With music composed for shows by Carolyn Carlson, Pina Bausch and Philippe Genty, soundtracks for films, and 15 albums to his name, René Aubry is a popular, prolific and discreet composer. This native son of Epinal is self-taught and has traced his own career as a composer of “songs without words”.And yet, like many other sound producers cast in the same mould (from François de Roubaix to Pascal Comelade and even Ennio Morricone), René Aubry has become a permanent landmark in our musical world
As a young man, he developed a passion for the guitar but was more attracted to the soft arpeggios of Leonard Cohen than the biting riffs of Led Zeppelin.
He started to work with his brother, “in the footsteps of Catherine Ribeiro and François Béranger”.
But it was an encounter with Carolyn Carlson that propelled him into following a less frequented path. René Aubry became a “composer of ballet music” while making it a point of honour to release albums that were a pleasure to listen on their own.
A composer, multi-instrumentalist and engineer of his own sound, René Aubry worked alone on albums blending classical harmonies and modern instrumentation, samples of voices or violins "pinched from Beethoven, Stravinsky or Puccini". Archivists are driven to despair because his albums can be classified in all the shelves of a record shop; classical, ballet, New Age, new music, rock, French pop, or ethnic music from all over the world.
His ambition to appear on stage appeared at a later period, and despite himself. At the beginning of the nineties, when the organisers of the "Festival des Musiques Possibles", Time Zone, in Bari, Italy, asked him to give a concert, his initial reaction was to say no. But after repeated requests, he gave in "following nearly three years of telephone conversations"! In 1994, he finally participated in the festival with Philip Glass, Nusrat Fateh, Ali Khan and David Byrne. Not bad for a first stage performance!
In 1997, he composed “Signes”, a ballet by Carolyn Carlson, first performed at the Bastille Opera House, which won an award at the “Victoires de la Musique classique et jazz”, in 1998.
The albums entitled "Plaisirs d’amour" and "Invités sur la Terre" set in motion a return to more acoustic composition thanks to his determination to continue his stage appearances. The timid tinker who used to handle his musical craft on his own had learned how to make instrument players work on his music, and above all, he started to enjoy his contacts with the public. He performed a series of concerts and criss-crossed Europe with his septet.
And just when he seemed to have settled into this “system”, this unpredictable artist, with his great love of freedom, came back to surprise us with "Seuls au Monde", a sombre and electric record marked by September 11, in which he reverts to his programming and tinkering to share with us his alarmist but lucid view of the world.
2004: "Projection Privée", a fantasy on San-Antonio, the famous character of Frédéric Dard, including the original soundtrack of the film "Malabar Princess".
2006: "Mémoires du Futur" is a sober and stripped-down album, with a melancholic vision.
March 2008: Release of "Play Time": René Aubry re-records La Muse en Circuit" in a studio, 18 themes that are dear to his heart, with the musicians who accompany him on stage.
Marc Buronfosse: double bass
Marco Quesada: guitar
Antoine Banville: percussion
Daniel Beaussier: clarinet, saxophone, oboe
Stefano Genovese: piano
Jean Marc ladet: violin
René Aubry: guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, banjo, accordion, song
CONCERTS IN PARIS
12 March to 30 March 2008 – Théâtre "la Reine Blanche", 2 bis Passage Ruelle, 75018 Paris.
Five shows per week on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 9 p.m., and on Sunday at 5 p.m.
1983 RENE AUBRY (33”)
1987 AIRS DANS L’AIR (33”)
1988 LIBRE PARCOURS
1989 DÉRIVES (music for a show by Philippe GENTY)
1990 STEPPE (ballet by Carolyn CARLSON)
1991 LA RÉVOLTE DES ENFANTS (film soundtrack)
1993 APRES LA PLUIE
1994 KILLER KID (film soundtrack)
1995 NE M’OUBLIE PAS (music for a show by Philippe GENTY)
1997 SIGNES (original music for a ballet by Carolyn CARLSON, first performed at the Bastille Opera House)
Award of the Victoires de la Musique Classique et du Jazz: choreographic production in France (February 1998)
1998 PLAISIRS D’AMOUR (songs without words)
2001 INVITES SUR LA TERRE
2003 SEULS AU MONDE
2004 PROJECTION PRIVEE (with music from the film “Malabar Princess”)
2006 MEMOIRES DU FUTUR
2008 PLAY TIME
T
Gladys Gabison
(Musicom
21, avenue d'Italie - 75013 Paris
musicomedia@wanadoo.fr
12 March to 30 March 2008 – Théâtre "la Reine Blanche", 2 bis Passage Ruelle, 75018 Paris.
Five shows per week on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 9 p.m., and on Sunday at 5 p.m.
René Aubry firsts concerts; video abstacts
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