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Christian-Lavernier_Six-Fois-Onze_Alessandro-Solbiati (2023)

New release – Alessandro Solbiati “Six Fois Onze” Christian Lavernier – Available now

April 27, 2023 by lavernier

SIX FOIS ONZE

Ho sempre considerato l’incontro compositivo con uno strumento musicale prima mai “frequentato” come uno stimolo molto importante per ampliare il mio immaginario sonoro e per aprire in me nuovi territori espressivi. Nel corso degli anni ciò è successo via via con la fisarmonica, lo cymbalom, le “pietre sonore” dello scultore Pinuccio Sciola e con altri strumenti inconsueti. Nel caso della soñada, l’incontro è stato doppio: da una parte uno strumento stupefacente, che a prima vista appare un incrocio tra chitarra e tiorba, ma che via via rivela una ricchezza e una bellezza di sonorità, di possibilità articolative, di registri e di dinamiche del tutto sue, non paragonabili a quelle di nessun altro strumento della stessa famiglia, e dall’altra un interprete, Christian Lavernier, unico depositario dello strumento, suo vero mentore, che con immensa passione, abilità e dedizione è disposto a mettersi in gioco continuamente, a rispondere alle richieste di un compositorepensandole sempre attuabili, a “viaggiare” assieme al compositore stesso alla scoperta di nuove possibilità.

Ho conosciuto, attraverso Christian, un tal numero di risorse dello strumento, e ne ho tratto un tal numero di idee che l’unico modo per dar loro vita e suono senza scadere nel catalogo era quello di pensare ad una successione di brevi brani, ciascuno dei quali dotato di una propria evidente fisionomia figurale e immaginativa focalizzata di volta in volta su altrettanti aspetti dello strumento: il primo parte dal centro assoluto del registro strumentale per ampliarlo via via, fino a stupire per la vastità del registro stesso, il secondo sfrutta la vicinanza di accordatura grave di sesta e settima corda per poi appoggiarsi alle sonorità scure delle corde di risonanza, il terzo è basato su un bordone dell’undicesima corda suonata con un archetto affidando alla sola sinistra un canto ascendente, il quarto è una serie di velocissime e incalzanti variazioni, il quinto utilizza un ampio repertorio di tecniche estese ottenendo sonorità imprevedibili, il sesto si concentra infine sugli armonici che si possono produrre su tutte le undici corde. Spero di aver dato un contributo alla conoscenza di uno strumento di vero, grande interesse, sondando nel contempo, attraverso di lui, nuove istanze espressive.

(Alessandro Solbiati)

Link: Spotify

 

SIX FOIS ONZE

I have always considered the “compositive meeting” with a never employed instrument as an important incentive to enlarge my sound image and to open inside myself new expressive landscapes.

Over the years this happened with the accordion, the cimbalom, the “sounding stones” by the sculptor Pinuccio Sciola, and with other unusual instruments. As for soñada, it has been a double meeting: on one side an amazing instrument, at first glance a cross between a guitar and a tiorba, but which shows more and more a richness and beauty of sound, technical means, registers and dynamics absolutely original, not comparable with each other similar instrument ones, and from the other side a performer, Christian Lavernier, the only one owner of this instrument, true its own mentor, who is continuously open to put himself in the game with immense passion, skill and dedication, to answer to every composer’s request, thinking they are always possible, to “travel” with the same composer discovering new possibilities.

Across Christian, I’ve known a so large number of soñada’s resources, and I’ve obtained such a number of ideas by them that the only one way to give them life and sound without falling in a catalogue has been to imagine a series of short pieces, each of which with its own clear figural and imaginative appearance, every time based upon particular aspects of the instrument.

The first one starts from the true center of the register and enlarges it till we’re amazed by its range, the second one is around the proximity of the low tuning of sixth ad seventh string (re-mi) and then leans against the dark sound of the resonance strings, the third one is based on the “bordone” of open eleventh string, played with a bow, over which left hand sings an ascending melody; the fourth one consists in a series of very quick variations, the fifth uses a wide collection of extended techniques, obtaining unpredictable sonorities, the last one is concentrated on every kind of harmonics on the eleven strings.

