What dominates this work is its mineral aspect—what in sound still pertains to the domain of the formless, the crying desire. This is why the traditional bagpipe playing style is avoided here, notably the use of the “oboe.” This work uses atypical playing modes, bringing into play the air pocket, multiphonics, and other extended techniques. Initially walled in the impossible, the cry of the stone attempts to get out, runs up against the wear of the world and returns to the rock, yet transformed and containing the seeds of life. This music evokes the testimony of minerals, perhaps as though Earth—so often mistreated—were begging for the cessation of the wounds daily inflicted on it by the love of power, possession, and material richness. When men shut up, the stones start talking! As Bachelard used to say: “we think as we confront.” This mineral cry hitting the air we breathe might perhaps awaken an awareness that got lost in the illusion of our all-might. The work is dedicated to Erwan Keravec.

Philippe Leroux