Sophie Delafontaine

Creux-du-Van, 11'56"  (2014)

Although I spent all my childhood in Lausanne (Switzerland), my family comes from the Jura region. I did not go there often but I keep a vivid memory of a stroll in Creux-du-Van. It is a huge rock amphitheatre. From its heights, one has a spectacular view over a large part of the Jura region, but what struck me most is how you can see the various layers of rock inside the amphitheatre left exposed by the slow erosion of a glacier.

In this work, I wanted to recreate the specific atmosphere of that place, imagine the wind spinning inside this gigantic hollow and the water that flows between layers of rock. The strata overlap and then separate. Time flows slowly and inevitably reveals new landforms.

Ressort spiral, 10’35’’  (2014-16)

To Cyril

Everything is small in the world of watchmaking. So small sometimes that things barely make any noise; so small your eyes hurt.
The spiral spring [“ressort spiral”] is the centrepiece of the watch. It is attached to the pendulum to which it relays the energy that makes the watch turn. In this tiny part is stored all the energy the watch needs to operate. The spiral spring is energized when the watch is wound up, then it relaxes gradually, making the hands rotate for days.

I am fascinated by this contradiction. How can such a tiny thing have such strength?
While creating this music I immersed myself in my grandfather’s universe. With the help of my second cousin, an apprentice in fine watchmaking, I was able to discover a part of a world that I had only glimpsed.

Ondiésop, 07’03’’  (2015)

                                         We begin

Let’s start

                                                         Let’s sing

               The Muses

                             of our mountains

This is where we must start

                                   in order to sing.

Let’s start

with the Mountain Muses

                                     They who keep

the Great Enchanted Mountain.


Excerpted from Hesiod’s Theogony (as translated in French by Matteo Capponi) under the title La naissance des dieux [our translation]

Ondiésop was realized in 2015 at the composer’s studio in Brussels (Belgium) and premiered on October 25, 2015, during the L’Espace du son festival at Théâtre Marni in Brussels (Belgium). It was commissioned by Musiques & Recherches. Thanks to Lucie Rausis (recorded voice) and Matteo Capponi.