Bagatelle... Désert

A light, short bagatelle, referring to Beethoven's Bagatelle op. 126 n°3 , as if it had been altered, eroded and transformed by time. Melodic-harmonic metamorphosis of Beethoven's main theme which turns in canon on itself produces a virtual harmonic reverberation; modification of the piano's timbre by a simple preparation of a few strings, using two erasers and a sheet of paper; reprise of the Beethovenian alternation between slow chords and fast arpeggios, are all links to the original piece, to pay a fleeting homage to this composer so important in my personal history. As at the time of my discovery of his work at the end of childhood: inner desert, sadness, transform into a single question: "why?".

Philippe Leroux