sound diffusion 4.1
duration: 10′

ICMC 1999 Selection – Beijing
commission: Institut International de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges
1st performance: Bourges, (France) Festival “Syntèse 98” – June 04, 1998

The text is an investigation into the hypotheses that led King Philip II to have a royal apartment built in the church of the Escorial monastery. Discovering with surprise the bedroom very close to the altar “about ten meters away”, Magrelli formulates a series of hypotheses, some disturbing, others ironic, some mystical, others sci-fi, but all fascinating. The music follows the evolutions of Magrellian thought, creating a changing atmosphere, defined both by the use of different narrative voices, and by the sounds that recreate the environment of the church and guide the emotion of the story.

This piece was commissioned by The “Institut International de Musique Electroacoustique” at Bourges.
The original text is part of a series of 20 short pieces that Luigi Ceccarelli and Valerio Magrelli realized in 1996 for the Italian State Radio (RAI).
On that occasion the text was translated into French by Franco Lombardi. Both the musical part and the sound design were completely re-made with french reciting voices and composed for a 8 channel speakers system.
The first performance of this piece took place in spring 1998 at “Festival de Musique Electroacoustique” (Bourges) using the Gmebaphone .

Review

Regarding “A propos de la chambre à coucher de Philippe II dans l’église de l’Escaorial” turns out to be a powerful, frightening work. The contracted and mechanico-surrealist images of the text (we were listening to a French version to capture everything) are already freezing blood. The music, it comes to knock the nail.

Francois Tousignant – Le Devoir (Canada) – Oct 19, 2003