Le tout, le rien

Grabbing vs. releasing, self-assertion vs. surrender: the title juxtaposes seemingly irreconcilable opposites. But it is precisely this sense of antithesis that defines the force-field mapped out by Jens Joneleit's cycle for 27 soloists, "Le tout, le rien". In the instant between reading the title and hearing the first notes of the music, the expectant listener can imagine a wide-open space with a free constellation of potential sounds. How do they interrelate? Do they seek to merge into a whole, or do they drift apart into nothingness from the moment they are nudged? And what happens when the two processes happen to interlock and conflict?
The listener is continuously tempted to think in terms of fresh starts. The piece evidently seeks a way to capture and illuminate each and every sonority in its original state, if only for a fleeting instant. The result is an intractable flux that will neither countenance an interruption nor abandon its interrogative impulse.
"Le tout, le rien" was composed at the occasion of Ensemble Modern's 25th anniversary and first performed in Dresden in October 2005.