Transmission, Interpretation, Collaboration-A Performer's Perspective on the Language of

Contemporary Music: An Interview with Sophie Cherrier

Author(s): Nina Perlove and Sophie Cherrier
Source: Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Winter, 1998), pp. 43-58
Published by: Perspectives of New Music
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TRANSMISSION,INTERPRETATION,

COLLABORATION
A PERFORMER'S
PERSPECTIVE
ON THE LANGUAGE
OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC:
AN INTERVIEW
WITH SOPHIE CHERRIER

NINA PERLOVE

MUSIC is an expression which communicates in a landifferent

from traditional classical music. It is more explosive,
guage
more theatrical, more gestural. The phrases are no longer singing melodies,"' explains Sophie Cherrier. As Principal Flutist of the Ensemble
Intercontemporain since 1980, she speaks the contemporary language
with fluency. The Ensemble Intercontemporain is an orchestra of thirtyone full-time musicians dedicated to the performance, transmission, dissemination, and pedagogy of twentieth-century music.2 Founded in
1976 by Pierre Boulez, the Ensemble performs approximately thirty
times a year in Paris and has toured extensively, including concerts in
South America, the former USSR, Canada, the United States, Japan,
New Zealand, Australia, and most major cities of Europe. The Ensemble
Intercontemporain enjoys a unique partnership with IRCAM (the
ONTEMPORARY

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44

Perspectivesof New Music

Institute of Acoustic Music Research and Coordination), which sponsors

research and concerts showcasing the newest technological advances in
composition.3 Since 1992, American David Robertson has held the
position of Musical Director of the Ensemble. In addition to Cherrier's
position in the Ensemble Intercontemporain, she was recently appointed
Flute Professor at the Paris Conservatory, one of the most internationally
prestigious teaching positions.
Cherrier mastered the contemporary language the way many students
learn a foreign tongue, through total immersion-in her case, on the job.
"At the Paris Conservatory I played primarilythe traditional flute repertoire. I had been introduced to pieces like the Pierre Boulez Sonatine and
Luciano Berio's Sequenza I, but at that time I did not have any particular
desire to become a contemporary specialist. When I won the job in the
Ensemble Intercontemporain, I did not even know what extended techniques such as multiphonics and slaps were. But I learned quickly because
I was scheduled to premiere Chu Ky Vby Ton-That Tiet and I only had
one month to learn it.4 I found the new flute techniques to be easy."
For Cherrier, the modern effects were a vocabulary she quickly internalized. More challenging was fully comprehending the context of this
new language. "In most contemporary music, the melodies are difficult
to recognize. They are heard, but in new ways: they are not tonal, there
are new sounds and large, surprising intervals, there are nontraditional
sound colors. With this type of music, you cannot easily hum back the
melody. After the first hearing of Boulez's Sonatine, most people could
not sing it one hour later."
One way Cherrier came to understand the contemporary musical context was by reevaluating her rapport with her instrument. "In a sense, we
are required to forget our classical training. In Pneuma (1970) by Heinz
Holliger, you have the impression of using the flute like a completely different instrument from its treatment in the traditional repertoire."
Like many contemporary scores, Pneuma stretches the flute's sound
possibilities far beyond those available in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries. Holliger's score directs the four flutists to "hum and play
simultaneously. Play with lips firmly pressed together (as on trumpet
mouthpiece). Whisper into the instrument, [and] exhale and inhale
observing indicated fingering and with some sound in the blowing
noise."5
Clearly, the flute is no longer limited to producing pure tone colors.
Extended techniques like quarter-tones have literally, as well as figuratively, transformed the flute into a "different" instrument. For example,
flutemaker Eva Kingma, who is based in Grolloo, the Netherlands, produces quarter-tone alto and bass flutes to accommodate the changing
needs of composers and performers. Most recently, Brannen Brothers

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An Interview with Sophie Cherrier

