CD
1 disc
25.00 CAD -20%

If radio doesn’t appear, it means you haven’t installed the Flash plugin or that your version is too old. You must also activate Javascript.

Radio // Parr(A)cousmatique
Parr(A)cousmatique
La basilique fantôme (1998, 2000), 9m51s [excerpt]
Track 1 from Parr(A)cousmatique
CD: empreintes DIGITALes (2002) IMED 0264
Arturo Parra, guitar
1 May 2004
By Sabine Moig in JazzoSphère #21 (France), May 1, 2004

Text

“… un résultat inattendu et somme toute des plus captivants.”

Le guitariste Arturo Parra nous présente ses explorations au cœur de la musique contemporaine. Ce projet mêle des compositions réalisées à sa demande par quatre auteurs et son travail accompli à cette suite sur ces pièces. Guitare, bruitage, distorsions, les notes sont malmenées pour parvenir à cette musique acousmatique qui nous plonge dans les abîmes les plus inquiétants, tendus et pénétrants. Parr(A)cousmatique regroupe des pièces qui réinventent notre regard sur les espaces et les terres qui peuplent notre imaginaire. Ces lieux s’imprègnent d’une coloration différente, des spectres semblent surgir des entrailles profondes. La musique vagabonde ainsi sur des registres fantasmagoriques qui parviennent à happer l’auditeur et à l’entraîner vers des sphères indomptées et inconnues. Le projet du guitariste pousse les limites de la création jusqu’à ses plus extrêmes retranchements produisant ainsi un résultat inattendu et somme toute des plus captivants.

blogue@press-823 press@823
15 October 2003
By François Couture in electrocd.com (Québec), October 15, 2003

Text

Electroacoustic music is an acquired taste. Like it or not, radio and television have conditioned us from an early age into accepting some musical (tonal and rhythmical) molds as being “normal.” Therefore, electroacoustics, along with other sound-based (in opposition to note-based) forms of musical expression like free improvisation, is perceived as being “abnormal.” That’s why a first exposure to this kind of music often turns into a memorable experience — for better or worse. Many factors come into play, but choosing an album that offers an adequate (i.e. friendly and gentle) introduction to the genre will greatly help in letting the initial esthetic shock turn into an experience of Beauty and mark the beginning of a new adventure in sound.

My goal with this sound path is simply to point out a few titles that I think have the potential to encourage instead of discourage, titles opening a door to a new musical dimension. Of course, this selection can only be subjective. But it might be helpful to new enthusiasts and to aficionados looking for gift ideas that would spread good music around. After all, Christmas is only a few weeks away!

Bridges

We usually develop new interests from existing interests. What I mean is: we explore music genres that are new to us because a related interest brought us there. That’s why when it comes to electroacoustic music, mixed works (for tape and instrument) or works related to specific topics are often the best place to find a bridge that will gently lead the listener into the new territory. For example, people who enjoy reading travel literature will find in Kristoff K.Roll’s Corazón Road the sublimated narrative of a journey through Central America. Those still young enough to enjoy fairy tales (I’m one of them) will find in Francis Dhomont’s Forêt profonde an in-depth reflection on this literary genre as inspired by the works of psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim, in the form of a captivating work with multiple narratives (in many languages) and electroacoustic music of a great evocative strength. Lighter and more fanciful, Libellune by Roxanne Turcotte finds its source in childlike imagination and is in part aimed at children without over-simplifying its artistic process.

Guitar fans can turn to Parr(A)cousmatique, a wonderful project for which classical guitarist Arturo Parra co-wrote pieces with some of Quebec’s best electroacoustic composers: Stéphane Roy, Francis Dhomont (Quebecer at heart, at the very least), Robert Normandeau, and Gilles Gobeil. The latter has just released an album-long piece, Le contrat, written with and featuring avant-garde guitarist René Lussier. Lussier’s followers and people interested in Goethe’s play Faust (and its rich heritage) will find here an essential point of convergence, another bridge.

Essential listens

Those who want to explore further will probably want to venture into more abstract electroacoustic art. I recommend starting with the Quebec composers. Chauvinism? No way. It’s just that the music of composers like Dhomont, Normandeau, Gobeil, Yves Daoust, or Yves Beaupré seems to me to be more accessible than the music of British or French composers. It is more immediate, has a stronger impact (Gobeil, usually hitting hard), a more pleasant form of lyricism (Daoust, Beaupré), more welcoming architectures and themes (Dhomont, Normandeau). If you need places to start, try Normandeau’s Figures, Gobeil’s La mécanique des ruptures, Dhomont’s Cycle du son, and Beaupré’s Humeur de facteur.

That being said, there are hours upon hours of beauty and fascination to be found in the works of Michel Chion (his powerful Requiem), Bernard Parmegiani (La création du monde), Jonty Harrsison (Articles indéfinis), Denis Smalley (Sources/Scènes), and Natasha Barrett (Isostasie), but they may seem more difficult or thankless on first listen. And for those interested in where these music come from, the EMF label offers L’œuvre musicale, the complete works of Pierre Schaeffer, the father of musique concrète and grandfather of electroacoustics.

