Categorising Instrumental Playing Techniques in Terms of Gestures: the Case of <i>Pression</i> for One Cellist by Helmut Lachenmann

ABSTRACT Pression (1969–70; rev. 2010) for one cellist, by Helmut Lachenmann, features a wide variety of extended playing techniques. The goal of the composer was to develop his concept of musique concrète instrumentale based on the organisation of complex sound structures and to highlight the energy hidden behind sound production. The score, which is essentially prescriptive, indicates via detailed schemes and textual information the actions to be performed by the musician. The physical instrument itself is meticulously scrutinised by the cellist, who plays sometimes with the bow, sometimes directly with his/her hands on the strings, the bridge, the top, the tailpiece and even on the bow itself. Through various gestures, he/she reveals unexpected and extraordinary sounds. This article proposes a conceptual framework to describe and classify all of Pression ’s instrumental techniques. To this end, I use notions developed by Claude Cadoz with respect to gestures in music, especially the distinction between excitation gestures and modification gestures. Excitation gestures produce the vibratory phenomenon, whereas modification gestures adjust the parameters of the vibrating object. Each extended technique can be decomposed into a combination of these two fundamental gestures. The framework I have designed aims to help musicians as well as musicologists to better understand this singular piece for cello solo.