45

Flutemakers of Woburn, Massachusetts, adapted Kingma's patented

key-on-key mechanism to produce a quarter-tone flute in C. Designed by
Bick Brannen, this instrument has "six additional keys which allow the
flute to play quarter-tone scales from D4 to the top range of the instrument. It can still play the traditional repertoire with no exceptions, but
expands the performer's capabilities in dynamics, tone color, and intonation. Because of the ease in playing quarter-tones, contemporary flutists
can now adjust easily to play eighth-tones. Also, the design dramatically
increases possibilities for multiphonics, which can be played on each
semitone of the scale. Glissandos are also improved."6
In performing works with extensive modern techniques, Cherrier
believes that the most difficult aspect is switching quickly from a contemporary context back to a traditional one. "This is challenging because
while doing extended techniques such as tongue slaps and wind tones
you are not necessarily well-placed on the embouchure, or there may be
some saliva built up, which makes it difficult to quickly change to a traditional position. However, in performing contemporary music, the musician cannot be worrying all the time, thinking 'oh la la, I've lost my
classicalsound.' You must simply search for what the composer wants."
But what does the composer want? According to Cherrier, this is not
always clear. Like complex hieroglyphics, the symbols used by composers
are often hard to understand: "It is very difficult that composers never
have the same notation system. This is very unpleasant. Though it isn't
the end of the world, it is still very annoying when you are in front of a
score and you don't know what the composer wants. Oh la la, that
annoys me.7 For example, Froissements d'Ailes (Rustling Wings) by
Michael Levinas is a good contemporary solo flute piece, but the score is
hard to decipher (Example 1).8 We are not sure if he wants wind tones or
sound with a bit of air for the beginning.
Although ambiguities in notation are confusing for performers who
seek to interpret works exactly as the composer intended, such uncertainties at times may be central to the expressive intent of the work. Levinas
wrote that "sound becomes musical when its [pure] quality and objective
reality become also indeterminate, ambiguous, because it suggests a
sound beyond, and yet within the sound.... This ambiguity will become
the essence of the musical and the poetic, opening up the true realm of
the imagination to the act of composing."9 Because Levinas's music
explores the ambiguity of sound elements, his nonspecific notation in
Froissementsd'Ailes may be his way of freeing the creative realm for the
performer.
In other cases, however, composers want to communicate specific
ideas. For Cherrier, the written tradition of contemporary music must
evolve with a sophistication equal to its oral counterpart. She pleadingly

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46

Perspectivesof New Music

states: "It would be nice to have a single notation. From one composer
to the next, even techniques like quarter-tones are not written the same
way. One might put a backwards flat sign while another uses a
downward-pointing arrow. Some composers use a V to indicate a slap
while others simply write 'slap.' This is extremely unpleasant. They ought
to have a notation that is clear and precise."'1

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EXAMPLE

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To translate notation systems, Cherrier spends much of her practice

time a la table, until she can read scores with fluency. In pieces with many
extended techniques, "it is necessary to move forward step by step, carefully, almost note by note, and then begin to memorize [the indications]
sufficiently to advance. This can be a long, fastidious, difficult, sometimes
laborious process.ll Sometimes I look at a piece and I only have a week
to learn it and I think, 'Oh no. It isn't possible!' but the more I do it, the
easier it gets. In studying contemporary pieces, I must also work without
my instrument in hand to understand the rhythmic notation, to see if
there is space in which to evolve, as in the Berio Sequenza."
In studying the Sequenza,12 Cherrier's initial challenge was to understand the composer's proportional notation of events in time which
replaces the traditional use of measures (Example 2). She adds that "this
notation, which has since been adopted by many composers, was a bit
disorienting at first ... as if one were learning a new way of speaking."13

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47

An Interview with Sophie Cherrier

Yet, Cherrier believes Berio's system of interior time units "allows for a
certain elasticity and a type of freedom for the performer."14
In a 1981 interview, Berio described Sequenza I as very difficult,
explaining:
[I] adopted a notation that was very precise, but allowed a margin of
flexibility in order that the player might have the freedompsychological rather than physical-to adapt the piece here and
there to his technical stature. But instead, this notation has allowed
many players-none of them by any means shining examples of professional integrity-to perpetuate adaptations that were little short
of piratical. In fact, I hope to rewrite Sequenza I in rhythmic notation: maybe it will be less "open" and more authoritarian, but at
least it will be reliable.15

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By kind permission of Edizioni Suvini Zerboni, Milan

EXAMPLE 2: BERIO,

I (BEGINNING),
NOTATION

SEQUENZA

IN THE ORIGINAL

In 1992, Suvini Zerboni and Universal Edition A.G., Vienna published

the Sequenza in a more standard format (Example 3).16 Cherrier offers
her reactions to this adaptation:
Berio, in [1992] ... rewrote his Sequenza in traditional notationbut without bar lines-doubtless after having heard too many
performances which were far from what he wanted. Personally,I find
this to be a pity. I studied the new version, but only for the small,
detailed elements; because my previous study sufficiently prepared
me, I work only with the original notation.17
Because of differences and innovations in notation, contemporary
music often relies as much on an oral tradition as on a written text. In the

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48

Perspectivesof New Music

Ensemble Intercontemporain, Cherrier consults directly with composers,

who help her translate their scores. Other musicians, lacking such a luxury, may study recordings (when possible), or discuss the piece with
teachers and colleagues who may have had past contact with the composer. When these options are not possible, performers make their own
interpretive decisions. "If I am unable to contact a composer," Cherrier
explains, "I simply choose the interpretation which in my opinion best
reflects the spirit of the work."

703--I

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Luciano Berio, SEQUENZA I ? Proprieta per tutto il mondo:
Edizioni Suvini Zerboni. All Rights Reserved. Used by kind permission
of European American Music Distributors Corporation, sole U.S. and
Canadian agent for Universal Edition A.G., Vienna, and with kind permission of Edizioni Suvini Zerboni
EXAMPLE

3: BERIO,

SEQUENZA

I, REVISED

NOTATION

Although most performers genuinely want to give new works solid

performances, and appreciate the details within a piece, there is a general
belief among musicians that note-perfection is less of an issue in contemporary music than in traditional repertoire. This is because they believe
some mistakes in contemporary works may go unnoticed by the audience. Cherrierconcurs: "A wrong note in Mozart is noticed immediately,
it is true. But honestly, if I play a wrong note in the Boulez Sonatine,
who will notice except me, or perhaps someone who knows the piece
extremely well?"18However, as a performer, Cherrier disagrees with this
attitude and believes that "although some mistakes may not be heard, I
hope most audiences would notice if there were major problems in a
performance. But a wrong note is not the issue. What is important is giving the piece a solid presentation and engaging the public with what you
have done. The performer must defend the piece well, so to speak."
Contemporary composers understandably hope each note of their
pieces will be heard within its context, just as audiences have learned to
recognize a Baroque harmonic progression or a Classical melodic line.
Yet, because function and structure in contemporary music are constantly
being reinvented, even sophisticated audiences and performers are not
always aware of the role of a specific pitch. A wrong note may go

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49

An Interview with Sophie Cherrier

unnoticed because the audience has little expectation for what the correct
pitch should be.
Cherrier herself separates the job of analysis from performance. "I am
not an avid theoretical analyst, but this does not impede my understanding of a work's construction. For example, in the Sonatine, it is easy to
see the twelve-tone row presented in the Rapide section. (Example 4).19
But I believe a good performer is not necessarily a good analyst, and a
good analyst is not necessarily a good performer."20
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? 1954 Editions Amphion. Used by permission.

Sole Agent U.S.A., Theodore Presser Company

EXAMPLE 4: BOULEZ,

SONATINE

RAPIDE,

FOR FLUTE AND PIANO,

MM. 32-47

One reason for concerns over note-perfection may be the increasing

technical difficulty of contemporary music. "Sometimes composers write
pieces with extremely difficult, even unplayable passages," Cherrier
admits. "This happens more frequently in orchestral pieces than in solo
works. In the orchestra, these passages are more discreet [less obvious to
the listener]. Usually, if a passage is difficult for the flute it is also challenging for all the instruments. Most composers know what they have

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Perspectivesof New Music

written is very difficult or impossible-like Brian Ferneyhough, who is

what we call a composer of extremes. He knows his music is at the outer
limit of possibility, but he wants to push players to the maximum."
For flutists, Ferneyhough's music is especially challenging. As the highest voice in the orchestra, the flute symbolically represents outer registral
limits. Ferneyhough writes, "The sound of any extremely high or low
instrument tends, at least for me, to evoke associations with borders,
boundaries, and with whatever lies beyond."21 In addition to an interest
in registral boundaries, Ferneyhough pushes players to their outer technical limits by surpassing expectations of rhythm and interpretation. In
Mnemosynefor bass flute and tape, Ferneyhough scores the flute part on
three separate staves (Example 5).22 In this piece, the composer writes
"unplayable" passages to challenge flutists beyond their training as
monophonic instrumentalists:
It is clear that no monophonic instrument is going to be able to perform all materialson all three lines. With a piano this doesn't matter:
there's the possibility of distributing three voices among two hands.
It is interesting that what comes naturally to a keyboard player
encounters tremendous resistance in the minds of (say) woodwind
soloists, who are not accustomed to freeing up the "natural" relationship between hands, or hand and embouchure.23
Ferneyhough's flute works also push boundaries by requiring performers to breathe as little as possible. In his piccolo work Superscriptio,he
marks optional breathing points, and adds, "Take as few as absolutely
necessary."24In the beginning of Mnemosyne,he requests that the flutist
"Breathe either as little and as unobtrusively as possible or employ circular breathing."25
Leaving aside those who knowingly push technical and interpretative
limits, Cherrierremarksthat occasionally young composers do not realize
they have written an extremely difficult section. Furthermore, scores may
contain passages specificallyunplayable on the flute, such as notes out of
the range of the instrument. Cherrier advises composers to "avoid slaps
above middle F#, they come out in the lower register. Also, be careful of
multiphonics in very fast succession."
When Cherrier encounters pieces with unplayable passages, she tries to
speak to the composer and point out the problem. "Usually they are
grateful for the feedback and respond by asking what can be done to
make the passage playable, or else they ask me to play as much as possible
to capture the essence of the phrase. In general, I advise young composers to make use of existing methods, but to keep in mind that everything
evolves. Ideally, composers should meet and work with performers."

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An Interview with Sophie Cherrier

51

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Perspectivesof New Music

Cherrier treasures the performer-composer friendship, which she

believes helps to better transmit the music to the audience. She discusses
her experience working on Chinese composer Shuya Xu's Dense/
Clairseme, a piece for solo bass flute and orchestra which she performed
at IRCAM in 1996. "I was playing it too European, too French, with a
centered, clean, 'perfect' sound. I felt it wasn't right, so I worked with
the composer. Xu wanted much more air in the sound, and well-marked
accents. He sang the expression and I reproduced the sounds."
The performer-composer relationship is obviously crucial for the discovery and transmission of new works, but Cherrier also believes that
performer-performer contact is critical. "When David Robertson took
over as musical director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, we started
programming much more American music. Before, we always did Reich,
Ives, Cage, but now we are branching out even further." For the 19971998 season, the Ensemble Intercontemporain programmed three concerts titled Made in the USA and featured works by George Crumb,
Charles Amirkhanian, Morton Feldman, David Soley, Josh Levine, John
Adams, Terry Riley, Elliott Carter, and Roger Reynolds.
Although the expressive qualities of the contemporary language may
be a mystery to many concert-goers, Cherrier believes that audiences are
constantly involved in a process of musical selection. "The decisions as to
what pieces will last over time is not made by specialists alone, but by the
public as well. Why did Mozart last? Not only because he was a prodigy,
but because his language touches us. We have found genius in this
Monsieur. Other composers of his era have long been forgotten. I have
sometimes played quite bad contemporary music, boring works, and
screaming pieces which give everyone a headache. But I believe works of
many composers will withstand the test of time. For example, we spoke
about Berio-for me, his music has a unique expression which is theatrical, gestural. It has halting moments, sweet interludes. It speaks to me
and I think to the spectators as well."26
Yet, Cherrier believes that composers should not write solely to please
the public taste. "Each composer has, at least I hope, a personal evolution. Composers should not write just to please others, they should write
with their feelings."
Because the contemporary musical message is often difficult for audiences to comprehend, Cherrier stresses the importance of live performance: "Contemporary music is enhanced by the visual. Of course, all
music is more enjoyable in live performance, but I think it is even more
necessary in contemporary music because there is a gesture which emanates from the performer. For example, in the double piano works of
Gyorgy Ligeti, the effect of watching the pianists communicate with

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An Interview with Sophie Cherrier