I hope I could give a contribution to the knowledge and the repertory of an enormously interesting instrument, exploring at the same time with it new expressive fields of mine.

(Alessandro Solbiati) 

Link: Spotify

AUREA_Christian Lavernier EMA Edition

Aurea for Clarinet and Piano

April 17, 2023 by lavernier

PREFAZIONE

Aurea è un brano scritto per clarinetto e pianoforte, due strumenti che mi hanno sempre affascinato sia per il loro suono che per la loro dinamica complicità. Il titolo rimanda direttamente alla costruzione interna della composizione che segue la sezione aurea di Fibonacci. Nella sua struttura formale viene esposto un tema, che passa dal pianoforte al clarinetto ; successivamente vi è una parte centrale dove si elabora uno sviluppo libero. In seguito, il tema viene ripreso ma invertendo le entrate e rovesciando le parti. Ho volutamente scritto le indicazioni metriche delle battute fuori dal pentagramma per una
maggiore comprensione e facilità di lettura. Questa piccola opera è dedicata al clarinettista Tommaso Lonqhich, che ne ha ispirato la sua realizzazione e che ringrazio per i preziosi consigli.

Link EMA Edition

Parigi, 05 Marzo 2023
Christian Lavernier

 

FOREWORD

Aurea is a piece written for clarinet and piano, two instruments that have always fascinated me both for their sound and their dynamic complicity. The title refers directly to the interna construction of the composition, which follows Fibonacci’s sequence. In its formal structure, a theme is expounded, which passes from the piano to the clarinet; then there is a central part where a free development is elaborated. Later, the theme is taken up again but by inverting
the entrances and reversing the parts.
I have deliberately written the metrical indications of the bars off the staff for greater
understanding and ease of reading. This small work is dedicated to clarinetist Tommaso
Lonqhich, who inspired its creation and whom I thank for valuable suggestions.

Link EMA Edition

Paris, 05 March 2023
Christian Lavernier

Alessandro Solbiati six fois onze Christian Lavernier

Alessandro Solbiati “SIX FOIS ONZE” per La Soñada

January 25, 2023 by lavernier

SIX FOIS ONZE è stato composto su richiesta di Christian Lavernier, che ringrazio sentitamente per la collaborazione strumentale fornita. Il brani sono a lui dedicati.

La soñada è un particolarissimo strumento costruito per Christian Lavernier dal liutaio Carlos Gonzales. Si tratta di una sorta di incrocio tra una chitarra e una tiorba: la base è costituita da una chitarra a sette corde (alle tradizionali sei se ne aggiunge una settima più grave, accordata in re). A tali sette corde si aggiungo quattro corde di risonanza, o di bordone, più gravi, normalmente accordate in sol-la-si-do, ma che nel corso dei sei movimenti di SIX FOIS ONZE vengono variamente scordate. Tali quattro corde non possono essere tastate, in quanto fuori tastiera, ma possono essere suonate in vario modo, producendo risonanze o suoni smorzati o armonici e così via. La profondità di suono di questo strumento è davvero straordinaria, e ringrazio dunque Christian Lavernier di avermi dato la possibilità di conoscerlo ed indagarlo fino a comporre questi sei brevi movimenti, molto diversi l’uno dall’altro.

"Six fois onze" by Alessandro Solbiati
“Six fois onze” by Alessandro Solbiati

L’esecuzione integrale è naturalmente decisamente preferibile, ma lascio all’interprete la possibilità di un’esecuzione parziale, in particolari circostanze.

