In François-Bernard Mâche's still limited discography, this disc is sure to take pride of place. It brings together three recent works of the highest quality, which also perfectly reflect the aesthetic credo of their author - an Attic classicism fertilizing the most contemporary discoveries...
...it is perhaps in the twelve minutes of Sopiana (1980) that this disc is most remarkable and moving. In this page for flute and piano - featuring Pierre-Yves Artaud and Jacqueline Méfano - Mâche superimposes, extends and blends the natural song of two birds with traditional instruments, asking the latter to blend in or, on the contrary, to continue the birds' song in the same range of timbres, or to give rhythm to their curves. It's a prodigious, dizzying feat of virtuosity that captivates, subjugates and compels admiration, as virtuosity - which could have been just that - becomes a work of art in its own right. What we hear is a marvellous pyrotechnic of sound, a fabulous piece of prestidigitation, delicately crafted and, through its profound poetry and alliance with Nature, standing out admirably from contemporary production.

                                           Jean Gallois, Diapason January 1983

François-Bernard Mâche: from Agrégation to electro-acoustics

It's a common misconception that electro-acoustic music is a refuge for non-musicians, not to say conservatory failures. The truth is that the most prominent exponents of electro-acoustic music have "letters". Pierre Henry and Jean-Claude Eloy, to name but two of the best-known, had outstanding classical music studies; as for François-Bernard Mâche, he studied with Messiaen while pursuing his literary studies at the École Normale Supérieure. Agrégé de lettres classiques and holder of a master's degree in Greek archaeology, he taught contemporary poetry for six years, while discovering cultures outside the Christian West and learning the techniques of electro-acoustic music.

He was the first to apply the methods of linguistics and semiology to musical analysis and composition. A co-founding member of the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (G.R.M.) as early as 1958, he was quick to abandon purely electronic compositions, combining tape, noise, keyboard or voice and instruments in "mixed" works. Distinguished in 1966 by the discoverer Hermann Scherchen and by Polish radio, then in the midst of creative prospection, he was a guest at avant-garde festivals (Royan, Warsaw, Tanglewood), took part in the heyday of the Persepolis Festival and achieved international renown.
Unlike Pierre Henry and Jean-Claude Eloy, his use of pure electro-acoustics is relatively discreet, and he draws heavily on the sounds of nature, primordial water and, under the distant influence of Messiaen, birdsong. Having become an independent and original creator, he avoided the pitfalls and dryness of experimentation and intellectuality alike, and gave primacy to life in its physical substance, reflected in the omnipotence of rhythm. The famous Toccata, the climax of Korwar, a piece of Melanesian inspiration for which Elisabeth Chojnacka has become the privileged interpreter, is an illustration of this. It is also illustrated by the rhythmic character that Mâche confers on the evocation of water, thereby rejecting any connotation of fluidity. 
Material sensitivity
In 1975, for Mâche's first recording, Maurice Garcin chose the works that had been the subject of an evening at the 1973 Royan Festival. The performers were none other than the creators, Jean-Pierre Drouet, whose darbouka beats had nothing to envy African musicians, Chojnacka and the Labèque sisters. Mâche's second recording has just been released (INA-GRM 9.107 ****). It is accompanied by an analysis by Daniel Charles, Director of the Music Department at the University of Paris VIII. Drawing on the exegesis of Caillois and Souriau, Daniel Charles discusses the secret but obvious links between our sensibility and "the structures whose unfolding gives nature its spectacular variety". Certain structures of matter, "reputed to be inert and therefore insensitive", are strangely harmonious with those we perceive on our own scale. Mâche strives to reach the structures of inert matter, and in so doing, he arouses the "material imagination" evoked by the philosopher Bachelard. He is no longer content to transfer what can be imitated (the sound of a storm, the babbling of water, etc.), but to return to the inner source of resemblance. In his work, water becomes a rhythmic element.
Mâche's second recording features three recent pieces, all marked by a reference to the Hellenic world, for which he has a particular affection. One, Sopiana, written for flute, piano and tape, is an astonishing exercise in which Pierre-Yves Artaud's flute competes with, counterpoints or rhythms the song of two birds. The other two, Kassandra and Amorgos, are written for 14 and 12 instruments and tape. While Amorgos (1979) gives water a rhythmic function, Kassandra, on a theme of tragic intensity, creates an almost planetary and temporal syncretism (Basque, Fijian and Tibetan fragments are superimposed on medieval and Asian instrumental sounds, creating a sonic magic that makes timbre the organizer of the celebration.
Pierre-Yves Artaud, Jacqueline Méfano at the keyboard and Boris de Vinogradov at the helm of the Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique and the soloists of Ensemble 2E2M are to be congratulated for their contribution to the knowledge of one of the most original composers of the new music.

                                     Lacassagne, Le Midi libre, March 13, 1983

In the superb booklet accompanying this disc, François-Bernard Mâche provides the keys to understanding the development of his three works (and in a book to be published by Klincksieck, Musique, mythe, nature ou les Dauphins d'Arion, he shares his thoughts as a composer-writer on Language and Music, Zoomusicologie and Le modèle en musique).
Borrowing part of his compositional material from the elements and nature, Mâche diverts it from its original meaning. Thus, the sounds of water in Amorgos no longer signify fluidity but height, rhythm and color, while the birdsong in Sopiana tends to melt into the playing of the instrumentalists. What emerges from these combinations is a tension heightened by the virtuosity of the instrumentalists...who succeed in surpassing the natural virtuosity of the birds...
To fully appreciate these works, in which timbres are so essential, the sound quality of such a disc would have to be beyond reproach, but the timbres are blurred and a perceptible tape murmur "dirties" the high notes. Nevertheless, these three works exude a dreamy atmosphere that brings us closer to certain ethnic musics.

