Bruno Serrou: Phénix was written for Silvio Gualda, who premiered it in Peking in 1982.

François-Bernard Mâche: Unless I'm mistaken, it was the first performance of Western music in Beijing. With the possible exception of the Soviet Union, but then the works were much less "avant-garde"... Silvio Gualda also gave it in Shanghai. I gave the piece this title because of the setting in which it was created, since the phoenix is very present in the Chinese imagination. In fact, I use a phenomenon from Indian music, not Chinese, called the alap, a long raga introduction in which the musician explores the intervals of the scale that he then uses in the raga itself. This sequence allows us to enter peacefully, progressively, into the specific nature of the mode. But the mode I use is not Indian, because I invented it. It is based on two octaves, with no note from the first octave being repeated in the next octave. Another feature of the piece is the use of ancient Greek poems as rhythmic models. Among the ancient poets was an extraordinary rhythmicist by the name of Pindar, whose verses are very difficult to scan and analyse metrically. The verses are not equal and are based on particularly complex laws. I wanted to compare Pindar's rhythm, in the absence of any poetic recitation, with a much freer rhythm. The result is a work that is quite polyphonic in conception, since I ask the percussionist to play both a melody on a vibraphone and a rhythmic accompaniment on drums. This highly virtuosic piece is often required as a competition piece for percussion.