The scale is a wonderful tool which has accompanied man throughout the ages.
Indispensable for navigators, who measured his ropes knot by knot, scales are present in every part of the ships which gave birth to the earliest international merchants and economic empires.
The patterns of scales can be seen along mats, sails, hulls and on the piles pushing into the water, and help balance the ballast in the hold of the ships.
So it was that during the Renaissance certain ports in the East and in Asia were called Echelles, before becoming the exotic trading-posts of the Indies.
At the same time, the word scale designates everything which grades, measures, climbs, situates, and gives the possibility of reaching, balancing and progressing : hence Jacob’s ladder, the scale of values, shades of colour and the different musical scales. Still essential to man, scales permit him to organise his place in the biodiversity of his cultural and physical world.
The Ensemble l’Échelle declares itself partisan of certain Renaissance music, for the profoundly humanist ideas which it expresses. The chamber musicians who make it up seek to pool their musical talent in the search for an appropriate historic verisimilitude.
In the polyphony of the 16th century, the laws of counterpoint direct that each voice is of equal importance. On this secure basis, each line evolves according to the opinion and the manner of the others treating the same material. The music comes to life through the exercise of a common approach and the expression of common thought.
The artistes of l’Échelle seek firstly to respect, then go out to meet, and finally to surprise their public. They seek to modify classical concert-giving mode, the better to attract a new regard from a new public by exposing new facets of their chosen repertoire.
Aware of the particular architecture and different acoustics of each performing space, they propose a “made to measure” organisation of that space according to the programme, to give each listener a truly unique experience. And in their desire to surprise that listener, they also propose the juxtaposition of different kinds of performers – circus artists, dancers, comedians, philosophers and poets to share the stage with the musicians as equal partners.
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