53

signs and body language enhances the audience's understanding of the

music."
Contemporary music is not only transmitted through the performerheard and seen-but also through technological means, a trend which is
more and more prevalent. One technology-enhanced medium is chamber
music between live performer and prerecorded sounds. "I never appreciated this type of composition, which is becoming obsolete." Cherrier
explains that sharing the stage with a tape machine limited her flexibility.
"I felt dependent upon the prerecorded element. Once it started running, I did not feel free. If you have a tape which is transmitted very well
in a game of spatialization in the hall, it is okay. But if it is simply me playing with a tape and two speakers, it is not very interesting. But this form
of composition is virtually extinct now." This may be true for members of
the Ensemble Intercontemporain, who have access to the most advanced
technology at IRCAM. However, many musicians who do not have
access to this technology still regularlyperform pieces for instrument and
tape.27
For the Ensemble Intercontemporain, composers have replaced works
for instrument and tape by compositions for instruments enhanced by
MIDI. This technology was used by Pierre Boulez in explosante-fixe,
which Cherrier recorded with the Ensemble Intercontemporain in
1995.28 This compact disc won a "Best Small Ensemble Performance"
Grammy Award in 1997. In explosante-fixe,a flute is prepared with magnetic captors on each key. An interface connected to the computer activates preprogrammed sounds or effects, transforming the sound of the
flute in real time.29 In this way, the MIDI responds to the musician,
unlike the former method which made the performer subservient to the
tape.
"This system works well because the machine can read very fast passages and respond to each fingering as if it were hearing the score. I have
much more freedom with this system than with flute and tape." But from
Cherrier's perspective, this system is still imperfect. "I am required to
play with a special flute, which I find unpleasant. Also, the captors can fall
off, in which case the system doesn't work at all!"
Recent advances, however, solve these problems. "The newest technology is a MIDI which recognizes, or 'hears' the pitches I play. A microphone is placed into the flute headjoint which attaches to the computer.
The composer enters a program and the computer follows the score
based on the pitches I play. For example, if I arrive at a Bb and the composer desires to have a succession of tongue slaps, my Bb will trigger the
series." Furthermore, with this technology, performers have the freedom
to change tempo. "You can do what you want. If you want to go three
times slower, the MIDI will go three times slower, too. Before, with

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Perspectivesof New Music

pieces for flute and tape, the expression seemed inhuman because it was
rigid, our hands were tied. The new technology is much more human."
One problem with the new MIDI system is that it can become confused
in reading a fast run. For works with such passages (including explosantefixe), it is necessary to keep the former key-captor system.
As the voice of computers becomes more and more dominant in the
contemporary language, one might question the role of the live performer. Cherrier, however, is not worried. She sees the technological
advances as additions, not threats to the profession. "The MIDI does not
replace a performer," Cherrier states, explaining that the sounds produced by computers are usually electronically generated noises or sound
effects which could not be reproduced by an on-stage performer. "The
MIDI is an extra. We are thirty-one musicians and with the MIDI we are
thirty-two." Furthermore, the computer does not run itself, but is transmitted by a music-technician who must be present for every performance. If, for instance, the musician misses a note and does not trigger a
command, the technician, who is following the score, will set the computer ahead to meet the performer.
Even so, the MIDI performance medium requires new technical standards of the performer. Cherrier describes how "the process of activating
the sequences allows little room for mistakes: the margin of error is very
small.... The added difficulty for the performer, in this case, is to aim
for a faultless presentation."30
Perhaps now more than ever, musical creation involves a continuous
dialogue between composers and performers sharing ideas, experiences,
and reactions. The voice of technology, the newest and fastest-growing
member in the family of contemporary musicians, is part of this collaboration. As Cherrier states, "the technological evolution is the expression
of the modern age and music continues in a similar direction." Composers, performers, and technicians struggle to assert their individual identities, and often clash in the process. Yet, as Sophie Cherrier has
demonstrated throughout her career, it is through such communication
that learning and growth occur: composers stretch the expressive and
technical possibilities of performers, musicians challenge composers to
communicate their ideas clearly, composers and performers challenge
technology to meet their changing needs, and technology in turn challenges composers and musicians to create and master new methods of
performance. In this way, each area develops as a creative whole where
every member is dependent upon, and grateful for, the other.

