• ten percussionists, harp and piano

  Player 1: triangle, piccolo triangle and 5 temple blocks

  Player 2: suspended and crash cymbals, 5 glass bottles and crotal bell

  Player 3: tam, glockenspiel 2, snare and floor drum (+ sharing bass drum)

  Player 4: tambourine, glockenspiel 1 and a cluster of jingle bells

  Player 5: egg shaker, a pair of finger cymbals and tenor drum (+ sharing bass drum)

  Player 6: crotales, timpani, timpani and bell tree (+ sharing bass drum)

  Player 7: xylophone, tubular bells, wind bells and wind chimes 

  Player 8: vibraphone and sleigh bells

  Player 9: marimba and temple bell

  Player 10: snare drum, bass drum and a Chinese bell tree.

  Pianist also plays singing bowl and the harpist a chuch altar bell.

• Duration: 11'
• 1
• Composed in 2024

Domes are awesome. They conjure elevation, perfection and purity. Unlike vaults and arches, domes have no cornerstone to cement their stability. Domes can be adorned on their top with a small dome called cupola. This is what I did in my composition dôme for a percussion ensemble of ten players with piano and harp opus 141. However, whereas my eye can travel along the hemispherical spanning element of architecture in any direction, my ear is unable to hear the future before the present. Each present moment is immediately relegated to the past. As a composer necessarily obsessed with time, I have (not yet?...) managed to superimpose in real time a past-present-future time line and a future-present-past time. I choose the dome over the ouroboros ring. I travel sonically far away from home to finally return home. The word dome itself derives from the Ancient Greek word meaning home. My composition is entitled dôme because it mirrors the structure of a dome: all musical elements unfold one after the other until a mid-point, after which they reappear in the reverse order. The tam marks the beginning, middle and end of the composition. Including a cupola motive, the five compositional elements of Dome, each one appearing five times, originate from my symphony no 6 opus 138. This massive composition premiered in 2024 contains extended non conducted percussion cadenzas and is based on the vault. My trio for percussion opus 140 entitled Arch is based on the arch. With challenging solos, energetic tuttis, delicate ensemble playing and a spiritual ending, I hope having done justice the limitless and rich world of percussion has no limits.