Jean-Luc Fafchamps
Belgian composer and pianist born 6 June 1960 in Brussels.
Jean-Luc Fafchamps was born in Belgium in 1960. He studied piano and chamber music at the Conservatoire Royal de Mons and economics at the Université Catholique de Louvain. He is the founder of Musica Libera, an organization that promotes contemporary music, and of the performers’ collective Le Bureau des Pianistes. He is the pianist for the Ensemble Ictus and teaches analysis and music theory at the Conservatoire royal de Mons (now a part of the École Supérieure des Arts, ARTS2).
As a performer, he has taken part in numerous premieres, both in concert and in musical theater (including several premieres of works by Georges Aperghis), as well as in dance, notably with Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s company Rosas. His piano performances have been recorded for the label Sub Rosa (Luciano Berio, Paul Bowles, Luigi Dallapiccola, Marcel Duchamp, Morton Feldman, Jonathan Harvey, Franz Liszt, Giacinto Scelsi), Megadisc (Thierry De Mey, Magnus Lindberg, Luca Francesconi), Tzadik (David Shea), and Cyprès (Georges Aperghis, Keiko Harada, Jonathan Harvey, Benoît Mernier).
As a composer, he began writing for small formations in which piano plays a central role (Dynamiques, Melancholia Si…), but his interest in timbre and untempered harmony led him to explore other configurations (A garden, Bryce). He then turned his attention to working on pieces for larger formations using electronics, notably for Les lettres Soufies, a cycle inspired by a Sufi painting that links a system of symbolic interconnections to the twenty-eight letters of the Arabic alphabet, which he began writing in 2000. His goal is to compose twenty-eight pieces corresponding to the letters in this mystical alphabet that will form their own conceptual whole. The cycle is a richly interrelated system in which each piece can be played alone but is linked to all the others, similar to the way single letters can come together to form words.
Jean-Luc Fafchamps was commissioned by the Ars Musica Festival to write Back to the pulse, Les cigognes, Cerdis Zerom, as well as several pieces for Les Lettres Soufies. Other commissions include Festival Transit – Lettre Soufie : Kh(à’) (Esquif) – Festival Présences – Lettre Soufie : S(ìn) – and the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles BOZAR – Eidophonia, Lettre Soufie : R(à), Fragments de vaisseaux, and Les désordres de Herr Zœbius.
His compositions have been performed by ensembles such as the Drumming percussion ensemble – Wooden Mind – Musiques Nouvelles – Remix, Lettre Soufie : M(ìm) (Les yeux ouverts), and Ex abrupto – the Spectra ensemble – Exploration au bourdon – Ensemble Ictus – Disobedience, Lettre Soufie : S2 (Thà’) (Ivraie), and Lettre Soufie : Y(à) (Espèces d’espaces) – the Ensemble intercontemporain – Lettre Soufie : H(à’) (Tombeau de Jonathan Harvey) – the Calefax Quintet and the Danel Quartet – Lettre Soufie : W(àw) (Dôme) – as well as the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège – Lettre Soufie : L(àm).
The Fuga Libera and Sub Rosa labels have each released several monographic recordings of Fafchamps.
Fafchamps was awarded the UNESCO International Rostrum of Young Composers prize for his string octet Attrition (1992), and won the Octave de la Musique classique in 2006. Two of his Sub Rosa albums have won prizes: KDGhZ2SA, A Six-Letter Sufi Word won the Prix Snepvangers at the Caecilia Awards in 2013 (best Belgian music recording) and Gentle Electronics was awarded the Octave de la Musique contemporaine in 2016.
© Ircam-Centre Pompidou, 2017
Sources
Site de Jean-Luc Fafchamps.
