Si c'etait du jour

Philippe Mion - Si c'etait du jour

Born in 1956 at Tournan en Brie. (Seine et Marne). Became a young musician - not what his family had in mind. . . .
After one year studying Higher Maths, musical studies at the CNSM in Paris in Pierre Schaeffer's and Guy Reibel's class, and Music Studies at the Sorbonne.
Worked for almost 12 years for the Ina-grm in various fields, particularly teaching, also for the "concert electroacoustique", for radio and did some musical analysis.
Assistant to P. Schaeffer and G. Reibel at the CNSM in 1977-78.
...
Through classes or artistic projects, and through actively seeking the real joy of listening, came experiments in thought and practice centred on innovation, experimenting in every type of resonant wood. These experiments were firmly ludic but still exacting, and relied heavily on <> repertoires.
An exponent of "interpretation" of acousmatic music using loud speakers in various contexts in France or abroad, in particular at the "Futura" festival, calling himself an "interpreter" but insisting also on the inverted commas round the word . . .
Since 1997, has worked part-time for the Muse en Circuit notably in teaching. In this context, manager of an electroacoustic composition workshop at the Conservatoire de Vitry.
"Deeply committed to research and experimentation in music. I attach great importance to the perceptual view in composition and do not plan in my work for musical abstraction which would not initially stem from it." (from the liner notes)

SI C'ETAIT DU JOUR (1999) (IF IT WERE DAY)

Stereo version - 8 Tracks original version
Composed in the studios of the INA-GRM

Firstly: the aim is to confront the idea of rhythm.
Later, a research session in capturing sounds, a heavy crate full of different objects in one's hands: the slight tetany which the weight causes in the muscles of the arm begins to bring out and amplify the natural tension; everything trembles, vibrates, quivers, vacillates and clashes in a barely discernible fashion. (Philippe Mion)

DES JAMBES DE FEMMES TOUT LE TEMPS (1997) (WOMEN'S LEGS ALL THE TIME)

Stereo version - 8 Tracks original version
Composed in the studios of the INA-GRM and of the Muse en Circuit

In my music, without any doubt, something other than music plays a part in my initial choices. Speaking very generally, it is the poetic connection to the world which comes into play. I could explain this willingly by visual representations, but these are no use to me as far as musical composition is concerned.
On the contrary, in order to compose, first of all I always have to get rid of images, and put them to one side, so that they are only a kind of identifying justification of things, enriching the song of movements and living forms.
Here, a kind of choreographic idea was present in my work: a sort of rectangular screen where women's bare legs pass by, jump, dance, quite joyful, lively, and light, either lightly touching the floor, or heavy, firm and solid . . .
A calligraphy of legs, an alphabet of movement.
And then, this music is fuelled by a fascination, perhaps rather a mystical one, for "briefism", for the present reduced to its most ephemeral being, the unattainable and emphatic operator of a precious cut in the fabric of the world, separating the before from the after . . ., the expectation, or the anticipation, of memory. From this come tiny sparks, hard like metal, and almost indiscernible, like drops of water. Briefness, in itself like a break in the perceptual comfort of the listening. A cold abstraction without a place in good old concrete naturalism. (Philippe Mion)

STATUE (1985)

Stereophonic Support
Composed in the studios of the INA-GRM

This piece, sentimental in its inspiration, and for which I gave myself a limit (twenty minutes for a single piece using limited "material") reflects in no uncertain terms the immoderate passion I had at that time for friction, in particular the friction of a bow, which constitutes the main part of the work. My fascination was evident in the gestural inscription, the tracks of the movement (pull-push) in its execution, and particularly in its respiratory metaphor; but also in the infinite variety of microevents produced by the trembling movement and the resistance of various materials which are rubbed:
The metal objects which were made to vibrate produced beautiful sounds which were mostly harmonic, wide brightly coloured far away horizons, full of promise, but hollow, buried in the very heart of the material, quickly covered by a "white layer", a diaphanous imprint of the movement, woven by the friction of the horsehair, like a transparent veil modestly thrown over all the pathos . . . (Philippe Mion)

Tracklisting:

1. Si c'etait du jour {16:26}

2. Des jambes de femmes tout le temps {22:13}

3. Statue {18:27}

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