electrocd

Track listing detail

Jets

Ned Bouhalassa

  • Year of composition: 1996-98
  • Duration: 10:01
  • Instrumentation: stereo fixed medium
  • Publisher(s): Yul média
  • ISWC: T0702851533

Stereo

ISRC CAD509813230

  • 44,1 kHz, 16 bits

Jets was originally conceived for the sound projection system of San Francisco’s Sound Traffic Control (STC). I wanted to write a piece that could demonstrate the potential of automated sound projection. In order to make a dynamic and energetic piece, I chose to use jet-shaped materials. Water, air and dust jets that leave a trace as they move through space would serve as models for the creation of my sonic materials. There are objects in this piece which move freely, in an almost intuitive manner; others flee quickly, like hunted animals; finally, there are those that hurl themselves against the edges of the stereo field, as if they were in a cage. There is also a kind of nostalgia that is found in the more ‘musical’ passages that serves as a setting, as ambience.


Jets was realized at the STC studios (Compound) and at the composer’s studio (Pssssst) with support from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ). Thanks to the entire STC team (particularly Naut Humon), Andrew Schinasi (saxophone), Celso Machado (flute) and, for his critical ear, Bruce Gottlieb.


Composition

Constamment (autoportrait)

Ned Bouhalassa

  • Year of composition: 1997
  • Duration: 13:29
  • Instrumentation: stereo fixed medium
  • Publisher(s): Yul média
  • Commission: Réseaux des arts médiatiques, with support from the CCA
  • ISWC: T0702851408

Stereo

ISRC CAD509813240

  • 44,1 kHz, 16 bits

To my brother Mehdi

Constamment (autoportrait) (Constantly (self-portrait)) is broken down into 5 sections that relate different parts of myself, from the past to the present and beyond. There are elements that represent my vision of a past which may or may not be mine, for I do not recall my early years (something which troubles me more and more). There are also parts that serve to illustrate my love for Brenda and my close friends. Finally there are also materials which profess my love of techno music, which I listen to daily and which, on many occasions, makes me dance until the early hours of the morning. In 1997 I turned 35 and thought that it would be a good age for my first self-portrait.


Constamment (autoportrait) was realized at the composer’s studio (Pssssst) and premiered on November 12, 1997, during the Rien à voir (2) concert series presented by Réseaux in Montréal. Constamment (autoportrait) was commissioned by Réseaux des arts médiatiques with the help of the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA). Thanks to Robert Normandeau, Jean-Francois Denis and Gilles Gobeil.


Premiere

  • November 12, 1997, Rien à voir (2): concert solo + carte blanche, La Chapelle — scènes contemporaines, Montréal (Québec)

Composition

Attraction

Ned Bouhalassa

  • Year of composition: 1992, 93
  • Duration: 10:04
  • Instrumentation: stereo fixed medium
  • Publisher(s): Yul média
  • ISWC: T0702851179

Stereo

ISRC CAD509813250

  • 44,1 kHz, 16 bits

To my love Brenda

Attraction consists of various representations of the energy that is built up and released in many types of attractions (gravity, one body for another, many bodies for one, the composer’s for his-her sonic materials, the listener’s for the materials…). I have striven to produce a work that continuously challenges the ear and the intellect by using non-recurring sound environments and complex gestures, resembling those found in the work of contemporary visual artists.

As is the case with most of my works, Attraction contains many sound objects that started out as recordings of acoustic sources and were subsequently transformed using digital processing and traditional musique concrète techniques. In addition I created complex synthesizer patches by combining ‘old’ (analog) and ‘new’ (digital) technologies.


Attraction was realized at the studios of Concordia University and various private studios. This piece could not have come to be without the voice of Edgard Émile Hudon, and the help of Gregory Fine, Pierre De Gagné, Frédéric Roverselli and Claude Schryer. Attraction premiered in the Fall of 1992 at Concordia University and was awarded 3rd prize — solo tape category — of the 15th Luigi Russolo International Competition (Varèse, Italy, 1993).


Premiere

  • November 11, 1992, Concert, Salle de concert — Campus Loyola — Université Concordia, Montréal (Québec)

Awards

Composition

Move 1

Ned Bouhalassa

  • Year of composition: 1994
  • Duration: 11:38
  • Instrumentation: stereo fixed medium
  • Publisher(s): Yul média
  • ISWC: T0715224228

Stereo

ISRC CAD509813260

  • 44,1 kHz, 16 bits

To my parents, Larbi and Marie-Françoise

Move 1 presents some anecdotal and abstract representations of animal and human movement. It is not a ‘pure’ research work into the behaviour of sound in space but rather it is closer to a poetic etude on movement. Most listeners will recognize some of the sound objects in motion: sounds of bees and birds in flight and humans moving about on skates and skateboards are juxtaposed with abstract shadows, percussive imaginary echoes of the ‘natural’ world. This exchange or contrast between the recognizable (stable) and the unknown (unstable) is at the heart of my compositional exploration and often dictates the form of my works.

Technically, my initial intent was to find a way to integrate some of the work that I had been doing with the MAX software (Ircam, Paris) into a composition. I had heard some wonderful sounds fabricated with the SYTER system (at the GRM, Paris) and was interested in trying to find a way to use MIDI to reproduce some of those rich morphologies. I constructed a MIDI data generator that changes a sound sample start point every every time it is played. In addition this generator also affects a variety of parameters, including volume, filter cut-off point, pitch, pan position… allowing for various applications resembling granular synthesis. This allowed me to generate a constantly evolving yet homogeneous texture from a single sound sample (examples are abundant in the first and last sections of this piece).


Move 1 was realized at the electroacoustic studio of Université de Montréal, under the guidance of Francis Dhomont and Jean Piché, and premiered in April 1995 at the 4th Contemporary Music Festival (Bogotá, Columbia). Move 1 was finalist at the 4th Prix international Noroit-Léonce Petitot (Arras, France, 1995) and was recorded on the compact disc Prix international Noroit-Léonce Petitot 1995 (NOR 4). A shortened version was also recorded on the compact disc The Swarm of Drones (Asphodel 0953).


Premiere

  • April 20, 1995, Concert, Bogotá (Colombia)

Composition

Bouffée délirante

Ned Bouhalassa

  • Year of composition: 1990
  • Duration: 8:22
  • Instrumentation: stereo fixed medium
  • Publisher(s): Yul média
  • ISWC: T0704901756

Stereo

ISRC CAD509813270

  • 44,1 kHz, 16 bits

“Sudden occurrence of a brief fit of madness in a patient suffering from a slight mental instability.”

— Larousse

Bouffée délirante (Maddening Exhalation) is my first attempt to realize what has been coined ‘cinema for the ear.’ I began with a scenario: a person in search of his-her self falls prey to fatal madness. This piece would then be divided into two sections: escape/isolation and fantasm/madness. Glad to move beyond this limiting sketch, I decided to concentrate my efforts on internal space (that which is part of the recording) and how it relates to form. Bouffée délirante also marks the first time that I explored montage and the sudden jump-cut gesture that would become a regular part of my compositional palette.

Ned Bouhalassa


Bouffée délirante was realized at the electroacoustic studio of Concordia University and of Université de Montréal and premiered in the spring of 1990 at Concordia University. Bouffée délirante was awarded a prize in both CAPAC and PROCAN Canadian composition competitions (1990). Thanks to Francis Dhomont.


Premiere

  • May 7, 1990, Series 8 — Concert 10, Salle de concert — Campus Loyola — Université Concordia, Montréal (Québec)

Awards

Composition