‘Jets d’orgue’ must be taken quite literally: an organ is a fountain of thousands of pipes spraying its sounds through the space around it. The organ has always fascinated me, especially because of the acoustical space it usually finds itself in, which I consider as the resonance body of the instrument, or rather: its element. I also enjoy the challenge of bringing a huge machine to life. An organ resembles a big airplane, an apparently clumsy assembly of bits and parts as long as it stands on the ground. To get it off the ground requires the sort of skill and sophistication the crew of a big airplane needs. In fact, Jets d’orgue requires such a crew: the two assistants at the stops are as important as the organist.
The display and rhythm of changing colours is as essential as the movement of pitches. Part 1 consists of 3 Jets. Each Jet is followed by (i.e. channeled into) a section of homophony, 2-layered polyphony and 3-layered polyphony respectively. And each Jet is concluded by a special organ effect, which celebrates a particular characteristic of organ-playing. In this case Jet 1 is concluded by a field of garlands; Jet 2 by a heterophony and Jet 3 by a set of gestures. The heterophonies especially are designed to interfere with the domination of the octave interval in the coupling of different footages.
(Jan Vriend)
More info at the Orgelpark
Jets d’orgue at Donemus:
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