Musique A Grande Vitesse (MGV ) translates as 'high speed music' and was commissioned by the Festival de Lille for the inauguration of the TGV North European Paris-Lille line in 1993.The piece runs continuously, but was conceived as an abstract, imaginary journey- or rather five inter-connected journeys, each ending with a slow, mainly stepwise melody which is only heard in its 'genuine' form when the piece reaches its destination.Thematic 'transformation' is a key to MGV as a whole. Throughout the piece ideas - rhythmic, melodic, harmonic, motivic, textural - constantly change their identity as they pass through different musical 'environments'.The opening bars establish both a recurrent rhythmic principle - 9, 11, or 13-beat rhythmic cycles heard against a regular 8 - and a harmonic process - chord sequences (mainly over C and E) which have the note E in common. (Coincidentally, MGV begins in C and ends in E). A later scalic, syncopated figure (again first heard over C, E and A) begins the second section, featuring Brass, in D flat.The topography of MGV should be experienced without reference to planning, description or timetables. The piece's tempo changes and unpredictable slowings down bear no logical relation to the high speed of the Paris-Lille journey, while the temptation to treat MGV as a concerto grosso, with the Michael Nyman band as the ripeno, was resisted: more suitably the band (amplified in live performance) lays down the tracks on which MGV runs. / Orchestre

Concert Suite. Par HENZE HANS WERNER. Henze also wrote the music of the successful film Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum, co-produced by Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta from the novel by Heinrich Böll: 'Böll's novella is about a young woman whose life is ruined because of the persecution and slander of the German yellow press. The story is set in Cologne and its surroundings and casts a light on Germany in the Seventies: estrangement, destruction of the environment, triumph of the middle classes, use of force by the police. The music comments on these circumstances, rather than describing them. Everything that sounds soft and sentimental refers to Katharina and her friend who is pursued by the police and suspected of being a terrorist. Scenes of violence, traffic chaos and, right in the middle, the carnival of Cologne are subjects of the other pieces.'/ Répertoire / Orchestre de Chambre