This piece was born of a desire, after fifteen years, to collaborate again with the guitarist René Lussier. Using his talent for improvisation, I have employed the wide variety of timbres and sonic materials found in his playing. The tape consists of a succession of very dense and expressive scenes onto which the guitar’s living and playful gestures are placed.

— Gilles Gobeil [English translation: François Couture, xii-23]

Associations libres [Free Associations] was realized in July, 1990 at Studio Ondes (Montréal, Québec). Thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA). Associations libres was awarded the Silver Award — Most Outstanding Sound Design at the British Design & Art Direction 2002 (UK).

Composition

• July 1990, Studio Ondes, Montréal (Québec)

Premiere

• November 2, 1990, Montréal musiques actuelles / New Music America, Acousmonium: Concert 6: Électro clips, Théâtre Les Loges, Montréal (Québec)
• March 7, 2015, Premiere of the mixed version: Patrice Soletti, electric guitar; Julien Guillamat, diffusion • Figures du siècle, Salle Pasteur — Le Corum, Montpellier (Hérault, France)

Awards

• Silver Award, Most Outstanding Sound Design, British Design & Art Direction 2002, UK

About this sound recording

Version remixed in 1994.

Remixing

• 1994, Montréal (Québec)

Performers

• René Lussier, electric guitar