Improving the practice and performance of contemporary music

Interpretational difficulties

Use of the voice

As mentioned above, the purpose of the voice in this piece is to accompany the coils or to be a sustained resonance of the coils. It should never be soloistic or too loud. Originally, I practised the whole voice part quite loud and present. When I first worked with the composer, Billone immediately asked me to change that. The voice part should be observing and objective, not expressive. Yet, I think it is very important to practise the voice part in the same meticulous manner as the coil part, to obtain a harmonious whole that sounds very natural.

Musical tactics

All of Billone’s pieces are very long and the musical material is so different from what we are accustomed to, that it is difficult to plan a musical tactic for these pieces. In a way, the music is very expressive and gestural, which made me choose for an intuitive approach: not really shaping or phrasing, just seeing what comes next. Using this tactic, you can also achieve his demand of moving from one movement of the piece into another without connection, as a total surprise.