Among the fortunate discoveries during the Xenakis week at the Festival Nouvelles Flâneries de Reims was the Canadian ensemble Transmission – a sextet without conductor, bringing together solo artists  – giving their debut French performance. With Continu(on)s by Philippe Leroux  we appreciated the suppleness of the written lines, the extreme attention given to the production of sound material and the overall kinetic energy in interpretation from the group. The extraordinary clarinetist but also composer of Reimsix, Lori Freedman dedicated the world premiere of this piece to Sharon Kanach and Jean-Louis Villeval co-directors of this, the 22^nd year of the festival. Within a sinuous flow, even with large breaks of silence, the work derives its energy from improvisation and sound transformation from this extremely tightly-knit ensemble.

We found Ensemble Transmission again dedicating an entire programme to Xenakis. With the solo pieces Rebonds by the athletic percussionist Julien Grégoire, à r (hommage à Maurice Ravel) by the feline pianist Brigitte Poulin and Kottos by the cellist Julie Trudeau followed by two duo pieces (Dikthas and Charisma), all preceding Plekto (the greek word for Braid) for six instruments. Given its second hearing, the piece put to light that "something rich and strange" (we think of Ligeti and his ocarinas in the Concerto for Piano) that, in the hand of Xenakis, brings singular sonorities "that wash the listener of time that chokes him..." according to the pertinent reflections of Jean-Noël von der Weid.