Written for flute, piano and vibraphone, La Sieste du lettré is part of a collective homage to Jean-Dominique Marco for his twentieth season as director of the Musica festival in Strasbourg. Twelve composers, of highly diverse cultures, generations and aesthetics joined forces on this occasion to offer this gift to one of the musical world's important figures, who has devoted himself to defending artistic creativity.
The title of this piece is that of an anonymous silk painting from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The work can be seen at the Peking Museum. It is reproduced in L'espace du rêve. Mille ans de peinture chinoise by François Cheng. The author writes: "Nature seems in any case to cast an indulgent eye on this wise man, disciple of dishevelled comfort. 'To hell with appearances!' seem to murmur the old slippers, discarded in the foreground with jovial indifference".
This score, for that matter without pretention, is limited to a harmony of suggestion, specific to evoking a floating temporality, dedicated to the benefit of what happens.
Hugues Dufourt
