Zug um Zug (2021)

The German expression chosen for the title of this piece is used in all its dimensions: the meaning of the expression, the principle of accumulation, is very present in the piece; the word "Zug", the train, is the sound subject of the work; and the sound of the expression, used as an onomatopoeia and repeated ad libitum, gives the impression of a steam train in motion.

Zug um Zug, is inspired by William Turner's painting Rain, steam and speed, particularly in its structural aspect and development. The gesture here is cinematographic: two alternating sequence shots that imagine the scene from inside the painting, either from the small boat on the left point of view, or embarked in the moving train. Thus the piece is a succession of sequences, alternating calm and suspended moments and moments punctuated by an almost immutable "railway" ostinato, like an implacable trance ; Before the final encounter : furtive, teeming and noisy!

The piece is dedicated to Lutz Koppetsch.