- Solo (excluding voice)
- Back to the voice for piano (1998), 14 mn
- elec Lettre Soufie : Z3 (Dhà l) (Murailles) for trombone and electronics (2007), 11 mn
- Back to the pulse for piano (2008), 11 mn
- Back to the sound for piano (2009), 7 mn
- elec Street Music for amplified viola and electronics (2009), between 20 mn and 40 mn
- En 2011, toutes les 4”... for percussion (2011), 9 mn
- Rap and Tap for piano (2011), 5 mn
- elec Beth/Veth for piano, percussion and electronics (only one performer) (2012), 50 mn
- Feuillets d'Arménie for piano (2017)
- Chamber music
- Dynamiques for two pianos (1989), 23 mn
- Attrition for string octet (double quartet) (1991), 17 mn
- Quatuor pour deux pianos (four pianists playing on two pianos) (1992), 17 mn
- Melancholia Si... for two pianos and two percussionists (1994), 40 mn
- Deux jeux à trois deux mouvements ludiques à destination des enfants, for string trio (1995), 7 mn
- Insomnia for violin and cello (1996), 10 mn
- A garden for wind quintet (1998), 18 mn
- Bryce for quintet with clarinet (1998), 13 mn
- Neurosuite for violin, cello and piano (1998-1988), 12 mn
- Les désordres de Herr Zœbius for string quartet (2003), 30 mn
- elec Lettre Soufie : Z1 (Zà') (Ressacs) for viola, piano and electronics (2003), 13 mn
- Décalcomanie de Reich et Ligeti (avec Piazzola en surimpression) for alto saxophone and piano (2005), 7 mn
- Nuages vus du ciel for string trio and keyboard (2009), 6 mn
- Wooden Mind for seven timbilas from Mozambique (2011), 22 mn
- elec Lettre Soufie : Kh(à') (Esquif) for string quartet and electronics (2012), 17 mn
- Lettre Soufie : H(à') (Tombeau de Jonathan Harvey) for oboe, harp, piano and string trio (2013), 15 mn
- Trois chants pour mieux voir ... for cello and prepared piano (2011-2013), 25 mn
- Trois petites conciliations for free instrumental formation (2013), 7 mn
- Dolcissimo for trombone quartet (2014), 5 mn
- Instrumental ensemble music
- Eidophonia for oboe, piano, percussion and string quintet (1998), 13 mn
- Lettre Soufie : S(ìn) for oboe, two clarinets, percussion, piano and string trio (2000), 11 mn
- elec Lettre Soufie : T(à') for trumpet, horn, trombone, string ensemble and three midi controllers (2001), 15 mn
- Lettre Soufie : D(àl) for clarinet, percussion, piano and string trio (2002), 12 mn
- Remix for ensemble (2003), between 4 mn and 10 mn
- Lettre Soufie : Gh(ain) for ensemble (2004), 20 mn
- Lettre Soufie : T(à')bis for trumpet, horn, trombone, percussion, piano, synthesizer and string ensemble (2005), 15 mn
- Lettre Soufie : A(lif) for ensemble and orchestra (2006), 14 mn
- Lettre Soufie : K(àf) for orchestra (2006), 12 mn
- Lettre Soufie : Sh(ìn) (Pour moi, dans le silence...) for ensemble (2009), 14 mn
- Lettre Soufie : L(àm) for orchestra (2010), between 8 mn and 14 mn
- elec Lettre Soufie : S2 (Thà') (Ivraie) for ensemble and electronics (2010), 13 mn
- Lettre Soufie : Y(à) (Espèces d'espaces) for ensemble (2010), 14 mn
- Exploration au bourdon for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano and string trio (2011), 6 mn
- Lettre Soufie : R(à) for orchestra (2011), 20 mn
- Ex abrupto for ensemble (2012), 50 mn
- Lettre Soufie : W(àw) (Dôme) for reed quintet and string quartet (2012), 12 mn
- Disobedience for flute, clarinet, guitar, bass, drum kit and keyboard (2014), 4 mn 40 s
- elec Lettre Soufie : M(ìm) (Les yeux ouverts) for fourteen instruments and electronics (2015), 10 mn
- The Wave for large ensemble (2015), 8 mn
- Concertant music
- Comment une courbe... for violin and string ensemble (1996), 12 mn
