L’électronique dans l’opéra de Kaija Saariaho, L’Amour de loin

Abstract

Vers le blanc, composed at the Ircam in 1982, is the work that marked the anchoring of
the composer’s thought in the potentialities of electronics. One identifies two important
concerns, for the progressive transformation of one material into another, and for the
creation of harmonic fields on the basis of methods of sound analysis, realising a transition
from timbre to harmony. Such concerns are found again in L’Amour de loin, whose
electronic sounds have been realised in the Ircam studios with the help of the softwares
Open Music and MAX/MSP. The sound materials are vocal and instrumental samples
analysed by resonance models. Individual harmonic structures are associated with each
of the characters. Synthesis filters cross the harmonic structures with the resonance
models. The sounds so realised are mixed in real time with the help of the spatialisator
developped in the Ircam, and broadcast through a network of loudspeakers.