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.

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Jeu was realized in 1988 and ’89 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 premiered on June 8, 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 support from the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA) 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 a Mention at the 11th Luigi Russolo International Competition (Varese, Italy, 1989).

Composition

• 1988 – 1989, Groupe de musique expérimentale de Bourges (GMEB), Bourges (Cher, France)
• 1988 – 1989, Faculté de musique – Université de Montréal, Montréal (Québec)

Premiere

• June 8, 1989, Synthèse 1989: Séquence haut-parlante 4: Prix du Concours 1988, Bourges (Cher, France)

Awards

• Honorable Mention, Concorso internazionale Luigi Russolo di musica elettroacustica 1989, Varèse (Italy)
• Mention, Electroacoustic Program Music Prize, 21th Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition 1993, Bourges (Cher, France)

Mixing

• 1989, Robert Normandeau; Alain Roy, assistance • Faculté de musique – Université de Montréal, 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.

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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 9, 1989 at the Salle Claude-Champagne of the Université de Montréal (Québec), as part of the Événements du neuf C’était concerts series. Mémoires vives was commissioned by the Événements du neuf and realized with support from the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA). Mémoires vives was awarded the 2nd prize at the 12th Luigi Russolo International Competition (Varese, Italy, 1990), and was selected at the 3rd International Rostrum of Electroacoustic Music (IREM) in Oslo (Norway, 1990).

Composition

• 1989, Personal studio, Montréal (Québec)

Revision

• June – August 1989, Faculté de musique – Université de Montréal, Montréal (Québec)

Premiere

• March 9, 1989, C’était… trois jours de musiques sur le thème de la mort (1), Salle Claude-Champagne — Université de Montréal, Montréal (Québec)

Awards

• Prize, 3rd International Rostrum of Electroacoustic Music (IREM) 1990 — Oslo
• 2nd prize, Concorso internazionale Luigi Russolo di musica elettroacustica 1990, Varèse (Italy)

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.

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Rumeurs (Place de Ransbeck) premiered on September 24, 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. 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).

Composition

• 1987, Métamorphoses d’Orphée — Musiques & Recherches, Ohain (Belgium)

Premiere

• September 24, 1987, CECG / GÉC Series 6 — Spectra: Concert 1, Campus Loyola — Université Concordia, Montréal (Québec)

Awards

• 2nd prize ex æquo, Electroacoustic Music Prize, 16th Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition 1988, Bourges (Cher, France)

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.

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Matrechka was realized between 1984 and ’86 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 premiered on May 1, 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).

Composition

• 1984 – 1986, Faculté de musique – Université de Montréal, Montréal (Québec)
• 1984 – 1986, Personal studio, Montréal (Québec)

Premiere

• May 1, 1986, Concert, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières (Québec)

Awards

• Métamorphoses d’Orphée Prize, Phonurgia Nova 1986, Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône, France)
• First Mention, Electroacoustic Music Prize, 14th Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition 1986, Bourges (Cher, France)
• Prize ex æquo, Fédération nationale de musique électroacoustique (FNME) Prize, 14th Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition 1986, Bourges (Cher, France)

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).

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

Composition

• 1984 – 1985, Personal studio, Montréal (Québec)

Premiere

• January 15, 1985, Concert, Obscure, Quebec City (Québec)