Our composer pursues the important questions of the day: Who has the biggest sound?, Who has the nicest melodies?, Who can play the fastest?, and Who has the most complex music? During this quest for the musical Holy Grail the composer is impeded by the sounds of nature.

• CHOIR 26” = Who who has the biggest sound?
• CHOIR 1’00” = Who Has the Nice Melodies?
• CHOIR 1’23” = Who Has the Strangest Sound?
• CHOIR 2’04” = Silence Shhh! Dream Shhh! Dream
• CHOIR 7’41” = But! Who has the Biggest Noise?

NARRATOR 13’28” = Test, test, test…,Hey is the microphone on? Okay. But as the local church choir said six minutes and twenty seven seconds ago: “This sound was fast enough.” But the important question of the day still remains. Drum roll please. To play or not to play? Now I and the Tremolo Trailblazers are going to play: “The Saddle Song.”

NARRATOR 19’11” = Okay that is enough of misbehaving animals!

COUNTRY HICK 19’18” = My hound is out of harmony. The pig popped his polyphony. The animals ain’t just atonal they caught cacophony.

NARRATOR 21’56” = Okay that is enough of misbehaving animals!

CHOIR 23’30”-Silence. Shhh! Dream. Shhh! Dream.

SOPRANOS AND ALTOS 24’05” = Dream

CHOIR 25’20” = My hound is out of harmony. The bad animals have gone to bed. They cannot hurt us now. But the big question of the day is: Who Has The Nice Melodies?

SPAINISH TOURIST 36’20” = Ay! Carbon! That is enough of these misbehaving bugs. Crazy. Enough of these grasshoppers, these cicadas, what do you think this is? We are listening to music? These bugs drive me crazy, crazy, crazy. Let’s get onto the through composed thoroughfare and hear the Tonic Tango. And hear: Tonic Tango. Let’s get onto the through composed thoroughfare and hear the Tonic Tango.

CHOIR 41’30” = Strange melody.

CHOIR 49’00” = But! Who has the Biggest…

NARRATOR 49’14” = What? Okay I know. Who has the biggest sound? Who has the biggest noise? Who has the strangest melodies? Who has the nicest melodies? Who can play the fastest? Look I may work at the Centre for Strategic Sound but I don’t know the answer to these important questions of the day. So I will leave you here to listen to the tuneful traffic go by. Enjoy the freeway jam session. And what about: who has the most complex music? Who has the longest sustain? Who can play the slowest?

NARRATOR 52’04” = Okay that is enough of misbehaving animals!

[x-09]

Who Has the Biggest Sound? was co-commissioned by Engine 27 (New York, USA) — first part, 0 min to 15 min — and by Réseaux des arts médiatiques with support from Canada Council for the Arts (CCA) — second part, 15 min to 30 min.

Composition

• 2005 – 2008, Personal studio, Montréal (Québec)

Premiere

• November 19, 2009, Akousma (6): Éclats d’instruments, Studio Hydro-Québec — Monument-National, Montréal (Québec)