Le alterazioni valgono solo per la nota davanti alla quale sono poste

Edizioni Suvini Zerboni

DURATA: 13

(Alessandro Solbiati)

Light Side Lavernier

Light Side Available

September 20, 2022 by lavernier

“Light Side” is a tribute to the art of Lucio Fontana and his search for a “third” dimension

beyond the canvas. The long work done on the cuts leads to a different concept than the

bi-dimensionality of the canvas. It was Lucio Fontana himself who wrote: “I never wanted

to destroy, on the contrary, I wanted to create because light passes through it”. The idea

for this work for “La Soñada”, an eleven-string guitar made by the luthier Carlos

Gonzalez, starts from the idea of exploiting an initial sound input given by the rubbing of

the finger of the right hand on the eleventh string, creating a sound effect reminiscent of

the cutting of the canvas. This creates a resonant, suspended melody that accompanies

the whole piece, interspersed with the cuts made by the eleventh string when rubbing the

fingernail on it, as if one could see beyond the canvas and imagine new figures. The main

melody, always free and resonant, ends with a diminuendo finale that tends to become

weaker until it stops in suspension.

Paris, 9 Marzo 2022

Christian Lavernier

Available here
Lavernier Oumuamua

Oumuamua Available

July 12, 2022 by lavernier

Oumuamua is the first interstellar object sighted in our galaxy and its name, taken from the Hawaiian language, comes from the fact that the telescope that first observed it is located on these very islands. In the indigenous language, Oumuamua means ‘messenger from far away’. The asteroid, which has an elongated and unusual shape, was discovered in 2017 and has a hyperbolic trajectory, which is particularly anomalous compared to that of other objects observed in our solar system, so much so that it has captured the attention of various scholars who have formulated various hypotheses, ranging from natural formation to that of an interstellar artifact. However, we cannot know for sure where it came from and Oumuamua remains an enigma to scientists to this day. It approached the Earth at a minimum distance of 24 million kilometres and then moved away, accelerating at a speed of about 70,000 miles per hour. Oumuamua’s “lightning visit” will take about four years to return to interstellar space from whence it came. This work is dedicated to the duo formed by Thorwald Jørgensen and Josip Dragnić, who play theremin and guitar respectively. The theremin is an electronic instrument invented in 1919 by Soviet physicist Lev Sergeevič Termen. The characteristics of this particular instrument, which involves oscillators working in isofrequencies, producing beats and thus sound waves, prompted me to write this score. At the beginning we hear radio interference from the theremin’s glissati, then a slow advance brings in the guitar. Afterwards, everything is thrown into a sonic vortex that seems to approach and then dissolve into nothingness like the passage of Oumuamua. Paris, 9 Marzo 2022 Christian Lavernier 

Paris, 31 Marzo 2022 Christian Lavernier

Available here
Helgoland-Lavernier

Helgoland Available

June 8, 2022 by lavernier

Helgoland is an island in the North Sea where Werner Heisenberg conceived his theory of quantum physics, which still today brings with it enigmas and confirmations. The idea for this piece written for La Soñada came after reading a book by Carlo Rovelli entitled “Helgoland” and after many conversations with Antonella Fatai, a brotherly friend who has been involved in mathematics, physic and teaching all her life. The beginning of the piece is not accidental. From the beginning until bar twenty-four a retrograde mirror canon is developed. In this type of canon the following voice starts from the last note of the previous one and continues backwards, ending with the initial note from which it started. If you overlap bar one and bar twenty-four or bar twenty-three and bar two, and so on, you will observe how the contents are overlapped and one is reversed, hence retrograde. Subsequently there is a whirling “tempo moderato” that makes everything much more fluid, with deep and low sounds and then returns in a “dreamy and fluctuating” time to our retrograde mirror canon that this time is further inverted in its internal structure, the beginning becomes the end and the end becomes the beginning. I dedicate this work to the Conti Fatai family, to Paolo, Antonella, Maria, Elisa, Anna, Matteo, Lorenzo and Elena Sofia. A part of me is indissolubly linked to them by a brotherly friendship.

