Musical poem for Alphorns with images.

Premiere on July 19, 2025 at the Eurocuivres Festival in Montbéliard.

Commissioned by Résonance Bois (Sandro Faïta and Eurocuivres (Jean-Philippe Chavey).

A composition for four Alphorns, with pre-recorded sequences of Alphorns projected together with images during the live performance.

The idea is to explore the chromatic possibilities of this instrument as fully as possible.

I created a narrative framework to accompany the six chapters of this piece.

The title refers both to the physical distance between the mouthpiece and the bell of the instrument, and to the Alphorn’s historical function as a means of communication from one valley to another in the mountains.

Made of wood, the the Alphorn produces a sound palette that lies somewhere between the world of  woodwinds and brass, with pitch less strictly defined than on valved or keyed instruments, somewhat like the natural horn.

This more fragile quality, for such a powerful instrument, gives rise to a distinctive and moving auditory experience.

Cors des Alpes :

• Sandro Faïta
• Bernard Schirrer
• Guillaume Dionnet
• Jean Martin

Séquences de cors des Alpes pré-enregistrées :

Sandro Faïta

Premiere on 29 September 2024 by the Johannes Quartet at the festival, Les Musicales on Sainte-Croix-en-Jarez.

I imagined a string quartet as a single instrument, but enlarged in size.

The first movement, L’Ombre, is very dense. The quartet is in a state of fusion, the tempo quite slow, dreamlike in character, referring to the motionless shadow of inanimate object stretching slowly under the natural course of the sun.​

Les Reflets, second movement, on the other hand, is tumultuous and virtuosic, with a multitude of ricochets and chases between the voices.

Reflections emerge from the massive shadows of the first movement, with a central moment of suspension that plunges the listener into the world of shadows, before resuming the initial rapid movement.

Both the shadow and the reflections project an image reflected by the light.

The shadow gives an impression of slowness, almost motionless, and exudes a melancholy of the things hidden within it, while the reflections are very much in motion, full of life, playing virtuoso at projecting bits of shadow and cheerful light.​​

The score is available on – Les Éditions Musicales ARTCHIPEL

• ​​Quatuor Johannes
• ​Nicolas Gourbeix             violon 1
• Dominique Lonca            violon 2
• Jean-Baptiste Magnon   alto
• Jean-Sébastien Barbey  violoncelle

Premiere on 21 June, at Nagano city arts center in Nagano, Japan.

Written for Tetsuya Cho, bassoon soloist at the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.

The title refers in part to a whole game of hide and seek between the bassoon and the piano

The score is available on – Les Éditions Musicales ARTCHIPEL

• Tetsuya Cho  basson
• Midori Nagahara  piano

This piece is written for four singers, Alpine horn and small instrumental ensemble. It was composed, performed and recorded in April 2020 during the period of confinement, a time when all public musical activity was suspended. I began to imagine a composition, and how it could be realized in spite of the brutal, forced interruption of concerts, and creations of new music.

I wrote a text, translated and sung in four languages : Italian, French, English and Spanish, to represent all the countries affected by the epidemic. The Alpine horn, an instrument evocative of vast open spaces, symbolizes freedom from the constraints of confinement.

INSIDE has been made possible thanks to the generous participation of the Tarentule vocal ensemble, Sandro FaÏta, and my colleagues from the Orchestre National de Lyon – I thank them

Composition, textes, montage son et vidéo réalisés par Olivier Massot

L’Ensemble Tarentule

• Mezzo-soprano : Marie Cubaynes
• Alto : Cecil Gallois
• Ténor : Xavier de Lignerolles
• Baryton-basse : Vincent-Arnaud Gautier

Cor des Alpes :

• Sandro Faïta

Orchestre National de Lyon :

• Flûte : Jocelyn Aubrun
• Hautbois : Philippe Cairey-Remonay
• Clarinette : François Sauzeau
• Basson : Louis-Hervé Maton
• Cor : Guillaume Têtu
• Harpe : Éléonore Euler-Cabantous
• Piano : Pierre Thibout
• Violon 1 : Ludovic Lantner
• Violon 2 : Julien Malait
• Alto : Claire-Hélène Rignol
• Violoncelle : Mathieu Chastagnol
• Contrebasse : Pauline Depassio

Compose on the silent film, L’Argent of Marcel L’Herbier (1928 – 2h30).

Commissioned from the National Orchestra of Lyon.

Performed in cine-concert, the 26 February 2019 at the Auditorium of Lyon with the National Orchestra of Lyon, directed by Timothy Brock.

Restored movie by Lobster Films and the “Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée” (CNC).

Musical edition; Artchipel

DVD available.

(Excerpts of the general rehearsal on the 26 February 2019)

Full movie

Commissioned from the Cello Festival of Beauvais.
Performed in 2013 at the Maladrerie Saint-Lazare de Beauvais. With Christophe Tessier on the bassoon and Emmanuelle Bertrand on the cello. Written for Christophe Tessier who, after suffering a stroke, lost the use of his right hand. The piece is in the range of two octaves and a third, in chromatic. “Return” must be played only with the left hand on the bassoon.

Commissioned by Agnès Clément and the festival Les Muséiques.
Performed in 2011 at the festival Les Muséiques à l”Antikenmuseum Basel in Switzerland.
Agnès Clément, harp and bassoon, accompanied by a projection screen. A piece tailored to Agnès Clément. The harp and the bassoon on stage are accompanied by the screen, with pre-recorded tracks of harps, bassoons, and other things.It is a very visual piece that plays with the audience’s experience of film and stage together.

For Anaïs Reyers, bassoon

Created on June 9, 2008, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Lyon.

Playful piece around the bassoon with the addition of a pre-recorded and broadcast sequence of singing, vibraphone and percussion and another tribute sequence to Maurice Allard.

• ​Pierre Gomes deuxième basson
• Céline Heurtier cor anglais
• Jonathan Di Crédico clarinette
• Clément Boudrant alto
• Astrig Siranossian violoncelle
• Aymeric Fournès et Aurélie Serre saqueboute ténor
• Ruben Gonzales Del Camino saqueboute basse
• Adrien Ramon direction.
• ​​Catali Antonini chant, Stéphane Pelegri vibraphone.

Performed in 2006 at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon.   Agnès Demeulenaere, oboe, Sabrina Moulaï, accordion, Roméo Montero, mridangam and percussion. Anousha Cherer dance. The piece is inspired by Hindustani music. The accordion is used like the Indian harmonium. The electronics include loops, delays, and echoes.

Commissioned by the Opéra National de Belgique (La Monnaie) and performed at the opera by its woodwind quintet in 1987.

Composed as a harmonic stack starting from three notes.

The impasses are stationary and the corresponding outlets each form the distinct characters of the piece.

The score is available on – Les Éditions Musicales ARTCHIPEL

Composed in 1986 for his final diploma at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels