With this release, the DIFFUSION i MéDIA company, which has been so successful with its empreintes DIGITALes line of CDs, launches a new label: SONARt. Dedicated to the proliferation of “invisible musics,” SONARt will focus on radiophonic works specific to the broadcast medium. This first release includes two well paired works by successful Quebec composers: Atlantide, by Michel-Georges Brégent and Golgot(h)a by Walter Boudreau. The two works are similar in scope and approach, and have both experienced some international success.

Composed in 1985, Atlantide is divided into seven sections that use a variety of musical approaches and languages to explore the tale of the lost city of Atlantis. From vocal soloists and childrents choir, through contemporary strings and winds, to saxophone quartet and baroque ensemble, with abundant use of computer synthesis and manipulation, Atlantide moves through a plethora of modes and moods in its submarine explorations. It is quite an effective work, and the 1985 jury of the Prix Italia (an international competition for radiophonic works) awarded it a First Mention and the Special Jury Prize.

Like Atlantide, Golgot(h)a was commissioned by Société Radio-Canada and was produced in its studios by a cast of dozens. It is a 1990 composition and, like its companion piece, it is roughly a half-hour in length. The original text is by Raôul Duguay and — in a bizarre fashion — is an account of the crucifixion of Christ. Personally, I find the computer treatment of Duguay’s voice unnecessarily unpleasant and some of the text, such as the recurring “photocopy” inexplicable. Overall, however, this is a successful piece that makes skilful and interesting use of a choral response by the 16th-century Spanish composer Luis de Vittoria, upon which all of the music is based. This work was the 1991 winner of the Grand Prix Paul Gilson, awarded by the Community of French-Language Public Radio.

This CD is an interesting and important release for the fledgling SONARt label, and it is especially encouraging to see SONARt pick up some of the slack left by current CBC/SRC recording policies. One can only wonder at the lack of vision at the “Corporation,” which endlessly releases standard and middle-ofthe-road modern repertoire on its own labels and then ends up leasing out original, internationally successful works to tiny labels. Thank goodness for the foresight and dedication of the people at DIFFUSION i MéDIA.

A pair of new compact discs representing the galvanized Canadian electroacoustic community. Anecdotes, Yves Daoust — Satie from an open window on Petite Musique Sentimentale is more the hearing the Velvet Gentleman was after than most are willing to give him credit for. A second disc features compositions by Michel-Georges Bregent — Atlantide — and Walter Boudreau — Golgot(h)a. Both are powerful, energetic works, and it’s nice to see the poet/composer collaboration celebrated as well as Boudreau does with the poet who gave us such seminal language-music works as Concerto en si b dur pour 33 machines a ecrire and Vibration-percussion yin-yang, Raôul Duguay.

Ce compositeur canadien «met en scène» des fragments du passé musical de l’Occident. Point de nostalgie, mais une démonstration mystérieuse, poétique et humoristique de l’énorme décalage entre un environnement médiatise — où tout ressortit à l’anecdote — et l’intimité solitaire du créateur et de l’instrumentiste.

These two extended radiophonic works by young Canadian composers have a sinister outlook and are quite fascinating. The solo female vocal lines in Brégent’s Atlantide often recall the writing of Daniel Lentz, with similar modular (though never minimalist) construction and pure, straight singing sans vibrato. At other times, the writing is for chamber choir (with vibrato) and various acoustic, electric and electronic instruments wherein the work becomes densely polyphonic, with layer upon layer of melody, color and rhythm. At times the onslaught of sonic information is dizzying. The music itself seems to be informed by rock, industrial, post-modernism and the avant-garde, all without a hint of posturing. Composer Boudreau and writer Duguay’s Golgot(h)a is a powerfully melodramatic work of Ivesian eclecticism, invoking the influential French progressive rock band Magma with similar distorted vocal passages in an unknown tongue, as well as a dolorous demeanor and murky, sullen harmonies and textures. Alongside are bits of Renaissance and Baroque music, inviting comparisons with Giovanni Gabrieli’s polychoral brass or lush Palestrinian vocal polyphony, as well as spiky, updated Stravinskian harmonies.

Voici le premier disque de la nouvelle collection de DIFFUSION i MéDIA, SONARt, consacrée à des musiques instrumentales de studio. Ici, il s’agit de deux pièces radiophoniques. La première, Atlantide de Michel-Georges Brégent, pour voix, divers ensembles instrumentaux, sons électroacoustiques et sons environnementaux, date de 1985. Décomposée en sept parties, avec des transitions marquées par l’utilisation de sons familiers (animaux, ville, eau), cette pièce est un mélange étonnant de différents genres: une écriture contemporaine marquée de rock, teintée de jazz (ou l’inverse). L’étonnement persiste à l’écoute des voix s’exprimant en langues anciennes et mystérieuses. On pense presque à Magma! Mais tout cela disparaît dans la dernière partie, où apparaît plus le studio (traitements, larsen…), qui marque la destruction d’Atlantide car cette pièce retrace la vie et la mort des Atlantes vaincus par la soif du pouvoir. L’auteur à travers cette image veut nous montrer le danger qui nous guette, et les transitions entre chaque partie par leur aspect anecdotique sont là pour nous replacer dans notre quotidien.

Golgot(h)a (1991) de Walter Boudreau, avec un texte de Raôul Duguay, est une pièce pour instruments et voix échantillonnée, qui retrace le chemin de croix du Christ.