LAURENT METTRAUX
Route Principale 160,
CH-1791 Courtaman (Switzerland),
tel. + fax: (+41)
26/684.18.65, E-mail : laurent.mettraux(at)bluewin.ch
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SOME
QUOTES BY MUSICIANS
After
I had heard a work by Laurent Mettraux, I have spontaneously written to him,
asking him to compose a work for my orchestra. The
“Concerto pour 15 soloist strings” (1994) was the result of my demand, a work
of exceptional quality. The innovative
ideas, the subtleties, the contrasts, everything contributes in forming a work of perfect
homogeneity. It requires from the musicians a great sensibility, an important
mastery of the instrument, without appealing to a
mathematician’s austerity nor to the manual capacity of a circus artist. The
musicians have played this work with an very great
pleasure, the reaction of the public was spontaneous, enthusiastic. I hope to
have the pleasure to listen to and to interpret more works by Laurent
Mettraux.
Tibor
Varga, violonist
[About
the first string quartet :] We enjoyed playing this
lovely, thoughtful piece.
Jan
Talich, violinist from the Talich Quartet
You
have clearly your own particular way, which has not much to do with the musical
languages of most of the contemporary composers. Your love for the grand
phrase, for rhetoric in the noblest sense of the term, as well as your whole
musical deportment associate you with a certain 'enlightened romanticism' and
general independence of mind. That is the reason for which I want to tell you this : only listen to your own voice.
Luis
de Pablo, composer
What
moves me is the authenticity of his language. He never writes in a way that
could be contrary to the instrument, but inscribes himself
in its musical heritage. What pleases me as well is that he dares the emotion.
Not a romantic emotion, but something powerful and personal. He writes what he
has to write.
Marianne Piketty, violinist, professor at the National High
School of Music of Lyon
Laurent
Mettraux is a young promising composer, following an atypical and personal way,
creating free from the dogmas and fashions of contemporary music.
Jesus
Lopez Cobos, conductor, after the first performance of the Symphony for
chamber orchestra by the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra in 1993.
Your
Clarinet Quintet is enrapturing music where the balance between fragile lines
and vigorous outbursts is fascinating. Simple details - but so full of meaning !
Erkki-Sven Tüür, composer
The
sonnets by Michelangelo are intense and wonderfully written.
Dalton
Baldwin, pianist
The “ Complainte” by Laurent Mettraux is the best compulsory
piece of all competitions I have attended as a member of a Jury.
Prof.
Herman Krebbers, violinist
Mr.
Mettraux has been mandated to compose the compulsory piece of the 34th
International Violin Competition organised by our Festival, (…) the Third
Concerto for Violin and Full Orchestra (…). Everybody was struck by the work’s
excellence and maturity, by the sensitivity of its details as well as by the
use of large sequences leading to highest striving straining points. Laurent
Mettraux knows how to draw the best of the soloist instrument with generosity
and ability and his colourful orchestration develops all the shapes, from the
darkest to the most luminous one. To my mind this work appears to be a first
rank one. As for the composer, himself prize-winner of many distinctions –
among others the prestigious Prize of the Festival “Donaueschinger Musiktage” –
he has been known for years as one of the most important ones of his generation
(…).
International
Music Festival of Sion
The music of Laurent Mettraux expresses itself in a
language unused until now. Nevertheless, it cannot be considered as revolutionary
or innovative in the sense which the Avant-garde gives to these terms. It
drives its inspiration consciously from the tradition, as well as what concerns
harmony as what concerns the formal construction. The principal materials of
Mettraux’ harmony are tonal elements. But these are
bound to an extremely expressive polytonality and to a very varied rhythmical
structure, near to that of Messiaen. The whole forms a very personal musical
language, which one cannot confuse with another.
Erwin Messmer, organist