This work was premiered on April 27, 2003 at the Eglise Saint-Roch in Paris with the prestigious
Orchestre de la Musique de L'Armee de L'Air, under the direction of my friend and colleague, Claude
Picheraureau.
I have always been fascinated by the beauty of the Cosmos, which has inspired many of my
works.
Feelings of infinite movement can be expressed musically and it seemed to me that one of the ways to do this was to end this work on a repeated phrase played in a long perdendosi, to give the impression that one is hearing the echoes of the finished phrase as the instruments stop playing. I had just started to write this work when I received a note for the Paris Observatory which gave me the news that the astronomical community had decided to name a newly discovered asteroid for Jean-Pierre Luminet.
When I wrote to Jean-Pierre to congratulate him on this honour, reminding him with the Petit Prince that not everyone has their own star, I asked him if he would accept that I name this work for concert band with the full name of his asteroid: 5523 Luminet 1991 PH8.
Jean-Pierre accepted my proposition by return letter : "..., not only do I not have any objection, but I would be very honoured. To be in the celestial spheres in the form of a rock and also in the form of music, what more could one ask for?
Instrumentation:
Piccolo
2 Flutes/2 Flutes
2 Hautbois/2 Oboes
Cor Anglais/English Horn
2 Bassons/2 Bassoons
Contrebasson/Contrabassoon
Petite Clarinette en Mib/Eb Clarinet
1ers Clarinettes en Sib/1st Bb Clarinets :
2mes Clarinettes en Sib/2nd Bb Clarinets
Clarinette Basse/Bass Clarinet
1er Saxophone Alto en Mib/1st Eb Alto Saxophone
2me Saxophone Alto en Mib/2nd Eb Alto Saxophone
Saxophone Tenor en Sib/Bb Tenor Saxophone
Saxophone Baryton en Mib/Eb Baritone Saxophone
4 Cors en fa/4 F Horns
2 trompettes en Sib/2 Bb Trumpets
2 cornets en Sib/2 Bb Cornets
2 Trombones Tenors/2 Tenor Trombones
Trombone Basse/Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba en Ut/Tuba in C
Contrebasse a cordes/String Bass
Harpe/Harp
Timbales/Tympani
Percussion I :
Marimba
Cloches en Tube/Tubular Bells &,wRt
Grosse Caisse/Bass Drum = G.C
Tambour/Field Drum = Tamb.
Percussion II :
Jeu de timbres/Glockenspeil = JdT
Caisse Claire/Snare Drum = c. cl.
Percussion III :
Gong
3 cymbales suspendues (aigu, medium, grave)/3 suspended cymbales (high, medium, low) = CSa, CSm,
CSg
3 Tamtams (aigu, medium, grave/high, medium, low) = TTA, TTM, TTG