Nostalgic, rhythmic or dreamy, the music of Trois Invocations (2017) for flute and guitar aims to allow the listener’s imagination to escape for a short while, to invoke what the poetry of the sounds suggests. The first Invocation is based on an obstinate bass that will be played throughout the piece by the guitar.

A very simple and expressive melody appears, played by the flute. After modulating a major third lower, the guitar proposes a second melody which is then taken up by the flute. The first melody finally returns, played first by the guitar and then by the flute to finish. The second Invocation is very playful and rhythmic, using minimal material but with a wide variety of combinations that keep the listener’s attention. The third Invocation, the most meditative, offers a striking contrast between the single cell of a bar repeated in a loop on the guitar without any modulation or variation and the flute’s melody which gradually rises from the low to the high register, returning to the low register at the end, as if it were travelling through a slowly but inexorably changing landscape. In this last Invocation, the flute part can also be played by an alto flute.

Dedicated to the Duo Paseo Musical (Amélie Douai, flute and Caroline Schneider, guitar), they were premiered by the dedicatees on 22 April during the Brussels International Guitar Festival 2018.