- Ainsi une courbe ... for violin and string ensemble (1999), 12 mn
- Lettre Soufie : Z2 (Dàd) (Ouragan minuscule) for oboe and nine instruments (2006), 7 mn
- Lettre Soufie : H(à')2 (Pour déjouer la nuit) for English horn and ten instruments (2014), 10 mn
- Vocal music and instrument(s)
- Souffle for soprano and ensemble (1990), 10 mn
- Épitaphes for voice and piano (1999), 12 mn
- Contre Mithra for alto voice and ensemble (2000), 9 mn
- Puisque le retour... for soprano and viola, cello and double bass (2000), 10 mn
- Fragments de vaisseaux for voice and ensemble (2002), 21 mn
- Erased message for voice and ensemble (2010), 6 mn
- Cerdis Zerom sonnet en langue inconnue, for soprano, clarinet and cello (2011), 6 mn
- Trois chansons for male voice and piano (2013), 10 mn
- Les cigognes un poème du Pierrot Lunaire d'Albert Giraud qu'Arnold Schönberg ne mit pas en musique, for mezzo-soprano and five instruments (2014), 2 mn
- Le Voyeur Myope for male voice and piano (2015)
- Saisons chaudes : printemps - été - enfer for three sopranos, two tenors, two percussions and two keyboards (2015)
- A cappella vocal music
- Der Einsame for solo voice (1992), 9 mn
- Unspecified instrumentation
- Pictogrammes teaching pieces for free instrumentation (2004), variable
- Insyriated movie soundtrack (2016)
- elec ircam stage BUG body quartet (2017, 2017), 1 h 10 mn [program note]
- 2017
- elec ircam stage BUG body quartet, 1 h 10 mn [program note]
- Feuillets d'Arménie for piano
- 2016
- Insyriated movie soundtrack
- 2015
- Le Voyeur Myope for male voice and piano
- elec Lettre Soufie : M(ìm) (Les yeux ouverts) for fourteen instruments and electronics, 10 mn
- Saisons chaudes : printemps - été - enfer for three sopranos, two tenors, two percussions and two keyboards
- The Wave for large ensemble, 8 mn
- 2014
- Disobedience for flute, clarinet, guitar, bass, drum kit and keyboard, 4 mn 40 s
- Dolcissimo for trombone quartet, 5 mn
- Les cigognes un poème du Pierrot Lunaire d'Albert Giraud qu'Arnold Schönberg ne mit pas en musique, for mezzo-soprano and five instruments, 2 mn
- Lettre Soufie : H(à')2 (Pour déjouer la nuit) for English horn and ten instruments, 10 mn
- 2013
- Lettre Soufie : H(à') (Tombeau de Jonathan Harvey) for oboe, harp, piano and string trio, 15 mn
- Trois chansons for male voice and piano, 10 mn
- Trois chants pour mieux voir ... for cello and prepared piano, 25 mn
- Trois petites conciliations for free instrumental formation, 7 mn
- 2012
- elec Beth/Veth for piano, percussion and electronics (only one performer), 50 mn
- Ex abrupto for ensemble, 50 mn
- elec Lettre Soufie : Kh(à') (Esquif) for string quartet and electronics, 17 mn
- Lettre Soufie : W(àw) (Dôme) for reed quintet and string quartet, 12 mn
- 2011
- Cerdis Zerom sonnet en langue inconnue, for soprano, clarinet and cello, 6 mn
- En 2011, toutes les 4”... for percussion, 9 mn
- Exploration au bourdon for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano and string trio, 6 mn
- Lettre Soufie : R(à) for orchestra, 20 mn
- Rap and Tap for piano, 5 mn
- Wooden Mind for seven timbilas from Mozambique, 22 mn
- 2010
- Erased message for voice and ensemble, 6 mn
- Lettre Soufie : L(àm) for orchestra, between 8 mn and 14 mn
- elec Lettre Soufie : S2 (Thà') (Ivraie) for ensemble and electronics, 13 mn
- Lettre Soufie : Y(à) (Espèces d'espaces) for ensemble, 14 mn
- 2009
- Back to the sound for piano, 7 mn
- Lettre Soufie : Sh(ìn) (Pour moi, dans le silence...) for ensemble, 14 mn
- Nuages vus du ciel for string trio and keyboard, 6 mn
- elec Street Music for amplified viola and electronics, between 20 mn and 40 mn