Tiny ideas

A compilation album has the advantage of offering a large selection of artists and esthetics in a small, affordable format. Available at a budget price, eXcitations proposes a strong sampler of the productions on the label empreintes DIGITALes. The albums Electro clips and Miniatures concrètes, along with the brand new volume of the DISContact! series, cull short pieces (often under three minutes) to trigger interrogations and discoveries in those with a short attention span.

And finally, for those of you who want to take their time and explore in short steps, the Cinéma pour l’oreille collection produced by the French label Métamkine contains many wonderful 3" CDs, 20 minutes in duration each, for a reduced price. The catalog includes titles by renown composers such as Michel Chion, Lionel Marchetti, Michèle Bokanowski, Bernhard Günter, and Éliane Radigue. These tiny albums are perfect for gift exchanges.

Of course, all of the above are only recommendations. The best sound path to discovery is the one you follow by yourself, little by little.

Best listens!

blogue@press-6136 press@6136
25 July 2003
By Bart Plantenga in wReck thiS MeSS (Netherlands), July 25, 2003

Text

Arturo Parra is a Bogota Columbia-born composer and guitarist who here interprets the works of 5 contemporary acousmatic composers which he recomposed as pieces for guitar and tape. This piece explores the nature of time: “Time’s linearity has broken up under the impact: It floats, and so do we, contemplating the cities and their unending bustle as if from above.”

blogue@press-611 press@611
1 July 2003
By MB in Testcard #13 (Germany), July 1, 2003

Press Clipping

blogue@press-741 press@741
1 July 2003
By PiT in Fake #13 (Netherlands), July 1, 2003

Press Clipping

blogue@press-742 press@742
14 June 2003
By Tobias Bolt in Skug #54 (Austria), June 14, 2003

Text

“Eine absolute Empfehlung.”

Der, zumeist im geologischen Zusammenhang verwendete, und einen Gleichgewichtszustand beschreibende Begriff der »Isostasie« ist der Titel von Natasha Barrets drittem Album, auf dem die Komponistin und Sound-Ökologin verschiedene lokale Naturphänomene, wie die Mitternachtssonne oder »Roten Schnee« mittels elektroakustischer Klangforschungen abstrakt umreißt. Die zehn glasklaren, kalten Impressionen aus ihrer Wahlheimat Norwegen, durchwegs spannend und mit einer ausgeprägten Liebe zum Detail gestaltet, fegen wie ein eisiger Nordwind aus den Boxen und kristallisieren zu glitzernden Klangskulpuren voll gespenstischer Schönheit.

Noch ein wenig abstrakter kommt das Album des belgischen Komponisten Stephan Dunkelman daher. Seine nicht nur für Konzerte, sondern auch für Ausstellungen und Tanzaufführungen komponierten Stücke spielen gekonnt mit Musik im Raum/Zeit-Kontext, sowie laut/leise-Kontrasten. Die zu Beginn etwas diffus anmutenden Soundscapes geraten mit zunehmender Spieldauer zu einem durchaus hörenswerten Ganzen, in dem sich die verschiedenen Geräusche tatsächlich wie »Rhizome« (dieser ursprünglich aus der Botanik stammende Begriff wurde von Deleuze und Guattari als Metapher für Hypertextualität verwendet) von den Spitzen weg in verschiedenste Richtungen fortpflanzen.

Der Titel von Arturo Parras Album wiederum weist ganz konkret auf seine Entstehungsweise hin: fünf »acousmatische« Stücke für Tape, von Parra an ebenso viele verschiedene Komponisten in Auftrag gegeben, werden auf »Parr(A)cousmatique« von dem kolumbianischen Gitarristen mit seinem expressiven Spiel auf der akustischen Gitarre konterkariert. Ein atmosphärisch unglaublich dicht geratenes Album, in dem sich ruhige, einfühlsame Passagen mit explosiven Fingerpickings und stakkatoartigen Rhythmusattacken abwechseln. Das in Parras Spiel omnipräsente lebensfreudige Flamencofeeling paart sich hier auf ganz wunderbare, ungewöhnliche Weise mit der Musique Concrète der Tape-Kompositionen. Eine absolute Empfehlung. Alle drei Veröffentlichungen beinhalten in den äußerst ansprechend gestalteten Pappkarton-Schubern umfangreiches Informationsmaterial, darunter Biographien, Details zum Release sowie Kommentare der Künstler zu den einzelnen Stücken in englischer und französischer Sprache.

blogue@press-550_3 press@550_3

Other texts in

  • Audion #48 (UK), June 1, 2003
  • Cisza #2 (Poland), March 13, 2003
  • Rumore #134 (Italy), March 1, 2003
  • BBC Music Reviews (UK), January 1, 2003

Some Recommended Items

  • Prix Opus 2001-02: Disque de l’année — Finaliste
  • UCC 771028026425
  • Canada Council of the Arts