STYX

Notice

The work was commissioned by the Fondation S.E.I.T.A. for the Cinq concerts à la une event at the Centre Acanthes in Aix-en-Provence, where it was performed in two separate sequences on 3 July 1984. The first performance was given at the Warsaw Autumn Festival on 22 September 1985. This piece for 2 pianos, 8 hands, takes its place among other titles inspired by mythical rivers: Lèthè for the same ensemble, Eridan for string quartet, and Achéron for piano and percussion. The piano writing is similar to that of percussion, particularly in its use of resonance. The Styx is a river of the Underworld in Greek mythology, and this title corresponds to the rather sombre general mood of the work.

Commentary

Styx was composed in an attempt to fix an initial sound vision, and to develop the two ideas in germ in Areg. The piano is like a resonant space where sometimes black waves roll, sometimes a knell rings out. The 40 fingers used create cross-fades that make the pianos sound in new ways. When I was writing the superimpositions of tempi, I sometimes remembered Varèse’s youthful project. Reading Jules Verne’s description of the whirlpools of the Zambezi had made him dream of music that would somehow reproduce their different speeds combined. But here I was thinking of a river from the pagan underworld, and its black terrestrial counterpart in Arcadia. As for the sounds of the bells, although they continue the tradition of the death knell, they convey a sense of contemplation that is no longer specifically Catholic. Like a refrain, they also serve to prepare, break up or even mimic the precipitous flow of low notes. Towards the end, an enormous hammering could come from the subterranean forges of Hephaestus.