commissioned by and dedicated to Ingvill Statle Skjørten and Alba Llorach Roca.

J’ai recours au vide is a composition for amplified voices and prepared piano, in which different layers of text, sound, context and meaning are interwoven and interact with each other both in terms of content and sound. The basic dynamic principle in this piece departed from the concept of melting (being ‘full’, flexible) on the one hand or freezing (being ‘empty’, solid) on the other, derived from Schubert’s song Erstarrung from the cycle Winterreise.

The singer is using a bottle as well as her hands in different ways to affect the lowest strings of the piano (ca. lowest octave). The used bottle should be a “Chilly’s 500 ml bottle All Black”. The two voices of the performers should be amplified (head-set mic’s), as well as the piano (one condenser mic for standard piano amplification, one condenser mic close to the bottle).