Hugues Dufourt: L’Origine Du Monde

This album presents pianist Marilyn Nonken’s third exploration of spectral piano music for the Métier label, highlighting her interpretation of the piano works of Hugues Dufourt. Recorded in the distinctive acoustics of the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in New York, the album’s setting—a Beaux Arts building with a grand but worn character—perfectly complements Dufourt’s music, which is richly rooted in resonance, architecture, and connections across artistic eras. The hall’s unique acoustics blend clarity with warmth, creating an almost ethereal depth that enhances spectral music’s unique qualities.

Hugues Dufourt, a foundational figure of the French spectral school, draws inspiration from art, architecture, and philosophy, delving into sound as a physical and psychological experience. Rather than adhering strictly to the structural dictates of high modernism, Dufourt’s spectral approach sculpts sound to create space for gesture, timbre, and nuance. This album brings Dufourt’s techniques to life, capturing his philosophy that composing is akin to “sculpting a block of sound,” as noted by his colleague Tristan Murail.

In works like An Schwager Kronos and Meeresstille, Dufourt conjures an evocative atmosphere through rhythmic precision and arresting sonorities. AnSchwager Kronos echoes Goethe’s depiction of time as an insistent coachman, with Nonken’s dynamic control and deft pedaling driving a haunting, layered progression. Meeresstille captures the stillness of a calm sea with shimmering overtones, restless beneath the surface, nodding toward Goethe’s “monstrous breadth.”

Dufourt’s ensemble piece l’Origine du monde reflects his fascination with the piano’s resonance alongside other instruments, broadening its sonic palette with orchestral textures. Through spectral techniques, Dufourt’s orchestrations amplify the piano’s overtones, blending them with percussion and microtonal elements to achieve a “near-elastic” resonance.

Nonken’s profound grasp of spectralism, displayed on her earlier Métier albums, elevates her performances here. Her touch and phrasing reveal Dufourt’s desire to transcend traditional confines of modern piano music. In Rastlose Liebe, Nonken interprets Schubertian influences with modern intensity, while Tombeau de Debussy serves as a contemplative homage to Debussy’s legacy.

With this third album, Nonken offers an exciting addition to the spectral repertoire, inviting listeners to experience the piano as both instrument and resonant space, rich with historical echoes and artistic depth.

This project was supported in part by a grant from the New York University Research Challenge Fund Program.