Exposure 4.1 explores the space between determinacy and indeterminacy regarding the distribution of musical material among the four instruments. This results in an ambiguous musical environment in which precision in the articulation of pitch and timbre is conflated with derivative events arising from the disjunction in playing techniques.

The quartet is treated both as a unity and as a discontinuous aggregate of four instruments which themselves are dissected through playing techniques requiring the performer to revisit the habitual body-instrument relationship.

The use of live electronics serves to diffuse the instrumental material in such a way that multiple instances of the music can occur simultaneously. As the piece is thus varied in every performance, the electronics render in a certain sense the range of possibilities encoded in the score itself while maintaining an intimate, chamber music-like relationship to the instrumental part.

[iii-16]

Premiere

• March 31, 2010, Les mutations dynamiques, Espace Dell’Arte, Montréal (Québec)

Performers

• Quasar (Marie-Chantal Leclair, soprano saxophone; Mathieu Leclair, alto saxophone; André Leroux, tenor saxophone; Jean-Marc Bouchard, baritone saxophone)