for saxophone and tape – 1997, 8’50
Billaudot publisher, score in sell: GB 7007

dedicated to Jean-Denis Michat.
Premiere: Competition Piece for the Conservatoire National de Région de Lyon, 10 juin 1997, Lyon. French Premiere in concert : Vincent DAVID, 17 november 1997, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, Paris.

Program note:
L’air d’ailleurs – bicinium was commissioned by the Lyon Conservatoire de Région as an imposed work for students graduating from the degree in saxophone performance. I wrote the piece in the Spring of 1997, when big protests were taking place in France against the state’s treatment of illegal immigrants. While the artistic community was united in its condemnation of the government’s policies, I found myself questioning the ways in which the contemporary arts are also responsible, albeit unconsciously, for creating an atmosphere of exclusion; the question is not as simple as it might seem…

This work is intended to bring joy to the performer. It is a journey both between two notes (G and A flat), and between an instrument and its shadow. The fixed-media sounds were taken from recordings of the saxophone itself, but their use might, on occasion, remind the listener of far-away lands. L’air d’ailleurs – bicinium is dedicated to Jean-Denis Michat.