First published in May 1897, Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem Un coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hasard occupies a singular place in the history of European literature. By applying non-linear principles to the construction of language, Mallarmé creates a seemingly chaotic yet meticulously orchestrated topography of meaning—transforming the poem into a labyrinth of signs, where reading becomes both constrained and expansive.
This radical gesture, rooted in the subversion of normative literary conventions and in the quest of "l'art pour l'art", is amplified by the dismantling of poetic syntax, narrative linearity, and fixed meaning—a rupture that redefines the very act of reading.
It is this spirit of spatial and semantic disruption that inspired the musical project by Paul Haslinger and Christian Wittman. Drawing on the temporal elasticity and multidimensionality of listening, they explore the fleeting nature of sonic perception.
Fluid and organically evolving, Mallarmé unfolds across three movements. Interweaving minimalism and experimentation, impressionism and abstraction, the work invites the listener into a realm of tonal poetry—a world of sound in perpetual reflection.