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An Interview with Sophie Cherrier

55

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Frank Samarotto, Darrell Handle, Marianne
Kielian-Gilbert, and the anonymous reviewers of Perspectivesof New
Music for their valuable suggestions on this manuscript. I would also like
to thank Steven Cahn for looking over my analysis of the Boulez
Sonatine.

NOTES

1. Unless otherwise indicated, Cherrier's quoted material (in both text

and footnotes) is taken from two interviews held in Paris, France
(June 1997). The sessions were conducted in French and were transcribed and translated into English by the interviewer.
2. The Ensemble Intercontemporain welcomes submissions of new
compositions for performance. Priority is given to young composers
who have never before had their work presented in a concert at
IRCAM or by the Ensemble Intercontemporain. The committee also
evaluates candidates for pedagogical activities. For information write
to: Direction Artistique de l'Ircam, 1 place Igor-Stravinsky, 75004
fax: 011-33-1-44-78-48-06.
Paris, tel: 011-33-1-44-78-48-34,
Ensemble Intercontemporain website: <http://www-old.ircam.fr/
eic/index.html>.
3. IRCAM (the Institute of Acoustic Music Research and Coordination) website: <http://www.ircam.fr/indexl.html>.
4. Ton-That Tiet, Chu Ky Vfor flute and tape (Paris: Jobert, 1983).
5. Heinz Holliger, Pneuma for wind, percussion, organ, and radios
(Mainz: Ars Viva Verlag, 1972), 6.
6. Bickford Brannen, telephone interview, July 1998. Bick added that
with the multiphonic instrument, "flutists can literally play the clarinet introduction from Gershwin's Rhapsodyin Blue." Flutists Anne
La Berge and John Fonville collaborated in the development of the
instrument. Since 1995, Brannen Brothers Flutemakers, Inc. has
sold over forty quarter-tone flutes, and John Fonville, Robert Dick,
Jennifer Higdon, and Anne La Berge are among the performer/
composers who have written for the instrument. Brannen Brothers
has also designed a quarter-tone piccolo.

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Perspectivesof New Music

7. "C'est tres difficile car les compositeurs, n'ont jamais la meme facon
d'ecrire. Ca c'est tres desagreable. Ce n'est pas enorme, si tu veux,
mais c'est tres enervant quand tu es devant une partition et tu ne sais
pas ce que veulent les compositeurs, oh la la, ga m'enerve."
8. Michael Levinas, Froissements d'Ailes (Paris: Heugel/Alphonse
Leduc, 1975).
9. "Le son devient musical lorsque cette qualite [pure] et realite objective devient aussi indetermination, ambiguite, parce que suggestion,
comme s'il y avait un 'au-dela' du son dans le son.... Cette ambiguite deviendrait l'essence du musical et du poetique, ouverture d'un
vrai espace de l'imaginaire pour le travail de composition." Michael
Levinas, "Le son et la musique," Entretemps6 (1988): 28. Unless
otherwise indicated, all French translations are by the interviewer.
10. "Ca serait bien d'avoir une notation unique. D'un compositeur a
l'autre, meme le quart de ton ce n'est pas la meme ecriture. II y en a
un qui met un bemol a l'envers, un autre met une fleche vers le
bas.... Ca c'est extremement penible. Ils devraient avoir une notation claire, precise."
11. "II faut avancer pas a pas, doucement, c'est vraiment presque note a
note, lentement, et puis commencer a memoriser suffisamment pour
pouvoir avancer.C'est parfois tres long, tres fastidieux. C'est difficile,
c'est parfois tres penible."
12. Luciano Berio, Sequenza per flauto solo (Milan: Edizioni Suvini
Zerboni, 1958).
13. "Depuis, beaucoup de compositeurs ont adopte cette ecriture, qui
desoriente un peu au debut ... comme si on apprenait une nouvelle
facon de parler."Sophie Cherrier, as quoted by Veronique Brindeau,
"Flute Solo: Sophie Cherrier," Accents: Le Journal de l'Ensemble
Intercontemporain5 (May-August 1998): 11.
14. Ibid. "Cela donne une certaine elasticite et une forme de liberte a
l'interprete."
15. Rossana Dalamonte in Luciano Berio: Two Interviews (New York:
Marion Boyars, 1985), 99. Translated and edited by David OsmondSmith. Interview originally published in Intervista sulla musica
(Rome: Laterza, 1981).
16. Luciano Berio, Sequenza I per flauto solo (Milan: Edizioni Suvini
Zerboni; Vienna: Universal Edition A.G., 1992).

