JEAN-CLAUDE ELOY
texts n° : 43b - 46 - 47 - 47d - 58 - 72 - 75 (1983/1999 - 1985 - 1986 - 1986/1999 - 1996 - 2005)

"THE PATH TOWARS THE CLEAR VOICE" or recognitions of acoustic identities

Jean-Claude Eloy

THE PATH TOWARS THE CLEAR VOICE
or recognition of acoustic identities

"APPROACHING THE MEDITATIVE FLAME"
"Kansô no Honô no Kata-é"

"ANÂHATA"
"Primordial Vibration" or "Original Vibration"

Informations
- "Approaching the Meditative Flame"
- Specifications – miscellaneous information
- "Anâhata"
- Specifications – miscellaneous information

General texts
- Text n° 58 (1996) : "An essantial encouter"
- Text n° 46 (1985) : "Some background remarks on Shômyô and Gagaku"

Interview
- "The Path towards the Clear Voice, or recognition of acoustic identities" - Text n° 75 (2005)
- "Introduction"
- Part I : "Preliminaries"
- Part II : "Approachinbg the Meditative Flame..."
- Part III : "Anâhata"
- Part IV : "Commentaries"
- "Anâhata at the Donaueschingen festival", by Avaera - Text n° 72 (2005)

Photos (42 pages)

Analytical texts
- Text n° 43-b (1983, revised in 1999) : "Approaching the Meditative Flame..."
- Text n° 47-d (1986, revised in 1999) : "Anâhata"
(with 40 pages of reproductions of scores, and examples)

Documents
- "Anâhata : electro-acoustic production"
- Samplings
- Amsterdam, 1984, Sweelinck Conservatorium
- Paris,, 1984-85, INA-GRM
- Geneva, 1885, Studio ART
- Berlin, 1985-86, Technische Universität (TU)
- Amsterdam, 1986, Sweelinck Conservatorium
(with 134 pages of reproductions of the "Studio Workbooks")

Appendix
- Text n° 47 (1986) "Anâhata" (Autumn festival in Paris, and "Sigma" festival, Bordeaux)

Of all the works by Jean-Claude Eloy, "Approaching the Meditative Flame...", for 27 instrumentalists of the "Gagaku" orchestra from Japan, and two choruses of "Shômyô" Buddhist monks (a work known partially in the West by a double LP album "Harmonia Mundi") and more particularly, "Anâhata", for five traditional soloists from Japan (three instrumentalists and two monk singers), percussions, and a major electro-acoustic part (presented in different festivals in Europe) – are the two works that have aroused the greatest examination, controversy and questioning about the composer’s approach - generating quantities of prefabricated clichés and provoking a more or less soundly argued opposition from a segment of the professional environment. This has occurred in spite of the support, understanding, interest and success with audiences in some striking and symbolic venues of modernity (Donaueschinger Musiktage, Warsaw Autumn).
The present book is not a plea for the defense. But it tries to situate the problems and arguments in a larger, historical perspective, recalling the stages, areas of interest and the development of the composer, who goes back to the sources of his childhood and adolescence. He also highlights the remarkable efforts made at this time by his Japanese partners and supporters. Finally, some examples of analysis demonstrate that the techniques, formal concepts and work and writing methods (as creative as they were, and well-adapted to the specific context of these two works) are not without close links to methods and formal concepts used in the composer’s previous works. These were intended for " Western " musical ensembles and sound situations, all of which were perfectly understood and accepted from their very beginnings by professional circles.
Beyond the two works questioned, this book advances the concept of " acoustic identities " and its dissociation from musical " languages ". A common source of confusion : those who are little informed about music of the world often mistake the usage of such acoustic identities with direct borrowings, as if through " quotations " onto their own musical languages and legacies.
This book offers a tool of invaluable work for professors, commentators, musicologists, composers and students wishing to free themselves from preconceived ideas, and who are eager to learn from more authentic sources.

English translations by Meredith Escudier