Revealing contemporary music

Musicologist with a passion for the music of the 20s^e and 21^e century, Philippe Albèra not only created the renowned and excellent Contrechamps ensemble, but also founded Éditions Contrechamps in 1991, which he continued to run until this year, with admirable editorial rigor, bringing to French-speaking readers, thanks to precise and meticulous translations, texts, interviews and other testimonies by some of the most eminent composers from 1900 to the present day, such as the writings of Schoenberg, Berg and Bartók, recently published (see below). Written by specialists in the fields concerned, other volumes contain musical and philosophical essays, studies of works or aesthetics, most recently a captivating investigation by Martin Kaltenecker, who examines, through a hundred or so examples, the different uses of melody by composers of the 20th century.^e century (see below). As of 2019, the catalog of some seven titles has also been enhanced by a series in pocket format, offering previously unpublished monographs of emblematic works of contemporary music, including, recently, Coro by Berio and Gruppen by Stockhausen (see end of this article).

On the occasion of the 150^e anniversary of Schoenberg's birth in 2024, Éditions Contrechamps has published a monumental collection of some 1,500 pages, containing over 330 texts by the author ofErwartungThese include reflections on music, autobiographical fragments, completed and unfinished librettos and synopses, pieces of fantasy, aphorisms, theoretical projects and considerations on people and subjects past and present. From the poems he wrote around the age of 15 to his ultimate Modern psalms (one of his contributions to Judaism), we find the various facets of his thought, from the diary to the analysis of some of his own compositions.

Although the young Alban Berg was initially fascinated by literature, the corpus of his early endeavors remains very limited. Instead, he put his taste for writing at the service of music, presenting his works or engaging in polemics. Above all, as Schoenberg's most devoted pupil, he often celebrated, defended and supported his master, notably analyzing some of his scores, without skimping on the number of musical examples. At times excessive, his loyalty to the master's thought may have conflicted with his own affinities and convictions, as some passages make clear. This volume also includes several interviews, mainly on his opera Wozzeckand various other texts of varying size and nature, as well as detailed commentaries by Georges Starobinski.

The recently republished volume dedicated to Bartók brings together virtually all his essays, articles, lectures, interviews and notices written between 1904 and 1945, the year of his death, on his works, a number of fellow composers, the music of his time and, above all, the relationship between popular music and the art of learning - no purely ethnomusicological study, as their complete edition in French has yet to be published. Of particular interest are the lectures given at Harvard, in which the Hungarian composer discusses his use of polymodality, or Racial purity in musicin which he opposed fascist ideologies, demonstrating that musical exchange between peoples has always been a source of mutual enrichment. As with his scores, Bartók expresses himself clearly, concretely, precisely and without affectation.

While harmony treatises and courses abound, the melodic aspect is rarely studied, or often superficially, as if the subject were not serious enough to become the object of musicological research. In a fascinating synthesis, Martin Kaltenecker proves the contrary, examining the multiple metamorphoses of melody over the course of the 20th century.^e century, from Mahler to the present day. It begins by discussing ways of describing melody from various perspectives, as well as the dissimilarities between theme and melody, and between the latter and simple polyphonic voices, before exploring and classifying, with over a hundred examples, the melodic types created and used by composers such as Britten, Eisler, Feldman, Goubaïdoulina, Henze, Ligeti, Messiaen, Poulenc, Ravel, Rihm, Schnittke, Stravinsky, Varèse and Vivier, to name but a few. However, it is impossible for the author to be exhaustive, which is not the purpose of this book - other musicologists will be able to pursue these reflections and broaden the field of investigation.

The pocket series, which already includes nine monographs, recently featured compositions by Berio and Stockhausen. Of the former, his Coro for 40 voices and 44 instrumentalists revives the techniques and modes of folk song. With the exception of percussion and keyboards, each musician is seated next to one of the singers, a special arrangement that allows for interesting interactions in an unusual acoustic. Lyrics and music live independently, with one text recurring several times over various melodic figures, while the same musical motif is given different lyrics. Many other aspects of this epic score exalting freedom against political oppression, this monument to the glory of fraternity between the peoples of the world, can be discovered in the writings of Alain Poirier, who also places this masterpiece in the context of Berio's artistic and intellectual life.

One of Stockhausen's most famous pieces, Gruppen for a large orchestra of 109 musicians divided into three ensembles (groups), was inspired by the grandiose landscape of the Graubünden Alps where it was conceived. A concentrate of technique and invention that enabled post-war serialism to reach a wider audience, it alternates between polyphonic shimmer, discreet, almost chamber-like passages, mysterious moments dominated by percussion and pointillist episodes. Pascal Decroupet provides an in-depth analysis, revealing its micro- and macrostructural organization, as well as the composer's method of elaboration and research into temporality. It should also be noted that, to make them more visible, the musical examples in these two volumes have also been made available online, on the publisher's website.

Arnold Schönberg: Writings 1890-1951edited by Jean-Pierre Collot and Philippe Albèra, translated by Jean-Pierre Collot, 1562 p., € 42.00, Contrechamps, Geneva 2024, ISBN 979-10-94642-82-5

Alban Berg: Writings and interviewsedited and presented by Georges Starobinski, 432 p., € 28.00, Contrechamps, Genève 2025, ISBN 978-2-940068-73-9

Béla Bartók : Writingsedited by Philippe Albèra and Peter Szendy, translated and annotated by Peter Szendy, 344 + 20 p., € 28.00 (paper), Contrechamps, Genève 2022 (2006), ISBN 978-2-940068-27-2

Martin Kaltenecker: Melodic experience in the 20th century, 392 p., € 28.00, Contrechamps, Genève 2024, ISBN 978-2-940068-71-5

Alain Poirier: Luciano Berio / Coro240 p., € 15.00, Contrechamps Poche, Geneva 2023, ISBN 978-2-940068-67-8

Pascal Decroupet: Karlheinz Stockhausen / Gruppen372 p., € 15.00, Contrechamps Poche, Geneva 2023, ISBN 978-2-940068-68-5