Contemporary music is often thought to be the product of intellectual speculation, a constant celebration of complexity. This is not entirely untrue. But to reduce all of today's musical creation to such statements is to ignore the work of François-Bernard Mâche, for example. Invited by Grame to take part in the biennial Musiques en Scène festival, this sixty-seven-year-old composer and musicologist draws all his inspiration from non-European traditions, reviving certain primitive aspects of music. François-Bernard Mâche's search for universals, i.e. all that different cultures and epochs have in common, has given rise to a personal language based on models and archetypes. In essence, he could be compared to the composer Stockhausen, who was also attracted by the idea of universal music. The form, however, is totally different. Mâche lays bare ethnic sounds and rhythms, transforming and breaking them down to create a boldly coherent whole. This is by no means mere plagiarism. As he puts it, "What is perhaps most interesting about the phenomenon of folklore is its ability to reinvent and reincarnate itself in new forms. His music is thus made up of multiple hybridizations, reflecting the cultural cross-fertilization of contemporary civilizations. The concert given by the Percussions Claviers de Lyon on Sunday March 17 at Les Subsistances was perhaps the easiest way to understand this approach. The four works presented (Hiérogamie, Phénix, Figures, Khnoum), all written for percussion (sometimes accompanied by a wind instrument), offered a global and faithful vision of the composer's resources: research into timbres, integration of Hindu rhythms, dilation of time, "transposition" of mythological or sacred themes. The performance by the Percussions Claviers de Lyon, accompanied by a number of students from the CNSMD, made a major contribution to the effectiveness of this portrait concert.

                                                          S.S-A.  Lyon, March 2002

Mâche Normalien poète

It's superb: a banal phrase for a living composer, a disciple of Messiaen. This CD devoted to François-Bernard Mâche by Accroche-Note is nothing but a source of joy in the form of discoveries. Mâche is both a bird and an insect, foraging in the realm of sounds and making honey of everything his ears catch. For he believes in "universals" in music as Messiaen believes in God. Never mind that the result is constantly poetic. It's both constructed and natural, thanks to the multiple sources from which Mâche draws his inspiration, from birdsong to Javanese gamelan.

                                                    J.Doucelin Le Figaro July 4, 2002

CD Assai: Kengir, Phénix, Brûlis, Figures, Aulodie

An enviable university curriculum (agrégation de Lettres Classiques), musical studies without blinkers, an assiduous, patient and lucid study of non-Western music, the writing of important works and - of course! - an open and critical ear for the music of his contemporaries, François-Bernard Mâche is a respected musicologist, an ethnomusicologist with very personal views, and an independent composer whom I deeply admire. In his introduction to the disc booklet, Martin Kaltenecker presents the whole with great sensitivity and intelligence, before briefly commenting on four of the works played on the CD. These pieces were composed between 1991 and 1999, and feature percussion - both acoustic and synthetic - treated with mastery and originality. Familiar with Mâche's work, the Accroche Note ensemble once again demonstrates its talent. The group's percussionist, Emmanuel Séjourné, gave an analysis of Phénix in Percussions...Excellent booklet (English, French) with the lyrics of Kengir. I really like this record.

	                                                Percussions, November 2002

The resurgent unconscious of the "Phoenix", whose virtuoso outpourings Franck Dentresangle makes exultant.

                             Roland Duclos, La Montagne, June 13 or 14, 2005