Palimpseste (2025) is an orchestral work in four movements. Although the movements can be performed independently, they all originated as a single continuous composition. Both the form of the work and the titles of its movements emerged only gradually during the compositional process.

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When I was working on this composition, it was originally one continuous piece. As I worked, different lines of development seemed to emerge. At a certain point, I realised they could no longer be contained within a single composition. In the end, I divided the work into four movements.

 

Perhaps this suggests an approach to form. By first composing one large work and only afterwards deciding where the natural divisions lie, the coherence arises not because it has been consciously constructed, but because all four movements share the same musical origin.

To my surprise, this required hardly any changes to the music. The four movements were perfectly capable of standing on their own, while at the same time very clearly belonging together.

After the four movements had taken their final shape, I began to see the titles as a development. Not a story, but a process: something emerges (Émergence), changes (Frissure), comes under pressure (Pression Sourde), and ultimately leaves behind a residue (Résidu).