Musicking Poulenc’s ruins in Stellenbosch
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Date
2017
Authors
Pauw, Marietjie
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
This article investigates several performances of a flute
solo (written by Francis Poulenc) as presented by the
author in Stellenbosch, South Africa.1 Un joueur de flûte
berce les ruines was written in the 1940s, ‘discovered’ in
the late 1990s by Ransom Wilson and published in 2000
by Chester. The title of the solo carries an unidentified
reference to the ‘serenading’ of ‘ruins’. This title, the
shrouded originating circumstances of Poulenc’s
composition, as well as its only-recent appearance,
are central to the subsequent argument for music
curations ‘after sound’ (Barrett). Douglas Barrett’s
notion of ‘critical music’ directs this reflexive article
enquiry. Curations ‘after sound’ take place when music
compositions operate on platforms of socio-critical arts
practice. ‘Musicking’, proposed by Christopher Small,
probes the question: ‘What’s really going on here?’ The
article asks this question by reflecting on the intentional
juxtapositions of time, place and context that occurred
when the author presented the solo on performances
respectively titled ‘Die Vlakte’, ‘Roesdorp’, and
‘Portrait’. The article analyses aspects of films by
Aryan Kaganof (2016) that responded to the ‘Roesdorp’
performance and suggests that the films manifest as
Rancière-ian ‘aesthetics as politics’: they expose and intertwine layers of complicity, critique, confusion and care. A fleeting juxtaposition of silence and echo as metaphorical extensions to the
notion of ‘after sound’ concludes this article enquiry.
Description
Keywords
Musicking, Critical music, Flute, Poulenc, Ruins, Stellenbosch, Kaganof, Aesthetics as politics
Citation
Pauw, M. (2017). Musicking Poulenc’s ruins in Stellenbosch. Acta Academica, 49(2), 68-94.