Mare Buchlae — Radiolaria’s overture — takes us from the human world to the world of underwater organisms. The piece features all the sound families that represent the plankton-inhabiting species that will be explored individually later on in the cycle. My objective was to recreate an underwater world using only sound synthesis, moving from ocean field recordings to a waterscape consisting entirely of Buchla 200 sounds.

— Ana Dall’Ara-Majek [English translation: François Couture, xii-23]

Mare Buchlae was realized in 2023 at Studio Blue Spider in Montréal (Québec) from recordings made in 2022 at the Elektronmusikstudion (EMS) in Stockholm (Sweden). Thanks to the entire EMS team. The realization of this piece was made possible thanks to the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ).

Preparation

• June 27 – July 10, 2022, Elektronmusikstudion (EMS), Stockholm (Sweden)

Composition

• June – August 2023, Studio Blue Spider, Montréal (Québec)

Premiere

• October 16, 2024, Akousma 20: Soirée 1, Usine C, Montréal (Québec)

Awards

• Prize, Ars Electronica Forum Wallis 2025, Leuk (Switzerland)

Mastering

• February 14, 2024, Dominique Bassal • Studio Inverse, Montréal (Québec)