Beffa, Karol: Libre-jeu

pour alto

A hint to the title of my friend Guillaume Métayers collection of sonnets (Caractères, 2017), Libre Jeu is in three movements. The three movements may be played individually. When conceiving them, I had in mind the characteristic s'tyle Bach uses when writing for solo string instruments (violin or cello). As I tend to place more emphasis on harmony, I decided to treat an essentially monodie instrument in a way that would create the impression of a harmonie, even polyphonie texture. Hence a melodic line that, through its inflections, through the (actual or imaginary) breaking into two voices (alternating real and harmonie sounds), might suggest a superimposition of voices. I also made ample use of double stops, sometimes as open strings, in order to highlight a particular melodic feature or expression, like an artist would underline elements of a charcoal picture. As for the central movement, it is based on a an idea I had when I was fourteen - an idea taken "from old notebooks': to use Prokofiev's own words. I wish to thank Arnaud Thorette for his precious help. Karol BEFFA