Un’indagine analitico-performativa sui 72 Studi Carnatici per pianoforte di Jacques Charpentier (1933–2017)

This article proposes an analytical-performative investigation of the 72 Etudes Karnatiques for piano by the French composer Jacques Charpentier (1933–2017). This contemporary piano work integrates the scale system (ragas) from the South Indian musical tradition (carnatic) and an elaboration of some rhythms (talas) from the North Indian one (Hindustani). In accordance with the recent musical analysis perspectives based on interdisciplinary methods, this study presents a new orientation which combines analytical/theoretical parameters (historiographic and formal aspects) with performative parameters (enactive aspects).

The historiographic, philosophical and aesthetic retrospective of the score together with the Indian musical theory and the artistic practice I undertook in collaboration with the composer and some Indian music experts, provided a reading key of this titanic contemporary piano work, whose meanings and contents are the results of both the analytical and performative dimensions.

Keywords: music performance analysis, Indian music, musical gestures, interpretation, enactment