A strong record, demanding but captivating. Montréal bass clarinetist Lori Freedman offers here a CD of contemporary music. And through this set of works composed for bass clarinet (by Michel Galante, Pascal Dusapin, Giacinto Scelsi, Franco Donatoni, Georges Aperghis, Monique Jean, and herself), she slips in three improvisations where she develops ideas (as fleeting as they may be) sourced within those works. It ties the album together while making the bounderies between composition/improvisation and composer/performer hazier. The Jean piece (the only mixed electroacoustic piece) is worth a special mention, along with the Scelsi (for the bright performance).

Many electrocd.com artists are nominated for the 13th Opus Prizes, awarded since 1996 by the Conseil québécois de la musique. empreintes DIGITALes’ discs Chroniques d’une séduction by Jacques Tremblay and Gratte-cité by Ned Bouhalassa; as well as No Type’s disc Les arbres by Nicolas Bernier are nominated for “Disc of the Year — Musique actuelle, Electroacoustics.” The concert Remix de classiques! presenting Chorals ornés, a work by Yves Daoust, is nominated for “Concert of the Year – Musique actuelle, Electroacoustics,” as well as the concert by Jacques Poulin-Denis and Martin Messier presented as part of Akousma (5). The work Chorals ornés is also nominated for “Premiere of the Year.” Winners will be announced on January 31, 2010 during the Gala in Montréal.

empreintes DIGITALes launches two more discs.

• Francis Dhomont, composer at the forefront of acousmatic practitioners, offers three new works around Kafkaian themes: Études pour Kafka.
• Dominique Bassal, also known for his masterisation of electroacoustic works, presents Ubiquité with works in extreme high definition sound (96 KHz 24 bits) in stereo and “Surround 5.1.”

For a limited time, get $10 off the purchase of both discs! [Finished on March 1, 2010.]

As part of the Électro-chocs series, Gilles Gobeil will present a concert with the electroacoustic composition class of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal on December 10, 2009 at the Conservatoire. Gobeil will give a conference at 7pm and will present his works Ombres, espaces, silences…, Le miroir triste (available on Trois songes), Nuit cendre (available on … dans le silence de la nuit…), Les lointains noirs et rouges, and Castalie during the concert at 8pm.

Pierre Alexandre Tremblay will premiere his work Reflets de notre société crépusculaire, which is a GRM commission, on December 6, 2009 at Maison de Radio France, Paris. On December 10, he will participate to the Théorie des cordes, Festival#0 that takes place also in Paris. On December 12, he will play in duet with Robin Fincker at Le Cherche Ardeur in Toulouse (France).

The album [60]Project by Monty Adkins is nominated in the Experimentation / Research category of the sixth edition of the Qwartz Electronic Music Awards. Listen to and vote online for the finalist of your choice from December 7, 2009 to March 15, 2010. Qwartz 6 will take place on April 2, 2010 in Paris (France).

To vote for [60]Project (for instance…) a quick email message with the title of the album to experimentation_6@qwartz.org is enough. (Thanks!)