Pascale Criton, Sounding Limits; Silvia Tarozzi & Deborah Walker Duo
Sounding Limits features a series of microtonal compositions for violin and cello tuned in 1/16th of a tone. They are the result of a long-term collaboration between the French composer Pascale Criton and the Italian string players Silvia Tarozzi and Deborah Walker. After being performed at international festivals and venues in Europe, Sounding Limits will be presented for the first time in the United States in the Fall of 2017.
Since the 1980s, Pascale Criton has been exploring sound variability, microtunings, multisensory receptions and the spatialization of listening. Her writing uses specific tunings (1/12th, 1/16th) applied to various instruments (violin, cello, guitar and piano) combined with computing and listening devices.
Silvia Tarozzi, violin, and Deborah Walker, cello, are actively involved in the fields of contemporary experimental music and free improvisation. Together with Pascale Criton they have been exploring microtonal extended techniques and gestural processes on a violin and a cello tuned in 1/16 of a tone. The compositions that have resulted from this process are conceived as scripts. They challenge the sense of form and the attitude of interpretation, transforming it into a creative process. Time and motion are no longer defined by pitches and metrical systems but are embodied as diagrams and moods.
Silvia Tarozzi & Deborah Walker DUO
Silvia Tarozzi (violin) and Deborah Walker (cello) have been working together since 2003. Their collaborations with composers focuses on new techniques for string instruments, experimenting with new possibilities in tunings, gestures and sound. They have premiered works specially written for their duo by Pascale Criton, Eliane Radigue, Philip Corner, Tim Parkinson among others.
Silvia and Deborah have played at International venues and Festivals, such as Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK), Fondation Cartier (Paris), Biennale Musica Venezia (IT), Café Oto (London), Angelica Festival (Bologna, IT), Festival Musique Action (Nancy, FR), Festival Futurs Composés (Paris), Fast Forward Festival – Opera Roma (IT), Why Note (Dijon, FR). Their recordings include works of Pascale Criton released by the French label POTLATCH, as well as works by Philip Corner, to be released soon.
Pascale Criton (1954)
Pascale Criton studied composition with Ivan Wyschnegradsky, Gérard Grisey and Jean-Etienne Marie. She received electro-acoustic training at the CIRM (International Centre for Musical Research, Nice), from 1980 to 1982, as well as in a musical computing course for composers at the IRCAM (Paris, 1986) and earned a PhD in musicology (1999).
Pascale Criton works explore alternative tunings and enlarged listening. As artistic director of Art&Fact, she organises events combining music, spaces and listening devices. Her works have been performed by ensembles such as l’Ensemble 2e2m, l’Itinéraire, Aleph, Accroche Note, Taller Sonoro, Dedalus in internationnal venues and festivals. She has collaborated with music research studios such as Ircam, InaGRM (Radio-France) or GMEM (Centre National de creation musicale, Marseille). She recently edited Ivan Wyschnegradsky, Libération du son, Ecrits 1916-1979, Symétrie (awarded by Singer-Polignac Foundation, 2014) and Gilles Deleuze, la pensée-musique, Symétrie (2015), a testimony of her encounter with the philosopher Gilles Deleuze regarding music. Among works: Plis for 13 instruments and electronics (commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture), Trans a microtonal cycle for two guitars (2014-2016), Website: www.pascalecriton.com