To Renaud De Putter

Plis de la nuit is subtitled “Nocturne.”

“‘Sonic geology,’ folded like those pieces of paper handed out as gifts.
Truncated ‘images of sounds’ overlaid, point by point, by the memory of a music.
Like stratified matter, sounds rise, emerge, make folds, free the winding path of a dreamed-up song.
Pieces of music in superimposition, bent out of shape by unfaithful memory; the curved pictures of a folded score.
These sounds twisting and giving way under the weight of impressions accrued day after day.
Faraway melodies, a counterpoint transformed by the filter of time; the melancholy of intertwined waves reaches us.
Idealized memory, an offset picture; this song which, at the end of the night, has left a wrinkle on the forehead and unsettled the soul; and some of its breath has infiltrated the folds of the heart.
The inverted traces of the folds of fabric on the skin; a palimpsest of forgotten stories; ‘now the night can only fold back its sails…’” — Ingrid Drese

— Ingrid Drese [English translation: François Couture, vi-09]

Plis de la nuit [Folds of the Night] was realized in 2008 at the composer’s studio and premiered on April 23, 2008 during the Ars Music festival at Théâtre de la Rotonde — Le Botanique in Brussels (Belgium). It was realized with the support from the Service de la musique of the Direction générale de la culture, ministry of the Communauté française de Belgique. Thanks to Renaud De Putter for his trust and generosity.

Premiere

• April 23, 2008, Ars Musica 2008: Renaud De Putter: Carte blanche, La Rotonde — Le Botanique, Brussels (Belgium)