Un Cagou à Paris

Un cagou à Paris was commissioned by the Pays de Savoie orchestra. First designed for strings, it is now published in its symphonic version. The music follows the journey of a cagou, a bird endemic to New Caledonia, in the Paris of the 1900 Universal Exhibition. The piece is constructed like like these books of period prints. The cagou is a bird that does not fly. Revenge is given to him on gravity at the end of this piece, when love finally allows him to fly away.

The episodes of the piece unfold as follows:

• Bustle on the Avenue de l’Opéra.
• Nightfall.
• Follies on the Grands Boulevards, carriages and cars.
• Exhibition at the Grand Palais: wooden merry-gorounds, boats, Kanak pilou under the Eiffel Tower.
• Waking up. Farewell to the Madeleine.
• Meeting on the Alexandre III bridge.

Discovery of the extraordinary sensation of flying away.

Romain Dumas

Nomenclature: flûtes, hautbois, clarinettes, bassons, cors, cornets en si b, percussions, piano, harpe, violons 1, violons 2, altos, violoncelles, contrebasses