                              Alain Lompech, Le Monde de la Musique ?1983

...when the soloists tackled François-Bernard Mâche's Sopiana, listeners in the Domaine Forget concert hall were in for an earful.
The introduction of the soundtrack enables man to imitate the sounds of nature even more perfectly, without necessarily translating them into musical instruments. In this way, Mâche has composed with nature, integrating all the instrumental possibilities of the flute and piano into this calculated soundtrack. The result is spectacular.

                             Sylvain Barrette Le Soleil, Quebec, July 22 1988

Pianist Daniel Cholette and flutist Philippe Racine's instant joy of playing would, in the evening, sweep away the mist of the remaining necrophagic slag. François-Bernard Mâche's Sopiana (the Roman name of the town of Pécs, Hungary, where the piece was premiered in 1980) for flute, piano and magnetic tape "tends to abolish the distinction between raw sounds and musical sounds, between nature and culture. Not only are the birdsongs meticulously transcribed (Malaysian shama, icterine hypolaïs, marsh warbler) so that the instrumentalists can synchronize with each other, but they are physically present in the loudspeakers, with their virtuosity, their silences, their inexhaustible gushing". The fundamental idea is to create a universal language based on sound models existing in the universe, in order to exorcise the mute nature (eradicating all syncretic confusionism, or cheap orientalism). The vocation of art, then, is to accomplish what nature offers only in the mode of the inchoate. No imperceptible withering, no submission to the shipwreck of the ephemeral, but a rallying of Bachelard's "material imagination". No model-sounding birds, as in Messiaen's work, but real, present birds at the heart of the music. In the words of Jean Grenier, the music exalts "that which in raw matter seems to prefigure art - that which is intentional in matter". Mâche's perfectly well-founded approach remains so intellectually free, so unrestrictive in terms of musical technique proper, that it shone through in the freshness and alacrity of the instrumentalists.

               Jean-Noël von der Weid ?   Zürich, concert November 30 1990

Valuable compositions by Mâche and Loevendie

The 47-year-old French composer François-Bernard Mâche shares a love of birdsong with his teacher Messiaen. However, the way in which that love finds its reflection in both their works differs completely.

Messiaen notes the natural language of birds in order to transform it into instrumental musical language, Mâche uses the voices of his feathered singers as a concrete background, via the soundtrack. With that, in his composition Sopiana, he mixes the sound of the flute in such a way that sometimes you can no longer follow what exactly is going on. At such moments, Mâche's work is quite fascinating. It is remarkable, by the way, that even the added piano part manages to blend so amusingly into the musical conversation....
Flutist Ank Mulder and pianist Gerard Bouwhuis demonstrated at the VARA matinee their great familiarity with the alienating combination effects demanded here, always with artistry and virtuoso craftsmanship. However, because the composer apparently does not select his inventions strictly enough, in the long run he makes the musical image " more ordinary" again than it could be when compressing the material. The first few pages of this eccentric score would undoubtedly leave a stronger impression if they were not given an under-concentrated, long drawn-out sequel.
Incidentally, as playful and amusing as Mâche comes out of the corner, Brian Ferneyhough is as heavy-handed....

                  Johan van Kempen Haarlems Dagblad 7( ?) Novembre 1992

Precious compositions by Mâche and Loevendie

French composer François-Bernard Mâche, 47, shares his teacher Messiaen's love of birdsong. However, the way in which this love is expressed in the two works is completely different.

Whereas Messiaen records the natural language of birds and transforms it into instrumental music, Mâche uses the voices of his feathered singers as a concrete background, via the soundtrack. In his composition Sopiana, he mixes the sound of the flute in such a way that it is sometimes impossible to follow what is actually happening. At such moments, Mâche's work is very fascinating. It's remarkable that the added piano part integrates so playfully into the musical conversation.
Flutist Ank Mulder and pianist Gerard Bouwhuis showed in the VARA-matinée their great familiarity with the alienating combination effects desired here with art and virtuosity. However, as the composer apparently doesn't select his inventions strictly enough, he ends up making the musical image more "normal" than it could be if the material were compressed. The opening pages of this eccentric score would undoubtedly leave a stronger impression if they weren't followed by a long, not quite concentrated suite.
Besides, as playful and amusing as Mâche is... 

...We were surprised and seduced. First of all by a (pretty) gifted flutist, Cécile Daroux, a soloist who rises above the terrible interpretive complexities of this form of music, to flirt with an essential lightness, a poetic flight that effectively transforms sound into a musical rainbow. First with the first work, Sopiana, by François-Bernard Mâche, a faithful companion of "l'Itinéraire". Birdsongs, with their repetitiveness and silences (silence is more than ever a musical value here), scrupulously rendered by magnetic tape, find their echo in a kind of musical ornithology, as colorful...as the feathers of said birds.
Fuminori Tanada's piano underlines or punctuates. Discreet and effective. Sounds pass from the natural state of "noise" to the cultural state of music.

Jean-François Moullan ?  Auch, concert of September 27, 1994

Ina-Grm CD: Manuel de résurrection, Kassandra, Sopiana, Amorgos, Moires

Mâche's music invites us to "look at stones as a kind of poem", as Roger Caillois put it...
The dialogue between nature and culture (which the artist must make explicit and articulate, as Daniel Charles shows in the introductory text) does not, in Mâche's case, descend into anecdote. Note the whimsical and intelligent interpretation by Pierre-Yves Artaud and Jacqueline Méfano.

           Costin Cazaban, Le Monde de la musique, July-August 1999

- Olivier Loutz: Sopiana, ou les oiseaux modèles, Composition thesis from the Conservatoire National de région de Strasbourg, February 2003, 41p.