Roland Dyens

After Christmas Feeling

This piece was composed between Christmas and the first few days of January at the request of my American friend Stephen Robinson, whose idea was to make a recording around the theme of Christmas. As indicated by ifs name, After Christmas Feeling evokes a sensation of the day after, a little nostalgic, with the gaiety of the day before evaporated like smoke, like the sad smile of a blue clown. You go from one state of mind to another, just like you say Hello, Goodnight, Happy Christmas or Happy New Year, without really thinking about if. While the sixth string is tuned down to D (just to make a change), the fifth goes up to B flat (now you're talking) which lends an undeniably different harmonic texture to the instrument (see also Songe Capricorne). Incidentally, since we are talking about scordatura - any unusual tuning of one or more open strings, usuallyon plucked stringed instruments which I use fairly often in my work for guitar - rest assured that I always fully indicate any retuning with great care, so that what staffs out as terra incognita soon becomes familiar territory. Just think of the beaming faces of those around you as every day of every last week of December of every year you gel out your faithful guitar and play the very same piece...