Premiere

• September 25, 1998, Thierry Miroglio, percussion • Inventionen ’98: Concert concret, 1, Parochialkirche, Berlin (Germany)

Premiere

• June 27, 2004, Inventionen 2004: Konzert, Sophiensæle, Berlin (Germany)

To Folkmar Hein

Part of the sound materials of this piece comes from recordings made in the apartment of Folkmar Hein, the sponsor of this work. These many and various materials (grandfather clock, sliding doors, dish noises, thumps on various pieces of furniture, coffee machine, ancient scales, food processor, heating system, gas stove, range hoods, shawm, zither, refrigerator, birds heard from the balcony, as well as the bells of the Rathaus Schöneberg) can be perceived with a very special colour for the dedicatee of this piece. I completed this list by integrating to it a multitude of concrete sounds, and I also tried to breathe poetry into this everyday universe to carry it to far-away imaginary worlds of blacks and reds.

[v-15]

Les lointains noirs et rouges [The Distant Blacks and Reds] was realized in 2008-09 in the studios of the Technische Universität (TU) in Berlin (Germany) and at the composer’s studio in Montréal. The work premiered on January 25, 2009 during the Ultraschall festival at the Haus des Rundfunks (Berlin, Germany). It was commissioned by Folkmar Hein. Thanks to Folkmar Hein, and Ingrid Beirer. The work was awarded the Special mention Musiques & Recherches at the 4th Destellos Electroacoustic Composition Competition (Mar del Plata, Argentina, 2011).

Composition

• 2008 – 2009, Elektronisches Studios — Technische Universität Berlin (TU), Berlin (Germany)

Premiere

• January 25, 2009, Ultraschall 2009: Das Elektronische Studio der TU Berlin, Großer Sendesaal des rbb — Haus des Rundfunks, Berlin (Germany)

Awards

• Special Mention Musiques & Recherches, Fixed medium, 4th Destellos Competition 2011, Mar del Plata (Argentina)

Mixing

• 2009, Personal studio, Montréal (Québec)

Composition

• Métamorphoses d’Orphée — Musiques & Recherches, Ohain (Belgium)

Premiere

• February 11, 2014, 25 Jahre Unerhörte Musik, BKA Theater, Berlin (Germany)
• March 19, 2014, Électrobelge et nouvelles productions de M&R, Le Senghor, Brussels (Belgium)

To Folkmar Hein

Most of the sounds heard here were given to me by Folkmar Hein, who commissioned this work. These sounds, which he recorded himself, can be construed as having no specific meaning. Would it be possible to integrate them into a larger project aimed at evoking the very long forest walks Hein is regularly taking around Berlin? He once told me that, after a few hours of strolling, your perception of time gradually becomes altered. I started imagining that the path to that mental state could trigger a reverie hidden under the bark of stones.

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

Sous l’écorce des pierres — promenade [Under the Bark of Stones — A Stroll] was started in 2016 at the composer’s studio and completed in 2017 at the Studio du Québec in New York (USA). It was premiered on August 12, 2017 at the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe (ZKM)’s ZKM_Kubus in Karlsruhe (Germany). The work was commissioned by Folkmar Hein. Thanks to the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) for its support. Sous l’écorce des pierres — promenade was awarded an Honorable Mention at the 2017 CIME Awards and the 2017 international electroacoustic music competition Musica Nova (Prague, Czech Republic).

Composition

• 2016, Personal studio, Drummondville (Québec)
• 2017, Studio du Québec, New York City (New York, USA)

Premiere

• August 12, 2017, Gilles Gobeil: Sous l’écorce des pierres — promenade, ZKM_Kubus, Karlsruhe (Baden-Württemberg, Germany)

Awards

• Honorable Mention, Prix CIME 2017
• Honorable Mention, Category A (fixed medium), Musica Nova 2017, Prague (Czech Republic)

Awards

• Nomination, Fixed medium, 11th Destellos Competition 2018, Mar del Plata (Argentina)

Une première version a été créée le 12 novembre 2017 sous le titre Senderos entreverados dans le cadre du festival L’Espace du son produit par Musiques & Recherches au Théâtre Marni (Bruxelles, Belgique).

