Théâtre des Champs Elysées Mai 1913 (2013)

This suite follows the aesthetic concept of Static Music. The Théâtre des Champs Elysées was opened in 1913 and in May of the same year it provided space for three important music premieres. The pieces were an opera by Fauré called Penelope, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Debussy’s Jeux.

A collection of photography can represent instants of a certain time and context, and in this suite, the same idea is produced but with ‘musical instants’, fragments of sound expanded for an indefinite duration to represent a moment in time. Thus, three ‘instants’ have been selected for each composition, representing an important time and place in the history of music. This suite was composed exactly one hundred years after the event, as a way of expressing a historical homage.

Sonority Details

The instants were subjectively selected from original recordings and stretched to sound endlessly. The original composed sonority has been borrowed and used as a ‘musical collage’ to produce an original composition.

Instants Location

I – Jeux, 1st Instant Rehearsal Number 29, 2nd bar, 2nd beat



II – Jeux, 2nd Instant Rehearsal Number 32



III – Jeux, 3rd Instant Rehearsal Number 81



IV – Le Sacre du Printemps, 1st Instant Part I – A Kiss of the Earth, Rehearsal Number 1



V – Le Sacre du Printemps, 2nd Instant Part I – The Augurs of Spring, Dances of the Young Girls Rehearsal Number 13



VI – Le Sacre du Printemps, 3rd Instant Part II – The Exalted Sacrifice, Introduction Rehearsal Number 80



VII – Penelope, 1st Instant Act I: Scene IV, bar 148



VIII – Penelope, 2nd Instant Act III: Scene VII, bar 15, 2nd beat



IX – Penelope, 3rd Instant Act III: Scene VII, bar 25



Production Date

This suite was composed in October 2013 and was only released online for public experience in May 2014.