Premiere

• October 21, 2006, L’Espace du son 2006: Hommage aux 80 ans de Francis Dhomont, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

To Francis Dhomont

A friendship offering to Francis Dhomont, for his 80th birthday.

— Ingrid Drese [English translation: François Couture, vi-09]

Sempre dolce was realized in 2006 at the composer’s studio and premiered on October 17, 2007 during the 14th international acousmatic festival L’Espace du son at Théâtre Marni (Brussels, Belgium). Sempre dolce was supported by the Service de la musique of the Direction générale de la culture, ministry of the Communauté française de Belgique.

Composition

• 2006, Personal studio, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 17, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Ouverture et anniversaire!, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

To Francis Dhomont

Premiere

• November 4, 2006, Computing Music: Computing Music IV — Fünfzig Jahre Computermusik, Musikhochschule Köln, Cologne (Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany)

An excerpt from Périple de l’eau was used for the work Traces realized in 2006 for the concert Hommage aux 80 ans de Francis Dhomont presented on Octobre 21, 2006 by Musiques & Recherches in Brussels (Belgium).

Premiere

• October 21, 2006, L’Espace du son 2006: Hommage aux 80 ans de Francis Dhomont, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 21, 2006, L’Espace du son 2006: Hommage aux 80 ans de Francis Dhomont, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

To my friend Parmé

This is a short tribute to Bernard Parmegiani, for his 80th birthday, and to his music. In it I have used the first sound of De natura sonorum as its triggering and conclusive event. It is obviously used as a quote and a wink, further confirmed by the pun-like title.

— Francis Dhomont [English translation: François Couture, v-12]

Dénaturé Parmé sons was realized in 2007 at the composer’s studio in Avignon (France) and premiered on October 20, 2007 during the 14th edition of the L’Espace du son festival at Théâtre Marni in Brussels (Belgium).

Composition

• 2007, Personal studio, Avignon (Vaucluse, France)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Tribute to Bernard Parmegiani

P-corde’s title is an allusion to Bernard Parmegiani’s work on strings in Violostries (1964). I wanted, with this piece, to pay tribute to a composer who managed to weave an incredibly subtle sonic fabric at a time when no one could imagine that the computer would one day become a musical instrument. The composer described his piece as “the work of a seamstress’ apprentice whose enthusiasm leads her to make lace.”

That’s what seduced me, that lacework, that focus on micromorphologies and extremely tight textures, with which I identified. This “tangible cathedral” built with a “brick violin,” as Michel Chion once said, left permanent marks in my mind and inspired my calling as a composer.

— Elsa Justel [English translation: François Couture, i-24]

P-corde [P-string] was realized in 2007 at the composer’s studio in Paris (France) and was premiered on October 20, 2007 as part of the 14th International Acousmatic Festival L’Espace du son at Théâtre Marni in Brussels (Belgium).

Composition

• 2007, Personal studio, Paris (France)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Jeu is an acousmatic work based on different uses of the French word ‘jeu,’ a word which does not translate well into English (there are two English words for ‘jeu’: ‘game’ and ‘play’). The different meanings of the word as well as its different use in expressions were ‘sounded’ (put to sound), in both the literal and the metaphorical senses. It is a kind of “cinema for the ear” where an abstract sound story is told using, from time to time, somewhat realistic and recognizable sounds:

Rules of the game. Circus games, Olympic games. Games of skill. Wholesale massacre. Parlor game. Out of play. To gamble with one’s life. To like to play. To ruin oneself at gambling. Make your play. The die is cast, “rien ne va plus”. The play of a bolt, of a spring. To loosen a window or a drawer. The game of skittles, of bowls. To have every opportunity. To hide one’s game. The big play. Organ stops. To play carefully. To play dangerously. Double play. A brilliant, nuanced manner of playing. Stage directions. “Stop fooling around or it will end in tears.” Plays of Prince. A game of the imagination. Play on words. A child’s play.

[ii-90]

Jeu was realized in 1988 and ’89 at the studio of the Groupe de musique expérimentale de Bourges (GMEB), France, and at the studio of the Université de Montréal (audio mixing assistance: Alain Roy) and premiered on June 8, 1989 at the Synthèse Festival of Experimental Music (Bourges). The piece was commissioned by the Groupe de musique expérimentale de Bourges (GMEB). The residency in France was made possible with support from the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA) and of the ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec. Thanks to the guitarists, percussionists, and accordionists of the Paris metro, to Karlheinz Stockhausen (excerpt of Hymnen), to Perotin (for his Viderunt Omnes) and to all the staff of the GMEB. Jeu was awarded a Mention at the 11th Luigi Russolo International Competition (Varese, Italy, 1989).