Premiere

• November 12, 2017, L’Espace du son 2017: Solo de Beatriz Ferreyra, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

To Folkmar Hein

Five short linked sections — Alleluia; Danse sacrée [Sacred Dance]; Requiem; Transe [Trance]; Figures tutélaires [Tutelary Figures] — are unifying (through processing, mixing and spatial settings in relation to the theme) voices from all cultures and civilizations of the world, voices that are above all sacred, with the exception of the last section, which is an augmented variation of Parola volante, the last part of Vox Alia I — Affetti.

In these troubled times of division, fear, mourning and the withdrawal of people and nations, I felt the need to express a desire for unity, sacredness and generosity through the most human of media: the voice.

Alleluia remains fixed on this single word used in Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Jewish, and Islamic cultures (the “religions of the Book”).

The sacred dance in Danse sacrée features male choirs simulating the Indonesian monkey dance.

Requiem takes up the codes and slow tempo of certain moments in the Catholic funeral mass.

Transe brews moments of loss of individual identity, of collective sacred intensity in various Sufi, Inuit, African, Indonesian, and Arabic cultures.

The guiding figures in Figures tutélaires are those of Pierre Schaeffer, about the concrete approach, and François Bayle, about octophony.

[i-25]

Vox Alia II — Cathédrales was realized in 2021 at the Métamorphoses d’Orphée studio of Musiques & Recherches in Ohain (Belgium) and premiered on October 30, 2021 during the concert DEGEM 30 @ ZKM: Verleihung des Thomas-Seelig-Fixed-Media-Musikpreises at the ZKM_Kubus of the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany). The piece was commissioned by the DEGEM through the Thomas-Seelig-Fixed-Media-Preis 2021. Thanks to Folkmar Hein. The work was realized with support from the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (Service de la musique classique et contemporaine du Service de la Création artistique).

Composition

• 2021, Métamorphoses d’Orphée — Musiques & Recherches, Ohain (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 30, 2021, DEGEM 30 @ ZKM: Verleihung des Thomas-Seelig-Fixed-Media-Preises, ZKM_Kubus, Karlsruhe (Baden-Württemberg, Germany)

Premiere

• May 7, 2022, Premiere of the stereo version: Écotone: Matière-texture & …, Atoma, Vorst (Belgium)

To Folkmar Hein

A space (or concatenation of spaces) whose qualities we examine, explore and experience in sound… Different areas (sections) of this ‘chamber’ betray their physical sources, but also resonate with references to terms used in electroacoustic music and signal processing — in order: threshold, noise floor, brick wall, windowing and headroom. The final section combines materials from the first four in a kind of ‘free association,’ after windowing ends with two further ‘windows’ which offer aural glimpses of ‘beyond’ — outside, to external spaces, but also within, to the internal space of the imagination.

[x-25]

Kammermusik was realized in 2022 at the composer’s studio in Birmingham (England, UK) and premiered on September 24, 2022 during the concert Jahreskonzert der DEGEM und Verleihung des Thomas-Seelig-Fixed-Media-Preises as part of the Kontakte ’22 festival at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin (Germany). The piece was commissioned by the DEGEM through the Thomas-Seelig-Fixed-Media-Preis 2022.

Premiere

• September 24, 2022, Premiere of the 8-channel version, 10:27: Kontakte ’22: Jahreskonzert der DEGEM und Verleihung des Thomas-Seelig-Fixed-Media-Preises, Akademie der Künste — Hanseatenweg – Halle 3, Berlin (Germany)

Awards

• 3rd prize, International Sonosfera Ambisonics Competition 2024, Pesaro (Italy)