Matthieu Mazué’s ‘Monoliths And Screens For Quartet’ Now On Bandcamp!

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data-original-title=”” title=””>Michael Attias . As a composer, I’ve sought to translate into music some of the images that inspire me, and the word “Monoliths” came to me quite naturally. In April 2023, during a concert in Berlin, our band played for the first time a second series of pieces entitled “Screens.”

If the word “Monoliths” immediately brought Stanley Kubrick to mind, I now return to its primary definition. These pieces were carved out of the same block, stemming from the same massive rock formation—my daily playground as an improviser and composer. The elements within these compositions never oppose those that are improvised. In fact, improvisation played a fundamental role in shaping these pieces. A melody like “Monolith: Twelve Stones (to Gather)” was sculpted in a quick and spontaneous gesture on my piano. It was then carefully polished and observed from different angles.

Indeed, this first wave pushed me toward the second wave of compositions, “Screens”. Observing the rocky formations I described earlier made me realize that, in the end, what I was observing was our very own human condition. “Screens” probably doesn’t need further explanation, as the title so obviously evokes an object that surrounds us in our daily lives. This object, which we assume projects, ultimately reflects. The piece “Screen: Switching Lights” was designed in this way, with the last part mirroring the first. And when I pronounce “Screens,” I sometimes hear “Scenes,” as if the pieces our quartet has shaped were the acts of a single movie in which we stage ourselves.”