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Radio // Alter ego
Alter ego
autoportrait (2001), 10m42s [excerpt]
Track 1 from Alter ego
DVD-Audio: empreintes DIGITALes (2006) IMED 0680
  • piste@imed_0680-1
    • 1
      autoportrait (2001), 10m42s
      • Commission: Réseaux des arts médiatiques, with support from the CCA
      • Premiere: December 13, 2001, Rien à voir (10) — Réseaux, Espace GO (Montréal, Québec)

      To mark its tenth anniversary, the Rien à voir festival commissioned this work… and why not celebrate such an grand initiative with a self-portrait? An anniversary is a time to review the past, to question it in order to move forward. A self-portrait (autoportrait) is a means for such reflection, in the manner of a painter — a technique for rummaging through familiar images that are at times cherished, at times loathed, too often taken for granted. The self-portrait as an act of introspection, for renewed consciousness.

      autoportrait (Self-portrait) was composed in 2001 in the Electroacoustic Music Studios of the University of Birmingham (UK) and in the composer’s studio and premiered on December 13, 2001 during the Rien à voir (10) concert series presented by Réseaux at Espace GO in Montréal. autoportrait was commissonned by Réseaux with the support from the Canada Council for the Arts. This version was mastered by Dominique Bassal in 2005 in Montréal.

      piste@imed_0680-1.1 oeuvre@19178 ISRC CAD500619610
    • 2
      • se faire coi [hold your peace]
      • [se] pourfendre (de la révélation) [to assail [oneself] (on relevation)]
      • rester coi [holding peace]
      • Premiere: March 2, 2002, Invisible Theatre — BEAST (Birmingham, England, UK)

      “Silence does not exist: to live is to steer in the midst of a streaming that death alone may halt.” — François Mauriac, Nouveaux mémoires intérieurs.

      The singular story of a battle, or the eternal story of life.

      au Croisé, le silence, seul, tient lieu de parole (To The Crusader, Silence, Alone, Gives Way To Speech) was composed in the composer’s studio between September 1999 and December 2000 and premiered on March 2, 2002 during the “Invisible Theatre” concert of the Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre (BEAST) in Birmingham (UK). The first movement was premiered on December 11, 1999 during the Rien à voir (6) concert series presented by Réseaux at Ex-Centris in Montréal. au Croisé, le silence, seul, tient lieu de parole was awarded First Prize (ex-aequo) in the Hugh Le Caine Prize of the SOCAN Foundation Awards for Young Composers in 2001. This version was mastered by Dominique Bassal in 2005 in Montréal.

      piste@imed_0680-1.2 oeuvre@19179
    • 5
      • Premiere: November 1, 1998, Rien à voir (4) — Réseaux, La Chapelle (Montréal, Québec)

      “The mind affects the body
      The body affects me
      Specially if your mind frame be binary” — Dice B

      Binary (Virtual Rapper Remix) was composed in 1998 in the studio of the electroacoustic sector of the Université de Montréal and in the composer’s studio and was completely remixed in September 2005 in the electroacoustic studios of the University of Huddersfield (UK). The piece was premiered on November 1, 1998 during the Rien à voir (4) concert series presented by Réseaux at La Chapelle in Montréal; the mixed version, for rapper and tape, was premiered by Dice B on January 19, 1999 during the “Hautes tensions” concert produced by ACREQ at Usine C in Montréal. Thanks to: Jean Sébastien Nicol for his work on the drums; to David Fafard, Jean-François Paiement and Sylvain Pohu for having lent their voices; and to rapper Dice B, without whom this project would not have seen the light of day. This version was mastered by Dominique Bassal in 2005 in Montréal.

      piste@imed_0680-1.5 oeuvre@19180 ISRC CAD500619650
    • 6
      fugue; qui sent le temps? (1997, 98), 15m57s
      • déflation: fuite par le présent [deflation: fleeing into the present]
      • interlude: l’indispensable poussière [interlude: the essential dust]
      • déflexion: fuite par le futur [deflection: fleeing into the future]
      • interlude: le futile univers [interlude: the futile universe]
      • déflagration: fuite par le passé [deflagration: fleeing into the past]
      • Premiere: February 23, 1997, Rien à voir (3) — Réseaux, La Chapelle (Montréal, Québec)

      “ Fugit irreparabile tempus (Irrecoverable time glides away)” — Virgil
      “ Tempus edax rerum (Time the devourer of all things)” — Ovid

      deflation: fleeing into the present. Fast, fast, faster, in the image of the dust propelled by the wind, negligible in itself, essential to itself; product of erosion, source of erosion: the work of time.

      interlude: The essential dust

      deflection: fleeing into the future. Light moves forward, content in its entirety, in its entity, aware of the importance of the moment because of its transience: where will it go? What will it do? What will it become? So many questions that do not weigh on its present!

      interlude: The futile universe

      deflagration: fleeing into the past. The Old, the Wise, like the dormant firework, is only powder, but man ignites, inflames it and projects high, higher so that he may enlighten Humankind reassuringly. Truth: the fetish, the totem, the god, the universe, the dust…

      fugue; qui sent le temps? (Fugue; Who Feels Time?) was composed in 1997 in the studio of the electroacoustic sector of the Université de Montréal and in the composer’s studio. Its first movement was premiered on February 23, 1997 during the Rien à voir (1) festival at La Chapelle in Montréal; the second and third movements were premiered on February 23, 1998 during the Rien à voir (3) concert series presented by Réseaux at La Chapelle in Montréal. fugue; qui sent le temps? received a mention at the 25th Bourges International Electroacoustic Music and Sonic Art Competition (France, 1998) and was awarded the 3rd Prize at the 13th CBC National Competition for Young Composers in 1999. This version was mastered by Dominique Bassal in 2005 in Montréal.

      piste@imed_0680-1.6 oeuvre@19181
    • 11
      la cloche fêlée (2004), 8m06s
      • Premiere: March 6, 2004, De Natura Sonorum — BEAST (Birmingham, England, UK)

      “I, my soul is flawed…” — Baudelaire, Spleen and Ideal, Flowers of Evil.

      A very beautiful sonnet by Baudelaire, with serene and contemplative quatrains. Then, everything topples into grimly depressive tercets. Transposed in music, these images of anyone’s life suddenly become so personal. Everything topples.

      la cloche fêlée (The Cracked Bell) was composed in 2004 in the composer’s studio and premiered on March 6, 2004 during the “De Natura Sonorum” concert of the Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre (BEAST) in Birmingham (UK). Thanks to abbé Maurice Contant, Saint-Antonin Church, Montréal, for authorizing the recording of the Sainte-Trinité (C), Sainte-Marie (E), and Saint-Antonin (G) bells. This version was mastered by Dominique Bassal in 2005 in Montréal.

      piste@imed_0680-1.11 oeuvre@19182 ISRC CAD500619710

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DVD-Audio — Advanced Resolution: Stereo (MLP 9624) •• DVD-Video — Advanced Resolution [NTSC, multi-region]: Stereo (4824) •• DVD-ROM: MP3 (320 kbps), AAC (320 kbps) files ••• Mastering: Dominique Bassal

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