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When one listens to a violin and piano sonata in the classical repertoire, the tradition it belongs to and the musical system used by the composer make this combination of instruments (although their timbre and texture and the way they are played places them at opposite poles to each other) seem self-evident, almost natural.
In this composition for violin and two synthesisers may at times baffle the listener. There seems to be something incongruous about associating a “noble” instrument gradually perfected over the centuries, like the violin, with an iconoclastic object like a synthesiser, which few musicians even dare to call an instrument, let alone play.
And so one looks for a logical explanation. The one that comes to mind –surely the only one– is that the evolution of musical idioms creates a need for new instruments (and these in turn inspire new musical experiments, in what is by now a classic cycle). The composer is a writer rather than a painter. Before even considering the colour of his sounds (though they are a vital element of instrumentation), he concerns himself with his musical “language” –a language that renders even the most unusual instrumental combinations self-evident and natural.
'Rêve lisse' is based on morphologies (sound forms) which are almost all derived from slides, from sounds evolving continuously as they rise in pitch. There are few tempered notes, except where easily memorisable reference points are called for. The main emphasis is on movement through rhythmic fluidity and on the way pitch profiles evolve and change. The construction is obvious and based on simple, easily recognisable figures and on repetitions, distortions, and developments closely related to certain classical forms.
[Laurent Cuniot]

• Premiered in Alençon (France) on 18 March 1982 by Trio GRM + (Laurent Cuniot – violin, Yann Geslin & Denis Dufour – synthesisers)

With his morphological and expressive approach to sound, Denis Dufour works on pieces in a state of constant renewal, on ideas that are specific to each piece. The resultant work is like a large fresco in which no themes sound alike, one goes through varied and breathtaking soundscapes, appreciating the sheer imagination though the consistency of his style. By deliberately but effortlessly having his music open to all sounds, Denis Dufour’s approach is that of liberty, independence and diligence. His craftsmanship, very French, is exquisite and mastered; every second of sound is enveloped by a supra-conscious ear, so that his work contains no trace of automatic tools.

Find his complete works at Maison ONA —nearly 200 instrumental, vocal, mixed music and electroacoustic works released successively.