1. Theoretical and Methodological Considerations

The project on Grisey’s Les Espaces Acoustiques has generated a collection of unpublished documentation that complements a number of sources relating to this cycle [1]. In order to compile relevant documentation, a number of procedures were put in place by our team, which will now be explained. First of all, before our trip to Zürich, several preparatory meetings took place with the conductor Pierre-André Valade, who was fully involved in devising the project. A few weeks before the start of the rehearsals, he transmitted us the documents that had been sent to the instrumentalists of the ZHdK, namely a letter of introduction accompanied by a list of guidelines for the ensemble pieces of the cycle (Périodes to Épilogue) [2]. A supplementary document on the beating indications in the same pieces was added to this letter [3]. As in the previous document, the indications concern mainly the first part of the cycle (Périodes and Partiels). Lehel Donáth, assistant director of the Master in Music Performance and in charge of the orchestra management at the ZHdK, also sent us the letter of information addressed to the members of the orchestra with the detailed rehearsal schedule and some additional recommendations. This letter, dated 15 February 2016, was accompanied by the scores sent to the instrumentalists. It states: “We will be playing an extremely complex work: Gérard Grisey – Les Espaces acoustiques. For the second time, we have been able to engage Pierre-André Valade as conductor [4].” This passage shows that the level of difficulty of the work is not entirely insignificant given the experience of the orchestra members. It also tells us that Pierre-André Valade had already been invited as a conductor by the ZHdK, which reflects his expertise in conducting student orchestras.

At the venue in Zürich, the three-hour rehearsals took place in two separate phases: firstly, from 7 to 9 April 2016, with tutti rehearsals (Périodes and Partiels) and rehearsals focused on specific instruments (horns, electric guitar and Hammond organ); secondly, from 15 to 22 April, with sectional rehearsals (15 and 16 April), followed by tutti rehearsals of the five ensemble pieces of the cycle (18 to 21 April), a run-through of the whole cycle and a dress rehearsal in the concert hall [5]. Pierre Michel attended the rehearsal day on 8 April, and then the whole research team travelled to Zürich from 20 to 23 April to attend the preparation of the cycle, from the final rehearsals of each ensemble piece to the final concert. The team and its research project, as well as the technical team – on hand for the audio and video recording – were fully introduced to the orchestra by the conductor [6]. The first part of our work was to observe the rehearsals in a non-participatory way, remaining as unobtrusive as possible and not interacting with the instrumentalists and the conductor except for a few informal discussions and making contact during the breaks. More formal conversations and discussions took place at a later stage, during filmed interviews directly following the rehearsals. These interviews took the form of relatively free discussion, based on a set of questions prepared by the members of the research team on general aspects of the work or in relation to the rehearsals observed during the day. The performers who were interviewed – the conductor and several instrumentalists – were invited to answer spontaneously. In addition, photographs were taken of the conductor’s scores bearing his annotations.

Finally, after the fieldwork in Zürich, our research team examined the audio and video material produced, which amounted to dozens of hours of raw footage. In collaboration with Pierre-André Valade, the audio files of the rehearsals were surveyed for content, including a description of the actions carried out and a transcription of the verbal exchanges, with an indication of the corresponding timings; the audio files of the interviews were also transcribed. Selection, editing, annotation and indexing were then carried out together with the technical team. The documentary material obtained thus includes 30 video sequences from the rehearsals of 20 and 21 April 2016 – which can be considered as observation data of the musical activity –, 19 videos of interviews, 11 of which were with Pierre-André Valade and 8 with various instrumentalists of the orchestra – which constitute rather experimental data, derived from an interaction with the research team and based on a process of verbalisation and critical distance from the musical activity itself –, as well as 243 photographs of the conductor’s music scores [7].