For saxophone quartet and live electronics

Commissioned by Quasar with the support of the Fonds de création Quasar, Not thinking about the elephants has been premiered in Montreal on April 17th 2018.

The quartet has been severed. Two members are isolated, in separate rooms. They are only connected to the other members of the quartet via live audio transmission. Their signals are projected by two mini-loudspeakers, which are inserted in the bell of the two saxophonists on stage. The divided ensemble allows for heightened perception of certain acoustic phenomena – the sound of the missing saxophonists is filtered by the embouchure or by key-changes of the tenor and baritone saxophones, or mixed with their sound in such a physical proximity that combination tones are audible. Psychological consequences of separation are expressed in a restless, tightly woven counterpoint in which the excluded/invisible and included/visible instruments colour, shadow, reciprocate, refute or eventually overpower one another.