Symphonie de Leau Serge Lancen

Titel / Title: Symphonie de l'Eau
Untertitel / Subtitle:
Komponist / Composer: Serge Lancen
Arrangeur / Arranger:
Instrumentation: Concert Band


MBS-25

This symphony was composed in 1984 and is dedicated to the great French composer Ida Gotkovsky a good friend of the Lancen family. It was the test piece in the Seccion Primera of the famous Spanish wind band contest Certamen International de Bandes de Música Ciudad de València and was recorded by the Symphonic Band of the Maastricht Conservatory of Music conducted by Sef Pijpers. Serge Lancen himself related the genesis of this symphony as follows:When I was twelve years old I had started composing a piece which described the cycle of the water. The project was however abandoned and only some themes were left unused. In July 1983, I went by boat to the WASBE conference in Skien, Norway and was seduced by the North Sea. During the travel a musical theme was born and was the trigger for the realisation of my ancient project which I still fancied'. The 'Symphonie de l'Eau' is in fact a musical description of the cycle of the water which the composer defines as follows:'A slight mist rises and turns into a cloud. Water drops fall on the mountain. A brooklet rises and clears a way throughout the alpine pastures. Soon other small watercourses join the original brook that is now reinforced as to become a real roaring mountain river falling in a lake amidst a quiet and poetic surrounding. The water turns again into a river when leaving the lake and gradually becomes a big stream which majestically flows towards the sea. A slight mist is rising from the huge surface and so the cycle of the water starts all over again.

[FR]
Cette oeuvre a été composée en 1984 et elle est dédiée à Madame Ida Gotkovsky, grand compositeur contemporain et amie de Serge Lancen. Elle fut imposée en Sección Primera lors du fameux concours Certamen International Bandes de Música Ciudad de Valencia et enregistrée sur disque par l'Orchestre d'Harmonie du Conservatoire de Maastricht sous la direction de Sef Pijpers. Serge Lancen raconta lui-même la genèse de cette symphonie: 'Vers ma douzième année, j'avais commencé une oeuvre racontant le cycle de l'eau. De ce projet abandonné, il ne resta que quelques thèmes. En juillet 1983, allant par bateau au congrès de la WASBE à Skien en Norvège, je fus séduit par la mer du Nord. Un thème musical décrivant cette impression naquit pendant le voyage et déclencha ma réalisation de cet ancien projet qui me tenait à coeur La 'Symphonie de l'Eau' est une description musicale du cycle de l'eau que le compositeur a défini de la façon suivante : 'Un léger brouillard se lève et devient un nuage. Des gouttes d'eau tombent sur la montagne. Un ruisseau y naît et se fraye un chemin à travers les alpages. Rapidement d'autres petits cours d'eau le rejoignent et ainsi fortifié, le ruisseau devient un fleuve de montagne bruyant qui se jette dans un lac au milieu d'un environnement paisible et poétique. L'eau reprend son cours à la sortie du lac. Les rives s'écartent lentement et la rivière devient un fleuve qui coule majestueusement vers la mer. De cette immense surface s'élève une légère brume et ainsi le cycle de l'eau reprend.

[NL]
This symphony was composed in 1984 and is dedicated to the great French composer Ida Gotkovsky a good friend of the Lancen family. It was the test piece in the Seccion Primera of the famous Spanish wind band contest Certamen International de Bandes de Música Ciudad de València and was recorded by the Symphonic Band of the Maastricht Conservatory of Music conducted by Sef Pijpers. Serge Lancen himself related the genesis of this symphony as follows:When I was twelve years old I had started composing a piece which described the cycle of the water. The project was however abandoned and only some themes were left unused. In July 1983, I went by boat to the WASBE conference in Skien, Norway and was seduced by the North Sea. During the travel a musical theme was born and was the trigger for the realisation of my ancient project which I still fancied'. The 'Symphonie de l'Eau' is in fact a musical description of the cycle of the water which the composer defines as follows:'A slight mist rises and turns into a cloud. Water drops fall on the mountain. A brooklet rises and clears a way throughout the alpine pastures. Soon other small watercourses join the original brook that is now reinforced as to become a real roaring mountain river falling in a lake amidst a quiet and poetic surrounding. The water turns again into a river when leaving the lake and gradually becomes a big stream which majestically flows towards the sea. A slight mist is rising from the huge surface and so the cycle of the water starts all over again.

Besetzungsliste / Instrumentation:

0 Full Score A3
1 Full Score
1 Piccolo
3 Flute I
3 Flute II
1 Oboe I
1 Oboe II
2 Bassoon
1 Clarinet Eb
4 Clarinet Solo
4 Clarinet I
4 Clarinet II
4 Clarinet III
2 Clarinet 1B
2 Clarinet 1A
1 Alto Clarinet Eb
1 Bass Clarinet
2 Alto Saxophone I
2 Alto Saxophone II
2 Tenor Saxophone
1 Baritone Saxophone
1 Bass Saxophone
2 Flugelhorn I
2 Flugelhorn II
2 Cornet I
2 Cornet II
2 Trumpet I
2 Trumpet II
2 Trumpet III
1 Horn I Eb
1 Horn I F
2 Horn II + III Eb
2 Horn II + III F
2 Tenorhorn I
2 Tenorhorn II
2 Trombone I C
1 Trombone I Bb (TC)
1 Trombone I Bb (BC)
2 Trombone II C
1 Trombone II Bb (TC)
1 Trombone II Bb (BC)
2 Trombone III C
1 Trombone III Bb (TC)
1 Trombone III Bb (BC)
2 Baritone C
2 Baritone Bb (BC)
2 Baritone Bb (TC)
2 Bas Bb (TC)
2 Bas Bb (BC)
2 Bas Eb (TC)
2 Bas Eb (BC)
4 Tuba C
1 Stringbass
1 Percussion
1 Timpani