Composition

• 1988 – 1989, Groupe de musique expérimentale de Bourges (GMEB), Bourges (Cher, France)
• 1988 – 1989, Faculté de musique – Université de Montréal, Montréal (Québec)

Premiere

• June 8, 1989, Synthèse 1989: Séquence haut-parlante 4: Prix du Concours 1988, Bourges (Cher, France)

Awards

• Honorable Mention, Concorso internazionale Luigi Russolo di musica elettroacustica 1989, Varèse (Italy)
• Mention, Electroacoustic Program Music Prize, 21th Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition 1993, Bourges (Cher, France)

Mixing

• 1989, Robert Normandeau; Alain Roy, assistance • Faculté de musique – Université de Montréal, Montréal (Québec)

Premiere

• October 20, 2007, L’Espace du son 2007: Bernard Parmegiani, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

To all those who feel the urge to stretch their wings

“Is the bird scared of the sound its wings make when they open?” —Clarissa Pinkola Estés

“I reign in the azure like an unknown sphinx;
I unite my heart of snow to the whiteness of swans” — Charles Baudelaire, Les fleurs du mal: XVII. La Beauté

The trampled otherness, the wrench, the wandering, the freezing, and then the itch and the explosive freedom of the stretched out wings of an Ugly Little Duckling (Hans Christian Andersen).

Le bruit des ailes (The Sound of Wings) was recomposed from Musique défilé (1999-2000) and contains self-referential quotes from the music works Écran humain (1983), Lux (1985), D-503 (1987) and Ludi (1990). The materials used for this piece are taken from a “soundbase” of ice storms (from the ice storm that struck Québec in 1998; thanks to Jean-François Laporte for helping with the recordings), erupting volcanoes and nuclear tests in forgotten deserts. This soundbase was created together with Nicolas Boucher.

The pieces composed for the Nouvel ensemble moderne’s music / fashion show event Musique défilé pour une fin de siècle were later reworked into standalone acousmatic works — Indigo and Le bruit des ailes. They became the first two parts of the large-scale work Griffes (Claws), still in progress and inspired by Clarissa Pinkola Estés’s research in psychoanalysis (Women Who Run With the Wolves) and by Marie-Louise von Franz (Feminine in Fairy Tales). Through the use of sonic metaphors and highly evocative referential sounds, the music stages mental pictures associated with various “wild woman” archetypes taken from myths, dreams and tales. These first two parts are introspective works digging into the intimate space of affects. Also rolling through them are the tragedies of the origins and the fascinating forces of creation. Attempting to explore these buried memories, these untamed torrents, cannot be done without some commotion or tidal waves.

— Marcelle Deschênes [English translation: François Couture, viii-06]

Le bruit des ailes was recomposed in 2002 from Musique défilé (1999-2000) at the Bruit blanc studio and the PRIM, centre d’arts médiatiques, studio in Montréal (thanks to its residency program); the first mastering was performed by Bruno Bélanger in 2004 at Studio PRIM in Montréal (thanks to its coproduction program); the final master was made by Dominique Bassal in 2005. The piece premiered on November 2, 2002 at the Notre-Dame-de-Jacques-Cartier Church during the Festival des musiques sacrées in Québec City. Thanks to PRIM, centre d’arts médiatiques. Le bruit des ailes was selected as finalist at the 5th Concurso Internacional de Música Eletroacústica de São Paulo (CIMESP ’03, Brazil).

Composition

• 2002, Studio Bruit blanc, Montréal (Québec)
• 2002, Productions, réalisations indépendantes de Montréal (PRIM), Montréal (Québec)

Premiere

• November 2, 2002, Festival des musiques sacrées de Québec, Église Notre-Dame-de-Jacques-Cartier, Quebec City (Québec)

To Annette Vande Gorne for her 65th birthday

For you, dear Annette, these few “permanences / variations” in celebration of an emblematic birthday and as a tribute to your successful acousmatic battle.

— Francis Dhomont [English translation: François Couture, v-12]

Le flux des sons [The Flux of Sounds] was realized in 2010 at the composer’s studio in Avignon (France) and premiered on May 9, 2011 during the concert Hommage à Annette Vande Gorne at Studio 1 of Flagey in Brussels (Belgium). Recorded voice: Annette Vande Gorne.

Composition

• 2010, Personal studio, Avignon (Vaucluse, France)

Premiere

• May 9, 2011, Hommage à Annette Vande Gorne, Studio 1 — Flagey, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• May 9, 2011, Hommage à Annette Vande Gorne, Studio 1 — Flagey, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• May 9, 2011, Hommage à Annette Vande Gorne, Studio 1 — Flagey, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• May 9, 2011, Hommage à Annette Vande Gorne, Studio 1 — Flagey, Brussels (Belgium)

Tribute to Annette Vande Gorne

L’espace re-figuré, dedicated to Annette Vande Gorne, is made of materials from her piece Figures d’espace (1994). I borrowed the sounds most representative of her style and placed them in a new environment to push them into a new dimension. L’espace re-figuré unfolds in two movements of equal lengths.

