Sunday, May 2, 2010

Image de Moreau Box Notes

Recently I got "Image de Moreau" box with nine piano pieces, chosen by the composer, published by MCN.

It includes Andriessen's comment about the pieces: "Strangely enough many of the pieces have some sort of handicap. There are no fewer than three pieces for one hand, left or right. There is one piece which has only chords, as in a Bach chorale. There is even a piece in which not a single note occurs.
The box also contains some birthday presents."

Another note is included, about the graphic design of Louis Andriessen's Image de Moreau box by Bas Mantel:

"The basic assumption for Bas Mantel was to design something different to the traditional piano book, something special, retaining its original functionality at the same time. The front of the box, which holds nine piano booklets, represents the Gustave Moreau painting Dalila, this picture being Louis Andriessen's personal choice.
So as to emphasize graphically the connection between the image and the nine works by Andriessen, Mantel has divided the painting into nine parts, one for each cover. Enlargements of these cuts will stress the details and the figurative symbols in addition to the abstract colour spaces. The composition, the painter's touch, colour, rhythm and texture of the autonomous images are, so to speak, an interpretation analogous to the piece of music. In an indirect manner, Image de Moreau refers by its choice of cover to the Andriessen work Souvenirs d'enfance, which was also published in a box in 1969."

The pieces are: Image de Moreau, Base, Etude Pour Les Timbres, Trois Pieces, Caecilia's Contrapunt, Ricercare, Trepidus, Feli-citazione, Blokken.

Ursula Oppens plays "Image de Moreau", from youtube:

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