspired in me a melody that presents the same characteristics and is taken up again in the sixth movement, Le robot Ilia, this time accompanied by an unchanging and mechanical ground bass (ostinato) symbolising her transformation into a robot by the entity V’Ger. The fifth movement, La spirale, describes, through a series of repetitive motifs ranging in volume from pianissimo to fortissimo (the number of which is left to the performer to decide), the scene in which the ‘USS Enterprise’ is drawn into an almost catastrophic spatial-temporal spiral. Concluding the piece, the movement entitled Voyager describes with its floating and airy character the voyage of the probe of the same name through an infinite and ethereal space.