When you love, you have to leave
Do not cry with a smile
Do not nest between two breasts
Breathe walk leave go away

— Excerpted from Blaise Cendrars’s Tu es plus belle que le ciel et la mer [our translation]

My reflection started from our breathing and what it represents: life, movement, a swing. This swing is everywhere around us: in the hours that pass, the flow of time, our changing state of mind, or more concretely in our forward gait. Is it also present in our running away?

I left Switzerland to come to Belgium to study acousmatic composition. These studies allowed me to acquire the necessary tools to compose in complete freedom. But at the same time, I felt a kind of nostalgia that made me reflect on my roots. Respire marche pars va-t-en crystallizes the impressions I had when I left.

— Sophie Delafontaine [English translation: François Couture, iii-19]

Respire marche pars va-t-en [Breathe walk leave go away] was realized in 2013 at the composer’s studio in Brussels (Belgium) and premiered on March 27, 2013, during the concert Électrobelge at Espace Senghor in Brussels (Belgium). Respire marche pars va-t-en won the 2nd prize in the acousmatic music category at the 6th Destellos Electroacoustic Composition Competition (Mar del Plata, Argentina, 2013).

Premiere

• March 27, 2013, Électrobelge: Hommage à Arsène Souffriau; Panorama de la musique électroacoustique belge actuelle, Le Senghor, Brussels (Belgium)

Awards

• 2nd prize Amee, Fixed medium, 6th Destellos Competition 2013, Mar del Plata (Argentina)