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by Nicolas Bernier |ek_006-0001|
The music of Étude no
3 pour cordes et poulies reveals itself as a metaphor of what is
imperceptible in human thought. It explores the mind’s desire to raise
the sails and its propensity to vanish while always constrained to the
physicality of the body, forced to remain earthbound and rational.
To listen to Étude no
3 pour cordes et poulies, is to stand in the belly of a ship, on the edge
of a pier, or in a train watching the landscapes pass by. The object of the
project was to create new places, meta sound environments that emerge from
many landscapes brought together in music. Fascinated by soundscapes, the
intention of the composers is not merely to contemplate or document these as
ecological occurrences, but to fully integrate and impart them with an
earnest role in the musical composition. To them, a field recording is an
ideal material to articulate music.
“Cordes” being the French word for rope or string, the initial
version of this music focused on stringed instruments such as guitars,
violins and cello. As the project evolved, the composers gradually moved away
from these, keeping only their essence and artifacts, their melodic and
harmonic structures, and musical textures. Wanting to create music that is
more allegorical, these instruments were replaces with real ropes and
rigging, pulleys and other unusual objects.
The result is a combination of electronic music and soundscapes that
create a deeply immersive environment. Through its tableaus, it is possible
to distinguish the reminiscence of a music that was once instrumental,
depicting the boundless and the tumultuous nature of human thought.
This music was composed by Nicolas Bernier and
Jacques
Poulin-Denis for the choreography Étude
no 3 pour cordes et poulies by O Vertigo.
Nicolas Bernier
[iii-07]
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