Paris, 31 Marzo 2022 Christian Lavernier

 

 

Cover image – On the strings at home, by Lorenzo Raspanti

 

Available here
Christian Lavernier_6 STUDI per Chitarra__EMA Edition copertina Lavernier

Six guitar studies available

April 13, 2022 by lavernier

There are many guitar studies on which generations of guitarists, including myself, have been trained and which still today remain milestones in the technical musical development of this instrument. However, I felt the need to give shape to my own proposal to elaborate and investigate some specific technical aspects concerning “Accents, Left Hand Jumps, Ligatures, Chords, Harmonics and Tremolo”. In the “Studio I” dedicated to accents, each aspect of the right hand is highlighted by passing the respective accents on each finger in rotation: index, middle, ring and thumb. In this way, a conscious and homogeneous control over movement and force is developed. In the “Studio II” dedicated to the jumps of the left hand, I have prepared a series of obligatory jumps that force the dialogue between “eye” and “joints” in a coordinated and joint manner. The eye will arrive, at an advanced stage of study, always before the left hand on the notes indicated. Studio III” is dedicated to ligatures, the cross and delight of every self-respecting guitarist. The various formulas proposed aim to develop a strengthening of those weaker joints, such as the middle ring finger, forcing unusual gestures that can often appear in various scores of both past and contemporary music. In “Studio IV” we work on timbre and sound balance in the tuning phase. The guitar is an instrument that produces sound in a unique way and the chords and their balance, the “sound filling”, depends on the right hand and its degree of sensitivity and control over the strings. The harmonics proposed in “Studio V” are instead a well known guitar technique and widely used in various eras, here proposed with the use of “artificial” harmonics mixed with natural harmonics and with a fingering “in imitation of the harp” using the thumb, index and ring fingers in a fluid way, reconstructing the chord and its movement. Finally, “Studio VI” on the tremolo, another technique peculiar to the guitar. The fingerings proposed, some of which, such as the middle and ring fingers on decidedly unusual rebates, form a balance and education of the joints even on unusual movements that many times are not fully controlled and can create an unbalance within the tremolo itself. In my studies I have tried to work out compositional formulas that will allow the student (or whoever is in an in-depth study of music) to understand possible technical weaknesses and overcome them without forgetting that technique remains an individual matter.

Available here
Lavernier travel new album

Travel New Album Available

December 8, 2021 by lavernier

There are places and stories, which join us through music, and evolve and change in the gaily-coloured tesserae of this recording mosaic. In 1805 Napoleon Coste (1805-1883) was born in Amodans, a little french village near Switzerland. Napoleon did not become a soldier as his father had hoped and the music was his only weapon. So many images and the breath of the lovely french spot live in Les soirées d’Auteuil Op.23 which include two “movimenti” – Serenade and Scherzo – from the collection Souvenirs. Only one year’s difference between this composer and Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806-1856). In the 1840 Mertz was in Vienna and the influence of his wife, a talented pianist, became clear; the Fantasie Hongroise, marked by some structural features of piano music, was composed in this period. Our journey continues in Spain. During a concert by Antonio Jiménez Manjon, a blind guitarist, the guitarist Miguel Llobet (1878-1938) feels a deep calling for music which carries him to explore popular expressions of this art. The anonymous theme of “Follia” charmes him so strongly that he decides to complete the work of Sor with the Variazioni Op.15. Other places and other stories. Enrique Granados (1867-1916) write the famous Oriental for piano, part of the 12 Danzas españolas composed in 1890. The music world is and has always been a mix of talents and abilities which interlace. So, an already famous Segovia, conscious of his talent, pushed an hesitant Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) to write for guitar. In 1936, in three days only, the Tarantella Op.87a, here in its original version, was ready. In 1961 the composer refined his sensibility in El sueño de la razón produce monstruos, one of the 24 Caprichos inspired by Goya’s pictures. Now, our journey takes us to Brazil with Sergio Assad (1952-) with the magic and ‘saudade’ of Farewell, before going to Florence where the sicilian guitarist Nuccio D’Angelo (1955-) composed Due Canzoni Lidie. He exploits the archaic mode called Lydus through which time is transformed from ancient into modern. In the same year was born the french composer Roland Dyens (1955-2016), from Algeria, and Alfonso Montes (1955-), from Venezuela. The Dyens’ style tells about his disease and he expresses its evolution by three times : “before” the disease in India, “during” the disease in Largo and then the “new life” in Fuoco. Montes describes with intense melancholy the sense of separation in Preludio de Adios. Finally back to Italy, in a little town near Imperia, Pieve di Teco, Luchino Belmonti (1931-2002) spreads everywhere his innovative ideas. His theory of the integral scale was used even in 1997 in his only work for guitar Vagando here performed for the first time in the world. Our journey ends with a simple idea: the music cannot exist if it is always the same.

