Atem Lied Pièces contemporaines pour flûte basse de Rotaru Sarto Howokawa Ferneyhough

Breath, breathing gestures, and the poetry that arises from respiration have always been at the center of my preoccupations as a performer. Just as we are unable to live without breathing, there would be no music without breath. The flute is an instrument with no intermediary between breath and sound: indeed, the entire sound of the instrument becomes a part of the performer’s body once a very high artistic and instrumental level has been attained. But I see things the other way: my body has become an extension of the instrument. This sensation is even stronger when I play bass flute, as though I were submerged in the depths of the sound. I’m reminded that the word breath also signifies the spirit in several languages: for instance, pneuma (ancient Greek), or qi (Chinese), and doubtless many other languages I’m not aware of. This CD brings together pieces that I love deeply, and that provide a showcase for the bass flute and the poetry that is born of breath. In this booklet, I’m including the words that seem to me to be right at the time I write them, far from any sort of musicological research, almost as though I were inscribing a few words in a photo book to preserve my memories, since every piece is tied to specific moments and memories of the past few years.