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piste@cec_95cd-1
To my parents, Larbi and Marie-Françoise
Move 1 presents some anecdotal and abstract representations of animal and human movement. It is not a ‘pure’ research work into the behaviour of sound in space but rather it is closer to a poetic etude on movement. Most listeners will recognize some of the sound objects in motion: sounds of bees and birds in flight and humans moving about on skates and skateboards are juxtaposed with abstract shadows, percussive imaginary echoes of the ‘natural’ world. This exchange or contrast between the recognizable (stable) and the unknown (unstable) is at the heart of my compositional exploration and often dictates the form of my works.
Technically, my initial intent was to find a way to integrate some of the work that I had been doing with the MAX software (IRCAM, Paris) into a composition. I had heard some wonderful sounds fabricated with the SYTER system (at the GRM, Paris) and was interested in trying to find a way to use MIDI to reproduce some of those rich morphologies. I constructed a MIDI data generator that changes a sound sample start point every every time it is played. In addition this generator also affects a variety of parameters, including volume, filter cut-off point, pitch, pan position… allowing for various applications resembling granular synthesis. This allowed me to generate a constantly evolving yet homogeneous texture from a single sound sample (examples are abundant in the first and last sections of this piece).
Move 1 was realized in the electroacoustic studio of Université de Montréal, under the guidance of Francis Dhomont and Jean Piché, and premiered in April 1995 at the 4th Contemporary Music Festival (Bogotá, Columbia). Move 1 was finalist at the 4th Prix international Noroit-Léonce Petitot (Arras, France, 1995) and was recorded on the compact disc Prix international Noroit-Léonce Petitot 1995 (NOR 4). A shortened version was also recorded on the compact disc The Swarm of Drones (Asphodel 0953).
piste@cec_95cd-1.1
oeuvre@14420
To Marie Pelletier
This piece is a little vocal game, resolutely optimistic, about the ineffable beauty of electroacoustic music, that marvelous art that will surely make the next millennium the Brave New World that we have been waiting for. It is also a brief stylistic exercise that mixes fragments of ancient voices with the voice of Marie Pelletier in order to recapture the spirit of Puzzle, a two-minute and ten-second clip realized in 1975. Twenty-eight years ago — how time flies!
It is a game on the multiple manipulations and recitations of the word ‘electroacoustic,’ as well as on the exultant conclusion: “Electro, you’re the best.”
[English translation: Tom Carter]
L’électro (Electro) was realized in 1990 in the composer’s studio and premiered on 30 August 1995 as part of the Festival international d’art acousmatique Futura (Crest, France). L’électro was recorded on the 1995 disc DISContact! II (CEC 95CD).
piste@cec_95cd-1.3
oeuvre@13920
“… here, on the roof of the world, I feel a shadow of uneasiness… It’s not at all the height, nor the kind of suction exerted by the abrupt depths and its emptiness which troubles me. It’s an altogether different emptiness which affects an altogether different sense… the essence of solitude…”
— Paul Valéry, Le solitaire
[vi-95]
Le vertige inconnu (The Mysterious Vertigo) was produced in 1993 at the studios of the Groupe de musique expérimentale de Bourges (GMEB, France). It premiered in June 1993 at the 23rd Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Festival (France). Le vertige inconnu received the 1994 Stockholm Electronic Arts Award (Sweden) and was selected for the 1994 World Music Days (Stockholm, Sweden) and the 1994 International Computer Music Conference (ICMC ’94) in Danmark. The piece was commissioned by the GMEB, with support from the Canada Council [for the Arts].[v-94] Since, Le vertige inconnu was awarded the prize of international competition Stockholm Electronic Arts Award (Sweden, 1994) and the 2nd prize at the Prix Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria, 1995).
This clip celebrates the beginning of the journey. (And by the way, is the title long enough for you?)
Réponse impressionniste… (Impressionistic answer given by Josef K. to a French tourist walking by the railway station at the end of a winter’s evening) was realized in the composer’s studio in 1994 using sounds produced with the help of the SYTER system at GRM (Paris, France) and outdoor sound samples from Québec. The piece was created for the 4th ACREQ International Électro-clip Competition held in Montréal at the Foufounes électriques on (and in simul-broadcast at Ciné-Bistro in Québec City) on June 5th, 1994, where it won the Public Radio Award.
piste@cec_95cd-1.10
oeuvre@14466
Spleen is comprised solely of the voices of four adolescents, aged 16 years. The title refers to one of the most significant moods of the adolescent: this kind of sudden melancholy which surfaces for no apparent reason. This work is a sequel to a previous piece, Éclats de voix, which utilized dozens of sounds from the Dictionnaire des bruits by Jean-Claude Trait and Yvon Dulude as a sonorous base. Onomatopoetic, the material is extremely rich because it represents those instances when the sounds of human language correspond directly to the designated object or to the expression of a sentiment.
The piece is divided into five sections which represent typical situations for the adolescent, and a corresponding sonorous parameter. These sections are presented successively in concert, or separately when broadcast on radio.
Spleen was produced at the composer’s studio from recordings of the voice of Marc Gilbert, Laurent-Josée Sainte-Marie, Nicolas Thériault and Patrick Virar. It was premiered during the radio festival Journées Électro-Radio Days broadcast live in Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver on December 10, 1993. Spleen was realized with support from the Audio program of the Media Arts Section of the Canada Council [for the Arts]. The piece was awarded the Public’s Prize at the 3rd Prix international Noroit-Léonce Petitot (Arras, France, 1994).
[English translation not available]
Allégorie électroacoustique de la croix — le corps de la croix est Résolution Humaine (Foi / Volonté). Les bras forment le Passé (Dogmatisme / Religion), l’Avenir (Idéalisme / Perspectives sociales) et le Présent à la croisée des chemins (Individualisation / Technologies).
piste@cec_95cd-1.12
oeuvre@13021
piste@cec_95cd-2