Tictac for piano and violin (2019) is a piece in five movements, alternately fast and slow, based on the constant ticking of the clock. Over this structural element, the diffèrent movements unfold multiple rhythmic and melodic variations.

Tictac tictac introduces the main motive, immediately setting off a first process of transformation.

Secondary motifs develop as if the ticking of the clock expressed a full range of moods, in turn playful lyrical, quick-tempered, majestic, dreamy and finally radiant.

Mouvement stellaire progresses as a continuum of quick-paced patterns from which emerges a lyrical theme. The ticking motif is present as a diffuse yet uninterrupted flow evoking the rotation of stellar bodies. Circular melodic patterns characterize the passionate theme that develops over it. The movement ends as it began, thus looping the loop, as it were.

Entrechoc, a scherzo-like variation on the first movement, thrives on the reoccurrence of former elements (notably the use of pizz. in the violin part) and refocuses on the ticking sound ejfect.

Goutte de temps, the other slow movement (and a variation on Mouvement stellaire), strikes a more impressionist note as the violin unfolds a long cantilena over written piano arpeggios, a poetic and expressive variation of the seminal clockwork element.

Les secondes dansent - the final movement dances along energetic beats and shifting rhythms as the ticking of the clock undergoes one last metamorphosis.

Gilles THIÉBLOT