Slinckx / Castillo - C#2 [CD]

The C#1 project (duo for organ and electronics, Cypres CYP0613), conducted with Cindy Castillo, saw us spend a lot of time in the special world of churches. We played the piece on exceptional organs such as the Thomaskirche in Kassel (Germany) and Brussels Cathedral, often in breathtaking acoustics. At the same time, we wanted to find a way for our duo to exist outside churches without abandoning the instrument around which we work: the organ. Cindy acquired a tiny medieval organetto, barely two octaves long. This type of portable hand-bellowed organ, typically played by angel musicians in religious iconography, was very popular in the Middle Ages before disappearing after the Renaissance. This instrument is, in fact, the very opposite of a great organ, and that's what makes it so beautiful. It's timbre is fragile and malleable, it's sound intimate and full of "impurities" that give it a warmth to which no symphonic organ can aspire. I immediately appreciated it's playfulness. In addition to it's small, toy-like size, it's a sonic playground on which to achieve some very surprising, almost electronic results. The pressure applied to the bellows has a strong impact on pitch and timbre, making this instrument as organic as it is difficult to master. While I was composing C#2, a duo for organetto and electronics, my second son was born, followed a few months later by Cindy's daughter. Naturally, I wanted to create music steeped in childhood and dreams. For this reason, C#2 is full of metallic timbres, strange music boxes and vaguely 8-bit sounds remotely reminiscent of old video games. C#2 is also a kind of huge Frère Jacques arrangement (without the irony of Mahler's first symphony). The mountains on the cover are the Dolomites photographed from the Cadore Valley in Italy. The mountains of my childhood vacations. Their majesty and power have always impressed me deeply. Now I realize that they are as fragile as a child. Pierre Slinck