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An Interview with Sophie Cherrier

57

17. "Berio, en 1997 [sic] ... a reecrit sa Sequenza en ecriture traditionnelle-mais sans barre de mesure-sans doute apres avoir entendu
trop d'interpretations eloignees de ce qu'il avait voulu. Personnellement, je trouve cela dommage. J'ai retravaillesur la nouvelle version,
mais pour de petits elements de details, car le travailprealable m'avait
suffisamment preparee, et je ne joue qu'avec la notation d'origine."
Cherrier, "Flute Solo," Accents, 11. In this article, the date of Berio's
revision is incorrectly given as 1997. The revised version was published by Universal Edition A.G., Vienna in 1992, UE 19 957.
18. "Une fausse note dans un Mozart s'entend tout de suite, et elle ne
s'entend pas dans un Boulez, c'est evident. Si je fais une fausse note
dans la Sonatine de Boulez, qui va s'en rendre compte, franchement?
A part moi ou quelqu'un qui le connait tres tres bien?"
19. Pierre Boulez, Sonatine (Paris: Amphion, 1954). All analysis by the
author unless otherwise indicated. Given the prime form of the row
< C B G C# A El E; A D Bl F F# > or C = 0 (0, 11, 7, 1, 8,4, 3, 9,
2, 10, 5, 6); the flute presents row forms T5I and T7I in measures
33-40 and 41-47, respectively. Introducing this passage, the piano
in measure 32 juxtaposes H1 of T2Iin the right hand and H1 of RT2I
simultaneously in the left hand, converging on the B-B6. Although
Carol K. Baron states that throughout the piece "the juxtaposition of
the first and last notes of a given row, always a tritone, is carefully
avoided," this is one instance where such simultaneity does occur.
Baron identifies a repeated rhythmic pattern of two quarter notes,
dotted quarter, sixteenth, eighth starting in measures 33 and 41. See
Carol K. Baron, "An Analysis of the Pitch Organization in Boulez's
'Sonatine' for Flute and Piano," Current Musicology20 (1975): 8991.
20. "Je pense qu'un bon interprete n'est pas forcement un bon analyste,
[et] un bon analyste n'est pas forcement un bon interprete."
21. Brian Ferneyhough, Superscriptiofor solo piccolo (London: Edition
Peters, 1982), preface.
22. Brian Ferneyhough, Mnemosyne(London: Edition Peters, 1986).
23. Brian Ferneyhough, "The Tactility of Time (Darmstadt Lecture
1988)," Perspectivesof New Music 31, no. 1 (Winter 1993): 26-27.
24. Ibid.
25. Brian Ferneyhough, Mnemosyne(London: Edition Peters, 1986), 1.

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58

Perspectivesof New Music

26. Cherrier recorded Berio's Sequenza I for Deutsche Grammophon,

release pending.
27. American flutist Jill Felber, who recently recorded a compact disc
including works for flute and tape (Neuma 450-94), explains that in
tour situations, it can be difficult to perform works requiring
advanced MIDI technology. Works for flute and tape (or flute and
DAT) are more easily transportable and adaptable to various concert
settings. Jill Felber, telephone interview, July 1998. (Cherrier agrees
that MIDI has limited concert possibilities and therefore works with
tape are still important).
28. Ensemble Intercontemporain, Boulez Conducts Boulez: Explosantefixe, Deutsche Grammophon CD 445 833-2.
29. For more information on the MIDI flute and explosante-fixe,see
Cecile Daroux, "Flute Contemporaine," TraversieresMagazine, no.
23/57 (April-June, 1997): 51-59.
30. "Le fait de declencher des sequences laisse peu de droit a l'erreur: la
marge d'erreur est faible.... La difficulte supplementaire pour
l'interprete, dans ce cas, c'est d'essayer de realiser un sans-faute."
Cherrier, as quoted by Brindeau, 11.

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