- 2008
- Back to the pulse for piano, 11 mn
- 2007
- elec Lettre Soufie : Z3 (Dhà l) (Murailles) for trombone and electronics, 11 mn
- 2006
- Lettre Soufie : A(lif) for ensemble and orchestra, 14 mn
- Lettre Soufie : K(àf) for orchestra, 12 mn
- Lettre Soufie : Z2 (Dàd) (Ouragan minuscule) for oboe and nine instruments, 7 mn
- 2005
- Décalcomanie de Reich et Ligeti (avec Piazzola en surimpression) for alto saxophone and piano, 7 mn
- Lettre Soufie : T(à')bis for trumpet, horn, trombone, percussion, piano, synthesizer and string ensemble, 15 mn
- 2004
- Lettre Soufie : Gh(ain) for ensemble, 20 mn
- Pictogrammes teaching pieces for free instrumentation, variable
- 2003
- Les désordres de Herr Zœbius for string quartet, 30 mn
- elec Lettre Soufie : Z1 (Zà') (Ressacs) for viola, piano and electronics, 13 mn
- Remix for ensemble, between 4 mn and 10 mn
- 2002
- Fragments de vaisseaux for voice and ensemble, 21 mn
- Lettre Soufie : D(àl) for clarinet, percussion, piano and string trio, 12 mn
- 2001
- elec Lettre Soufie : T(à') for trumpet, horn, trombone, string ensemble and three midi controllers, 15 mn
- 2000
- Contre Mithra for alto voice and ensemble, 9 mn
- Lettre Soufie : S(ìn) for oboe, two clarinets, percussion, piano and string trio, 11 mn
- Puisque le retour... for soprano and viola, cello and double bass, 10 mn
- 1999
- Ainsi une courbe ... for violin and string ensemble, 12 mn
- Épitaphes for voice and piano, 12 mn
- 1998
- A garden for wind quintet, 18 mn
- Back to the voice for piano, 14 mn
- Bryce for quintet with clarinet, 13 mn
- Eidophonia for oboe, piano, percussion and string quintet, 13 mn
- Neurosuite for violin, cello and piano, 12 mn
- 1996
- Comment une courbe... for violin and string ensemble, 12 mn
- Insomnia for violin and cello, 10 mn
- 1995
- Deux jeux à trois deux mouvements ludiques à destination des enfants, for string trio, 7 mn
- 1994
- Melancholia Si... for two pianos and two percussionists, 40 mn
- 1992
- Der Einsame for solo voice, 9 mn
- Quatuor pour deux pianos (four pianists playing on two pianos), 17 mn
- 1991
- Attrition for string octet (double quartet), 17 mn
- 1990
- Souffle for soprano and ensemble, 10 mn
- 1989
- Dynamiques for two pianos, 23 mn
Discographie
- Jean-Luc FAFCHAMPS, Trois chants pour mieux voir, François Glorieux, violoncelle ; Sara Picavet, piano dans « En blanc et noir », 1 cd Antartica, 2017, AR004.
- Jean-Luc FAFCHAMPS, Beth/Veth ; Street Music, Stephane Ginsburgh, piano et percussion ; Vincent Royer, alto dans « Gentle Electronics », 1 cd Sub Rosa, 2015, SR397.
- Jean-Luc FAFCHAMPS, Lettre Soufie : Sh(ìn) (Pour moi dans le silence), ensemble Spectra ; Filip Rathé, direction dans « 20 years - for the record », 1 cd Fuga Libera, 2014, FUG730.
- Jean-Luc FAFCHAMPS, Back to the pulse ; Back to the sound ; Back to the voice, Stephane Ginsburgh, piano, 1 cd Sub Rosa, 2013, SR353.
- Jean-Luc FAFCHAMPS, Lettre Soufie : Y(à’) (Espèces d’espaces) ; Lettre Soufie : Z3 (Dhàl) (Murailles) ; Lettre Soufie : Z2 (Dàd) (Ouragan minuscule) ; Lettre Soufie : Z1 (Zà’) (Ressacs) ; Lettre Soufie : S2 (Thà’) (Ivraie), Ensemble Ictus, François Deppe, direction (I) ; Alain Pire, trombone, Centre Henri Pousseur, électronique (II) ; Piet Van Bockstal, hautbois, ensemble Ictus, George-Elie Octors, direction (III) ; Jeroen Robbrecht, alto, Jean-Luc Plouvier , piano, Centre Henri Pousseur, électronique (IV) ; Ensemble Ictus, Centre Henri Pousseur, électroniques, George-Elie Octors, direction (V), dans « YZ3Z2Z1S2, a Five-letter Sufi Word », 1 cd Sub Rosa, 2013, SR365.
