Robert Normandeau: Lieux inouïs: track detail

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Lieux inouïs

Robert Normandeau

Lieux inouïs

[Unheard-of Places]

empreintes DIGITALes | IMED 9802 | 1998

Reissue from IMED 9002.

CD 25.00 CA$ [?]

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Jeu (1989) 23m55s imed_9802-1.1 | 14380 | ISRC CAD509813450

Les règles du jeu [Rules of the Game]; Mouvements d’un mécanisme [Movements of a Mechanism]; Ce qui sert à jouer [Things to Play with]; Les manières de jouer [Playing Styles]; Les plaisirs du jeu [Joys of Playing]

MP3 Real

Composer: Robert Normandeau

Commission: GMEB

Premiere: June 8, 1989 (Bourges, France)

Jeu is an acousmatic work based on different uses of the French word ‘jeu,’ a word which does not translate well into English (there are two English words for ‘jeu’: ‘game’ and ‘play’). The different meanings of the word as well as its different use in expressions were ‘sounded’ (put to sound), in both the literal and the metaphorical senses. It is a kind of “cinema for the ear” where an abstract sound story is told using, from time to time, somewhat realistic and recognizable sounds:

Rules of the game. Circus games, Olympic games. Games of skill. Wholesale massacre. Parlor game. Out of play. To gamble with one’s life. To like to play. To ruin oneself at gambling. Make your play. The die is cast, “rien ne va plus”. The play of a bolt, of a spring. To loosen a window or a drawer. The game of skittles, of bowls. To have every opportunity. To hide one’s game. The big play. Organ stops. To play carefully. To play dangerously. Double play. A brilliant, nuanced manner of playing. Stage directions. “Stop fooling around or it will end in tears.” Plays of Prince. A game of the imagination. Play on words. A child’s play.

[ii-90]

Jeu was produced in 1988 and 1989 at the studio of the Groupe de musique expérimentale de Bourges (GMEB), France, and at the studio of the Université de Montréal (audio mixing assistance: Alain Roy) and was premiered on June 8th, 1989 at the Synthèse Festival of Experimental Music (Bourges). The piece was commissioned by the Groupe de musique expérimentale de Bourges (GMEB). The residency in France was made possible with the support of the Canada Council [for the Arts] and of the ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec. Thanks to the guitarists, percussionists, and accordionists of the Paris metro, to Karlheinz Stockhausen (excerpt of Hymnen), to Perotin (for his Viderunt Omnes) and to all the staff of the GMEB. Jeu was awarded an Honorable Mention at the 11th Luigi Russolo International Competition (Varese, Italy, 1989).

1a. Les règles du jeu (1989) 8m22s imed_9802-1.1.1a | 23707 |

Composer: Robert Normandeau

1b. Mouvement d’un mécanisme (1989) 2m24s imed_9802-1.1.1b | 23708 |

Composer: Robert Normandeau

1c. Ce qui sert à jouer (1989) 3m04s imed_9802-1.1.1c | 23709 |

Composer: Robert Normandeau

1d. Les manières de jouer (1989) 4m50s imed_9802-1.1.1d | 23710 |

Composer: Robert Normandeau

1e. Les plaisirs du jeu (1989) 5m15s imed_9802-1.1.1e | 23711 |

Composer: Robert Normandeau

2. Mémoires vives (1989) 15m50s imed_9802-1.2 | 14381 | ISRC CAD509813460

MP3 Real

Composer: Robert Normandeau

Commission: Événements du Neuf, with support from the CCA

Premiere: March 9, 1989, Salle Claude-Champagne (Montréal, Québec)

Mémoires… (memories) — The fascination with requiems. Not so much for the text — to which I do not subscribe — but for a certain spirit, a kind of depth. The subject itself is demanding and composers have often offered the best of themselves for it. I have taken a path from the Gregorian Mass of the Dead, Ockeghem, de Lassus, Cererols, Mozart and Berlioz to arrive at Fauré, Ligeti and Chion. You will recognize their traces throughout the piece, as a form of homage to these individuals whom I don’t know but who talk to me through their music.

vives (Vivid) — These works are all part of me; it is me, in a way, who composed them, in a different time and place. I had certainly forgotten this, but the images progressively return. I then proceed to use my electroacoustic instruments to reinvent the ritual. I also integrate here and there, moments for which I pretend to be the author. But memories are so vivid in me that sometimes I doubt myself. These sounds slip through my fingers to form a coherent suite without—it seems—my participation. I give it a name, imagining that this will be sufficient to claim it as mine…

In French, the title also refers to computer random access memory (“mémoire vive”) which is a volatile memory where information is only kept temporarily. The piece was mostly realized with computerized instruments and exclusively from sound material extracted from requiem.

[ii-90]

The current version of Mémoires vives (Vivid Memories) was entirely reworked during the summer of 1989 at the studio of the Faculty of Music of the Université de Montréal. It was premiered on March 9th, 1989 at the Salle Claude-Champagne, Montréal, as part of the Événements du Neuf C’était concerts series. Mémoires vives was commissioned by the Événements du Neuf and realized with the assistance of the Canada Council [for the Arts]. The piece was selected at the 3rd International Rostrum of Electroacoustic Music (IREM) in Oslo (Norway, 1990).

