• for clarinet, viola, piano and percussion (1 percussionist on a set of six cowbells, a suspended tubular bell in e flat, triangle and suspended cymbal, woodblock, piccolo snare drum and low drum). The cowbells are metallophonse with non well-tempered pitches, either real Swiss cowbells or cencerros or agogos. Select instruments so as to obtain six different sounds.

  Drum is a membranophone without snares producing a low sound.

• Duration: 24'
• 1
• Composed in 2024
• Dedicated to Martine Baeyens

I composed this quartet during a stay in July 2024 in Bruson in the family cottage of my Belgian friend Martine Baeyens to whom this composition is dedicated. Bruson is a beautiful mountain village located in the valley of Bagnes in the Swiss canton  of French speaking Valais near Verbier, famous for its music festival.  My composition entitled Bruson quartet opus 144 is structured like the solar voyage.  Sound gestures unfold one after the other until the twelve e flat pitches that mark the solar zenith, punctuated by a single tubular bell. After the climax, these shortened sound gestures return in  reverse order. Surely, some sound gestures are connected to the flora and fauna of the Alps  (swift, ibex and chamois, butterfly, fight between the queens of cow herds) as well as alphorns, hikes,  torrents, irrigation canals, ski lifts and rockslides. Nevertheless, my intention is not to describe nature. The infinite variations of colours and design of flowers and butterflies as well as the sound variation of torrents and water canals are all sources of inspiration for the composer willing to spend time. I can admire the subtle nuances of green in the paritally lit undergrowth of forests without having to be   a professional biologist. Emotion and scientific knowledge are not mutually exclusive.  In nature, everything happens for a reason. nature is never sad. I think the listener of contemporary music benefits from receiving information about the emotional content of the composition. On the other hand, explain compositional techniques reinforces the misconception that one can understand the music of past composers, unlike the music of our times.The listener often confuses understanding with familiarity which he can acquire since the invention of  recording. I would keep analysis for musicologists and my students in composition.  Back to the Bruson quartet.  The speed of the flying swift, the agility of the ibex, that is the dream of the human-bird to fly, the paraglider twirling in the skies. Walking over long distances leads to deep inner thinking:  solvitur ambulando, at least for me as composing is a personal obsession.  The twelve variations on a hike are also looking for their theme. Tovary is to deviate from the norm. My variations are thus anti-variations.  The main theme of the Bruson quartet is a dibrach consisting of two short rhythmic pulses.  This pulsation is repeated as many times as the number of the variation being introduced. Each variation contains the premises or a reminiscence of the compositional material of another variation, because I strongly believe that everything is connected. Nothing new under the sun since Anaxagoras. I endeavoured and hope to have succeeded in expressing the sensations given by Nature. Nature invites us to refreshing contemplation, ontological introspection and above all humility. Dear performer and/or concert organiser, tap in these thoughts for your programme note. Praise Nature!