Michael Jarrell

Essaims-Cribles

I have always felt attracted to dance and often thought I would like to write music for a ballet. By that I mean music specially composed for dance, music that would be written, if possible, in collaboration with a choreographer. Such a partnership would be concerned above all with questions of form and structure. The chamber ballet Essaims-Cribles is the first step along this path, for although it was first performed without any choreography, it was originally conceived for dance. I took as my starting point the representation of movement, geometric figures and the description of images. These recipes remain nevertheless personal, and if the work is to be danced, the choreographer would naturally be free to interpret it at will. I do, however, feel that music written for ballet will never be the same as music dreamed up by a choreographer, music that attracts him and appeals to him. It is my belief that in those circumstances the undercurrent of ideas can only be deeper and stronger. Michael Jarrell, translated by Mary Criswick