3. Rumeurs (Place de Ransbeck) (1987) 12m13s imed_9802-1.3 | 14382 | ISRC CAD509813470

MP3 Real

Composer: Robert Normandeau

Premiere: September 24, 1987, Université Concordia (Montréal, Québec)

To Annette Vande Gorne

Rumeurs… (Rumors) — A rumor is a sound in the air. Elusive, we seek to capture it, fearing that it may concern us, that it may hold a part of shameful truth. Fleeting, it cannot be caught. As soon as it materializes, it vanishes, leaving only traces in our memories. Here, nothing is certain. Where does this sound come from? What is it made of?

The piece endlessly oscillates between pure sound and meaning, without ever resolving to one or the other. The piece is at the limit between texture and image, between material and anecdote. And rumors go by, always surrounding us. Here and there, sounds reach us like faint echoes of the world. If you believe hearing things about you, why worry? After all they’re only rumors… and if you listen carefully, you may find the key.

(Place de Ransbeck) — A small square in Ohain (Belgium), home of the studio Métamorphoses d’Orphée where the piece was produced in June, 1987.

Rumeurs (Place de Ransbeck) was premiered on September 24th, 1987 at Concordia University, Montréal. The residency in Belgium was the outcome of the prize received at the 1st Phonurgia-Nova International Competition in Arles (France, 1986) the previous year and was made possible by a grant from the ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec.

[ii-90]

Rumeurs (Place de Ransbeck) was awarded the 2nd Prize of the Electroacoustic Category of the 16th Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition (France, 1988) and consequently was released on the Cultures électroniques 3 compact disc produced by the Groupe de musique expérimentale de Bourges (GMEB) on the Le chant du monde label (LDC 278046/47).

Matrechka (1986) 13m53s imed_9802-1.4 | 14383 | ISRC CAD509813480

Acousmatic piece in seven sections:
Chaos; Gris acier; Outremer; Terre de sienne brûlée; Bleu de cobalt; Pourpre; Terre d’ombre

MP3 Real

Composer: Robert Normandeau

Premiere: June 1, 1986, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (Trois-Rivières, Québec)

To Lucie

This piece, similar to Matrechka, the nest of Russian dolls from which the title originates, takes in the form of an unveiling, a journey where reality, of a certain form, gives place to another reality. It uses the theme, dear to surrealists, that art should never be mistaken for the object it represents. Thus, in a painting entitled L’air et la chanson (The Tune and the Song), René Magritte writes under what seems to be: “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” (This is not a pipe).

Thus, waves, breaths, even music originate from elsewhere; they are presented in unnatural forms. From a tumultuous exterior and chaos, we gradually progress towards a helpless and anxious interior. The sound objects progressively adopt new and unheard-of forms, and resemble less and less the real objects from which they arise.

[ii-90]

Matrechka was realized between 1984 and 1986 at the studio of the Université de Montréal and at the composer’s studio from sound material created for six holosculptures of Georges Dyens. The work was premiered on May 1st, 1986 at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR). Matrechka was awarded the prize of the French National Federation of Electroacoustic Music, a Mention at the 14th Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition (France, 1986) and the Métamorphoses d’Orphée Studio prize (Ohain, Belgium) at the 1st Phonurgia-Nova International Competition (Arles, France, 1986).

4a. Chaos (1987) 1m19s imed_9802-1.4.4a | 23712 |

Composer: Robert Normandeau

4b. Gris acier (1987) 1m37s imed_9802-1.4.4b | 23713 |

Composer: Robert Normandeau

4c. Outremer (1987) 1m44s imed_9802-1.4.4c | 23714 |

Composer: Robert Normandeau

4d. Terre de sienne brûlée (1987) 2m21s imed_9802-1.4.4d | 23715 |

Composer: Robert Normandeau

4e. Bleu de cobalt (1987) 1m56s imed_9802-1.4.4e | 23716 |

Composer: Robert Normandeau

4f. Pourpre (1987) 1m35s imed_9802-1.4.4f | 23717 |

Composer: Robert Normandeau

4g. Terre d’ombre (1987) 3m21s imed_9802-1.4.4g | 23718 |

Composer: Robert Normandeau

5. Le cap de la tourmente (1984-85) 7m24s imed_9802-1.5 | 14384 | ISRC CAD509813490

One of the five soundtracks from Musique holographique (1985)

MP3 Real

Composer: Robert Normandeau

Premiere: January 15, 1985, Obscure (Quebec City, Québec)

This work was composed in 1984-85 for an exhibit of five holosculptures (sculptures with holograms) by Georges Dyens. The pieces were swept across by lights in cycles alternating appearance and disappearance and were positioned as far as possible from each other. Each piece had a different soundtrack in continuous playback. As the viewers/listeners moved around the gallery, they not only changed their visual focus but also their sonic environment, realizing their own mix of the sounds.

Musique holographique is an electroacoustic concert piece based on these sound materials proposing one of the many possible journeys through the exhibit, this version being the most representative of the spirit of the music from my perspective. The complete work has a duration of thirty-two minutes and could not be included on this recording; it is represented by one of its five soundtracks: Le cap de la tourmente. Some elements of this soundtrack were used again in three other works: Matrechka, La chambre blanche and Rumeurs (Place de Ransbeck).

[ii-90]

Musique holographique was realized in 1984-85 at the composer’s studio and was premiered on January 15th, 1985 at Obscure (Québec City). The original holosculpture (by Georges Dyens) and the soundtrack are part of the permanent collection of the Holographic Museum, New York City (USA).

Robert Normandeau: Lieux inouïs: track detail

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Prices are in Canadian dollars — 1.00 CA$ ~ 0.94 US$ ~ 0.66 € ~ 0.53 £ ~ 1.16 AU$ ~ 101.39 ¥ — and include handling, shipping and applicable taxes.


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