In memory of my great friend François Bélair

I am fascinated by the mechanics of the piano. The sound fingers clicking on the ivories, the hammers hammering the strings; piano playing improvised, felt, and treated. September 10, 2012 in a Montréal store, playing on Horowitz’s piano sends me to an incommensurable place. To make these strings vibrate in a magical counterpoint of theme and variations fills me with joy… The riggings of the piano unfurl like wind in sails. This piano seems to be alive. It breathes. So I grab my portable recorder to immortalize this moment in my memory. So many buried passions are rekindled and fuse with the ambient sounds and resonating sources of the sustain pedal. Little by little, they fade away, leaving but a sigh behind.

— Roxanne Turcotte [English translation: François Couture, iv-14]

Le piano d’Horowitz [Horowitz’s Piano] was realized in 2014 at the composer’s studio (Studio Séducson) in Montréal for a sound installation (small loudspeakers and light emitting diodes placed around a piano). Thanks to Roger Lacroix (ArtsVox).

Composition

• 2014, Studio Séducson, Montréal (Québec)

Premiere

• June 2, 2017, Acousmatic version: Klang! électroacoustique 2017: Concert 3, Salle Molière — Opéra Comédie, Montpellier (Hérault, France)
• December 1, 2022, Mixed version: Roxanne Turcotte, piano • Électrochoc 2022-23: Électrochoc 2: Roxanne Turcotte, Studio multimédia — Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, Montréal (Québec)