A Divine Comedy, by Philippe Petit

A Divine Comedy

by Philippe Petit

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travis.daedalus Evocative and illustrative of themes found in the work, without being a mere accompaniment. References to Milton in here as well? An intense and harrowing descent at any rate. One of Philippe's best pieces. Favorite track: The Descent....

Elysian Fields - KXCI 91.3 FM Another excellent outing by Philippe Petit. When I hear recordings like this, I wonder what the author of the source material might think of it. In this case, Alighieri was a visionary who broke many poetic and literary norms by writing The Divine Comedy in Italian rather than Latin. I think that he would approve of Petit's visionary expressionism and boundary challenging sounds as well.
Favorite track: Within the Corridors of Hell....

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Textuur 2 [ |||| - - - - ], Transformation Sonor, Textuur 3 [Register], Installations: (Re)Verso/Flexo, A Divine Comedy, 20 Years × 180 Minutes, Installations: octo _ _ _ _, Luci Fisse + Luci Erranti, and 202 more. , and , .

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1.	Halas Jacta Est 03:35	info
2.	Within the Corridors of Hell... 04:08	info
3.	Halas Jacta Hell 04:02	info
4.	The Descent... 11:00	info
5.	Lucifer, Fallen Angel 06:46	info
6.	Through a circular opening in the cave, issuing we again beheld the stars 16:37	info
7.	Purgatorio, Canto I 09:01	info
8.	Purgatorio, Canto II 06:25	info
9.	Purgatorio, Canto III 08:01	info
10.	Paradiso, Canto I 09:23	lyrics
Buchla System 200 Analog Synth, Prepared Piano
11.	Paradiso, Canto II 12:32	info

about

Philippe Petit was inspired by Dante Alighieri’s poem and influenced by Gustave Doré’s illustrations, building a symphonic “palette” of musical pigments, pictorial tones, and textures that reconcile epic narrative and expressionist musical form. His aim is not to illustrate but rather to tell a story of an alternative world that is set in motion by paying attention to the perceptions and feelings of listeners. The moments in this story are stitched in an immersive journey of colourful music that listeners traverse as if watching a film or reading a novel.

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Philippe Petit celebrates 40 years of activism in 2023!
Born in Marseille, South of France, where he started Djing, animating radio shows and editing zines in 1983. In 1993 he started Pandemonium Rdz. and 41 records later, he needed to rejuvenate and started BiP_HOp Musique in 2000…
Since then he has been performing all over Europe, Russia, Poland, Canada, USA, Mexico, Australia & Asia and releasing on international labels such as Sub Rosa, Oscillations, Aagoo, Important, Southern UK, Glacial Movements, Monotype, Bölt, Alrealon Musique, Beta Lactam Ring, HomeNormal, HelloSquare, Public Eyesore, Utech, Rustblade, or Staubgold.
Relying on electricity/amplification, electronix to produce, manipulate, work on sound-material, constantly trying to explore various genres and make sure that each album differs from the previous one, trying to avoid routine and surprise listeners. Petit studied Electroacoustic music at the CNRR Conservatory of Marseille, specialising in multi-channelled diffusion (Acousmatic spatialisation) and Modular Synthesis championing the use of electricity to sustain a sound produced with a musical intent…
Other than that, he has worked with a dream-team of collaborators: Lydia Lunch, Murcof, The European Contemporary Orchestra (E.C.O.), Mark Cunningham (MARS), Cindytalk, Orkest De Ereprijs, Audrey Chen, Mia Zabelka, Iancu Dumitrescu's Hyperion Ensemble, Stephen O'Malley, Yannick Barman, PAS or Faust. He completed recordings with: Eugene Robinson (Oxbow), Edward Ka-Spel (Legendary Pink Dots), Simon Fisher Turner, Kumo, Scott McCloud (Girls Against Boys), Cosey Fanni Tutti (Throbbing Gristle), My Brightest Diamond, Sybarite, Foetus, Pantaleimon, Graham Lewis (Wire), Barry Adamson, Andy Diagram, Scanner, Machinefabriek, Mira Calix, Kammerflimmer Kollektief, Justin K. Broadrick, James Johnston (Gallon Drunk/Bad Seeds/Faust), ASVA, Jarboe, Jad Fair, Martin Dupont, Doug Lynner and many more…

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Philippe Petit on A Divine Comedy:

My desire was not to stick to the text but to take Dante Alighieri’s immense poem as a point of inspiration, the form of which consists of envisaging Expressionism as the projection of a subjectivity that tends to deform its reality in order to inspire an emotional reaction in the spectator-listener.

Bernard Parmegiani and François Bayle worked for more than twenty years in a multifaceted version intended to be a soundtrack, whereas I followed the idea of Franz Liszt, who, in order to put it into a symphony, based his inspiration on the journey.

While composing, I looked at the illustrated edition by Gustave Doré and imagined musical pigments, pictorial tones or textures forming a new symphonic “palette” trying to reconcile visionary epic narration and sound musical forms, in themselves non-significant. My aim was not to be illustrative but to be in motion! Representations are often based on distressing visions, distorting and stylizing reality in order to privilege a great expressive intensity.

The question at the centre of all, is linked to what one feels while listening. Paying attention to what you perceive at the moment you hear the work, following the road up to the right and down to the left, from one circle to the next, from one Bolge* to the next, how you will be carried by the music.

We cannot determine what or how the sound is made, and this magic is not disconnected from the pleasure of listening. You have to think in terms of magic, you know that there is a trick but it doesn’t matter how it is done, if the illusion becomes visible the magic delusion is no longer interesting, the illusion works if the composer-magician and his audience want to play along.

All that we hear never corresponds to the reality of the sound, it is a question of aural trickery, it is earlusionnism!

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released February 13, 2024

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