Peter Vukmirovic Stevens / Martine Couderc

Aux balades de la mort brings the poetry of Martine Couderc (1948–2015) into a musical work by composer Peter Vukmirovic Stevens. Written for mezzo-soprano, piano, synthesizers and electronics, the music is performed by Lou Thomas, with Stevens on piano and electronics.

The album brings together composed music and archival recordings of Couderc reading her own poems. Her recorded voice enters into dialogue with Thomas’s interpretation, placing the poet’s presence alongside a musical response to her writing. The result brings together three distinct voices: the poet, the singer and the composer.

The texts are drawn from Couderc’s collection Couleur de l’être (Éditions ARCAM, 1993), alongside the previously unpublished poem Les cierges s’éteignent.