Sur un ciel
immense.
For symphony orchestra. A homage to Philippe Boesmans — a vivid, virtuosic piece, half scherzo and half finale, in remembrance of the late composer's laughter and lightness. Together with Comme d'autres esprits, forms the diptych Deux mouvements symphoniques.
In memory of Philippe's laughter.
After the premiere of Comme d'autres esprits by the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège in 2019, Gergely Madaras quietly says to Benoît Mernier as they leave the concert: "but this could be the first movement of a symphony". A few months later, the OPRL returns with a commission — a new piece, to be performed alongside Comme d'autres esprits, planned for 2023.
In the meantime, Philippe Boesmans dies — only hours after asking Mernier to complete his opera On purge bébé, of which some ten minutes remained to be written. Mernier accepts, immerses himself in Boesmans's grammar, and goes through — in his own words — part of his mourning "by literally pouring myself into his music". Sur un ciel immense is composed straight after that work. It is naturally dedicated to Philippe's memory.
But Mernier writes neither tombeau nor lament. On the contrary:
In the end, it is a piece very vivid, very virtuosic for the players,
in remembrance, in a way, of Philippe's laughter
and lightness. — Benoît Mernier, interview with Crescendo Magazine, January 2025
The work "sounds somewhere between a scherzo and a finale" — a refusal of pathos, a choice for momentum. The title comes once again from Baudelaire: from the prose poem Un hémisphère dans une chevelure in Le Spleen de Paris. The Baudelairean reference, already at the heart of Comme d'autres esprits, thus continues — not as programme, but as a literary support carrying the composer beyond pure instrumental music.
The world premiere takes place on 17 January 2025 at the Salle philharmonique de Liège with the OPRL conducted by Gergely Madaras, followed on 18 January 2025 at the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles. Both concerts opened with Comme d'autres esprits, presenting the diptych for the first time as a whole. The two scores are recorded by the same performers for the monographic album Ustica released by Cypres in May 2026.
Winds: 3.3.3.3 (3 flutes · 3 oboes · 3 clarinets · 3 bassoons)
Brass: 4.2.2.1 (4 horns · 2 trumpets · 2 trombones · 1 tuba)
Percussion: timpani · 3 percussionists
Harp · Celesta
Strings: 14.12.10.8.6
With Comme d'autres esprits
Sur un ciel immense and Comme d'autres esprits form a cycle entitled Deux mouvements symphoniques. Four years separate the two compositions, but the same Baudelairean grammar binds them — La Chevelure for the first, Un hémisphère dans une chevelure for the second. The two pieces share an identical scoring and may be performed as a cycle or independently.
▸ Discover Comme d'autres espritsAn orchestral score.
Sur un ciel immense is published by XXI Music Publishing (reference XXI Music 020). Conductor's score and rental material (parts) available from our editorial service.
Score
symphony orchestra
Conductor's score + rental material (parts).
Music · © Benoît Mernier / XXI Music Publishing. Work dedicated to the memory of Philippe Boesmans. Commissioned by the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège.
The album Ustica.
The monographic album Ustica, released by Cypres in May 2026, gathers several recent works by Benoît Mernier published by XXI Music Publishing. Sur un ciel immense appears alongside Comme d'autres esprits, Offering, Ustica and the Deux poèmes for violin and piano.
Programme · order · rent.
Score, parts and rental material from our editorial service. May be programmed as a diptych with Comme d'autres esprits.
Benoît Mernier au catalogue.
Discover other scores by Benoît Mernier published by XXI Music Publishing.
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