Downbeat (2021), for oboe and electronic

First public performance on October 24, 2021 at the CRR de Lyon, within the framework of the European Meetings of the Reeds Double. Command of the French Federation of Reeds Double for the oboe competition.

The work has created for the oboe competition organized by the French Federation of Reeds Double in Lyon, October 24, 2021. It is a nod to the electronic music of the downtempo, downbeat or ambient genre. This choice results from the constraint of providing a unique and fixed soundtrack allowing the candidates to prepare the piece with a minimum of material, a constraint that the framework provided to the rhythmic work: the electroacoustic part has the function of a metronome whose pulsation is constantly jostled, the perception of the downbeat being constantly disturbed. Even if the notation of the oboe part is very precise, because of the necessity to correlate it clearly to the electroacoustic part, the game consists in executing it with the greatest rhythmic flexibility and a lot of freedom in the phrasing (rubato), thus defying the strict framework imposed by the tape.

Recording of Arthur Viramoutou's performance, winner of the oboe competition on October 24, 2021 (CRR of Lyon)