Leo Brouwer Christian Lavernier

LEO BROUWER “HABANERA TRUNCA” for LA SOÑADA

November 11, 2021 by lavernier

Today is released the new edition of the work “Habanera trunca” by Leo Brouwer, in 11 strings version, dedicated to Christian Lavernier, expressly studied for La Soñada and its expressive features.

After a close meeting with Christian Lavernier in 2017 in Paris, at the beginning of the project with the 11-string guitar “La Soñada” designed and made by luthier Carlos Gonzalez, Leo Brouwer rethinks the 2012 piece “Habanera trunca” for this new instrument. The Cuban master now takes into consideration the expressive possibilities of the 11 strings and the personality of Christian Lavernier. To the latter, this new version is expressly dedicated.

“It is an unexpected gift, an honor to have so much interest from a great master such as Leo Brouwer. Four years ago he saw something in this instrument that I was just beginning to know. Now he gives it a voice.” – C. Lavernier

Habanera Trunca Danzas Rituales y Festivas Vol. 1 
para guitarra (2012) de Leo Brouwer
Versión para guitarra de 11 cuerdas (2021) dedicada a Christian Lavernier

Video licenciado por Leo Brouwer

© 2021 Ediciones Espiral Eterna. https://www.eeebrouwer.com

Aria New Album by Christian Lavernier

ARIA – NEW ALBUM

March 11, 2021 by lavernier

In 2019, while I was walking through the streets of Paris, my eyes saw a small book on the ground. It was “Oscariana” by Oscar Wilde. I looked in vain for its owner: the book was brand new, just bought with the receipt still inside. I couldn’t find anyone who claimed it, so I decided to take it home with me. A few days later, I started to write the first track of this record, “Oscariana”, with the idea of layering different layers of sound. I have always dreamed of playing with my own self, but for one reason or another, I have never found the way to make it possible. This could have been the right opportunity. La Soñada could follow me on this journey, in fact I think it traced the path even before I played the first note. I decided to overdub three tracks one on top of the other, three Soñadas, three lines, three me. This work has required about two years of study and the construction of individual scores, as if they were three different instruments and three instrumentalists who meet in Paris on any given day and decide to make music together. I explored further the possibilities of this wonderful eleven-stringed instrument, its colours, working on the live sound, its character. I have known (or maybe, re-known) those three completely different musicians, with their fears and their own ways of seeing the music. It’s a work that gathers the personal listenings and sonorities of many years of life, from Classical music to Contemporary music, passing through Jazz.I tried to bring together these three musicians who have hated and loved each other, and who in the end decided to make music together, without having any expectation other than finding a sound and personal image that could truly represent them. It has been an exciting journey, sometimes frightening, like all journeys, and like all journeys it has come to an end. “Aria” like that we breathe, “Aria” like the breath of a wind that I did not know and that has been my daily companion during these two years of research.

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Recent Posts

  • New release – Alessandro Solbiati “Six Fois Onze” Christian Lavernier – Available now
  • Aurea for Clarinet and Piano
  • Alessandro Solbiati “SIX FOIS ONZE” per La Soñada
  • Light Side Available
  • Oumuamua Available

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