Jobert Pepin - Lyrae - Quatuor À Cordes He Et Percussions

Summary of this score

Lyrae is a work for string quartet, harp, and percussion, inspired by a fascinating star in the Lyra constellation: a double star whose two entities attract, repel, and eclipse each other, creating around them a stellar mist, a halo of cosmic dust charged with energy.

The piece is conceived in one continuous movement, like a true pas de deux: the forces at play take turns leading the dance, responding to and transforming each other, without ever tipping into direct confrontation. The writing highlights the dialogue of timbres and textures, exploiting the depth of the string quartet, the crystalline clarity of the harp, and the evocative power of the percussion (from the dark breath of the tamtam to the resonances of the vibraphone and marimba).

An introduction establishes an initial dark, mysterious, and threatening space, where matter rumbles and disintegrates. Gradually, this sound mass metamorphoses into luminous and sparkling dust, until a more lyrical episode emerges, like a song born from the stellar mist. The work then returns to the anguished darkness of the beginning, in an organic continuity where the two facets of Lyrae follow one another, blend, and merge.

Commissioned by the Académie du Festival d'Aix and ProQuartet, this score is intended for performers seeking a repertoire of contemporary chamber music that is demanding, sensory, and highly suggestive, ideal for concert performance as well as in-depth work on the balance of sound planes and instrumental color.

Technical specifications

Musical Genre

Classical

Composer

Camille Pépin

Instrumentation

String quartet, harp, and percussion (bass drum, marimba, vibraphone, tamtam)