- Jean-Luc FAFCHAMPS, En 2011, toutes les 4”…, Pierre Quiriny, percussion, dans « Musiques Nouvelles : 50 ans, 25 compositeurs », 1 cd Cyprès, 2012, CYP4650.
- Jean-Luc FAFCHAMPS, Lettre Soufie : K(àf) ; Lettre Soufie : D(àl) ; Lettre Soufie : Gh(ain) ; Lettre Soufie : S(ìn) ; Letter Soufie : A(lif), Orchestre National de Lille, Peter Rundel, direction (I) ; Ensemble Ictus, Peter Rundel, direction (II & III & V) ; Piet Van Bockstal, hautbois, Ensemble Ictus, Peter Rundel direction (IV) ; Ensemble Ictus, Orchestre National de Lille, Peter Rundel, direction (VI), dans « HDGhZ2SA, a Six-letter Sufi Word », 1 cd Sub Rosa, 2012, SR313.
- Jean-Luc FAFCHAMPS, Lettre Soufie: Z(à’), Vincent Royer (alto), Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven (piano), Centre de Recherches et de Formation Musicales de Wallonie, électronique, dans « ElectroAc Wallonie-Bruxelles », 1 cd Wallonie-Bruxelles Musiques, 2013, WBM163.
- Jean-Luc FAFCHAMPS, Les désordres de Herr Zoebius ; Back to the Voice ; Bryce ; Lettre Soufie : Z1, Quatuor DANEL (I) ; Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven (II) ; Jean-Michel Charlier, Quatuor Danel (III) ; Vincent Royer, alto et Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven, piano (IV), dans « … lignes … », 1 cd Fuga Libera, 2008, FUG537.
- Jean-Luc FAFCHAMPS, Lettre Soufie D, United Instruments of Lucilin, Mark Foster, direction, avec des œuvres de Luca Francesconi, Yan Maresz, Claude Lenners, Alejandro Viñao et Gérard Zinsttag, dans « Six new works », 1 cd Fuga Libera, 2007, FUG501.
- Jean-Luc FAFCHAMPS, Lettre Soufie : T, Art Zoyd et l’ensemble Musique Nouvelles, dans « Expériences de vol », 1 cd Sub Rosa, 2003, SR192.
- Jean-Luc FAFCHAMPS, Melencholia si … ; A Garden, Laurence Cornez, Stephane Ginsburgh, pianos ; Kuniko Kato, Gerrit Nulens, percussions ; Ictus, 1 cd Sub Rosa, 2002, SR179.
- Jean-Luc FAFCHAMPS, Attrition, Quatuor Balanescu et Quatuor Quadro, avec des œuvres de Marcel Duchamp, Claude Debussy, Morton Feldman, … et al. dans « V/A Unclassical 0,1 », 1 cd Sub Rosa, 2000, SR138.
- Jean-Luc FAFCHAMPS, Quatuor pour deux pianos ; Attrition ; Dynamiques ; Der Einsame, Le Bureau des pianistes (I) ; Quatuor Balanescu et Quatuor Quadro (II) ; Laurence Cornez, Jean-Luc Fafchamps, pianos (III) ; Martine Kivits, voix (IV), 1 cd Sub Rosa, 1993, SR56.
- Jean-Luc FAFCHAMPS, Quatuor pour deux pianos, Le Bureau des Pianistes, 1 CD Wallonie-Bruxelles Musiques, 1993, WBM117.
Liens internet
- Site de Jean-Luc Fafchamps : http://www.jeanlucfafchamps.eu/ (lien vérifié en avril 2017).
- Page de Jean-Luc Fafchamps sur le site de l’ensemble Ictus : https://www.ictus.be/fafchamps (lien vérifié en avril 2017).