Georges Aperghis – Black Light (2019)
for double bass solo
Commissioned by Ensemble Musikfabrik supported by Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen
Florentin Ginot, double bass
Janet Sinica, video/editing
Jan Böyng, editing
Stephan Schmidt, recording producer/ediditing
Georges Aperghis makes a tabula rasa of the double bass, completely changing the five strings of the instrument, which turns into a vibratory wasteland of wood and metal.
The scordatura, dark, rough, and dull, becomes a song of the depths:
we are witness to a recitative in which the performer fights, struggling against the density of an instrument whose resistance is pushed to the extreme.
In his impotence, he searches for a glimmer of light that might be a way out—or at least a way through.
Florentin Ginot