“From the title, I’m prompted to think of both Claude Debussy and Ken Russell: Debussy’s various sets of Images for piano (and yet another for orchestra), Ken Russell’s film Altered States.

Rather than Reflets dans l’eau (Reflections in water), the composer reflects, among others, on spinning bicycle spokes (Mouvement?) — a banal sound of childhood play and ecological transport refracted, reflected and re-imagined: re-imaged.

The composer as conjurer — Russell’s modern man in a darkened room seeking a sacred, primal experience. Here, it is music… and the composer is in the role of shaman-magician.

Am I hallucinating? Am I hearing? Am I dreaming? I am listening…”

— Joseph Anderson [06]

Altered Images was realized in summer 1995 in the Electroacoustic Music Studios of the University of Birmingham (UK) and the studios of Northern College (Aberdeen, Scotland) and premiered on January 23, 1996 at Concordia University (Montréal). It was awarded the 2nd prize at the 2nd Concurso Internacional de Música Eletroacústica de São Paulo (CIMESP ’97, Brazil).

Composition

• June – August 1995, Electroacoustic Music Studios — University of Birmingham, Birmingham (England, UK)
• June – August 1995, Electroacoustic Music Studio — Northern College, Aberdeen (Scotland, UK)

Premiere

• January 23, 1996, ÉuCuE XIV: Concert 8, Salle de concert — Campus Loyola — Université Concordia, Montréal (Québec)

Awards

• 2nd prize, International Electroacoustic Music Contest of São Paulo 1997, São Paulo (Brazil)

Mastering

• 2005, Dominique Bassal • Studio Inverse, Montréal (Québec)