— Elsa Justel [English translation: François Couture, i-24]

L’espace re-figuré [Re-figured Space] was realized in 2010 at the composer’s studio in Mar del Plata (Argentina) and was premiered on May 9, 2011 during the concert Hommage à Annette Vande Gorne presented at Flagey’s Studio 1 in Brussels (Belgium).

Composition

• 2010, Personal studio, Mar del Plata (Argentina)

Premiere

• May 9, 2011, Hommage à Annette Vande Gorne, Studio 1 — Flagey, Brussels (Belgium)

For Annette Vande Gorne

Produced in 1992 and reworked in 2010 for the “sound garland” offered by the composers to Annette Vande Gorne for her birthday concert on May 9, 2011 at Flagey in Brussels (Belgium). It is also Bernard Parmegiani’s very last work. (Also known as Départ Annette Vande Gorne.)

Premiere

• May 9, 2011, Hommage à Annette Vande Gorne, Studio 1 — Flagey, Brussels (Belgium)

To François Bayle, for his very creative 80 years

This musical joke, a parody of the transit 1 from Tremblement de terre très doux, highlights the humour of this highly sophisticated French composer, the spirit of variations consistently found in his works, his unique style and the originality of his one-of-a-kind music. With my faithful friendship, François, and my admiration.

— Francis Dhomont [English translation: François Couture, ix-20]

La Bayle Music was realized in 2012 at the composer’s studio in Avignon (France) and premiered on October 27, 2012 as part of the concert Guirlande François Bayle presented during the festival L’Espace du son at Théâtre Marni in Brussels (Belgium). Recorded voice: François Bayle.

Composition

• 2012, Personal studio, Avignon (Vaucluse, France)

Premiere

• October 27, 2012, L’Espace du son 2012: Guirlande François Bayle, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

Premiere

• October 27, 2012, L’Espace du son 2012: Guirlande François Bayle, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

For François Bayle

Boîte à musique was realized in 2012 at the studios of the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe (ZKM) in Germany.

Composition

• 2012, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe (ZKM), Karlsruhe (Baden-Württemberg, Germany)

“Inside a semi-circular cockpit that gives us the feeling of floating into space, we discover crossfaded galaxies, nebulas, black holes and cosmic dust; or we are in the middle of a space storm with lightning, thunder, incredible winds and tornadoes enhanced by electroacoustic sounds. Among thousands of rocks and meteors, we glimpse electronic debris floating for all eternity… Man and his habitat, Man and the infinite…” — Georges Dyens

A celebration filled with light, a homage to Earth, “a devotion for Life in all its guises and worries about its foretold disappearance” (Marie Delagrave, Vie des arts #164, Montréal, Autumn 1996). “In the heart of radical movement, a universe lives and dies, exploding over and over” (Daniel Carrière, Le Devoir, Montréal, June 19, 1992), “as if the spectator were a witness to creation itself, a party to the end of time, suspended between the entrails of the earth and sidereal space, and holding his breath.” (Nell Luter Floyd, The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, MS, USA, March 5, 1995).

Big Bang III was composed for Georges Dyens’ multimedia installation by the same title. Dyens’ work consisted of sculptures, lightings and holograms, all automated.

— Marcelle Deschênes [English translation: François Couture, viii-06]

Big Bang III — music for the multimedia installation by George Dyens — was realized in 1992 at Bruit blanc studio in Montréal and premiered with the installation in the summer of 1992, as part of the international exhibit Images du futur presented at La Cité des arts et des nouvelles technologies de Montréal. A second version of the installation was completely redesigned in 1995 under the title Vertigo terræ for the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson (MS, USA); that installation is now part of the permanent exhibit at the Musée du Bas-Saint-Laurent in Rivière-du-Loup (Québec).

Composition

• 1992, Studio Bruit blanc, Montréal (Québec)

Premiere

• June 1992, Images du futur, Cité des arts et des nouvelles technologies de Montréal, Montréal (Québec)

Tribute to François Bayle

Word play is one of my hobbies, and L’expérience caustique is such a play-on-words, a reference to François Bayle’s L’expérience acoustique (1970-73) (“the caustic experience” vs “the acoustic experience”), his deep and caustic analytical mind, and his biting critique. This is a tribute to the composer who developed the listening experience throughout his abundant, sensible œuvre.

— Elsa Justel [English translation: François Couture, i-24]

L’expérience caustique [The Caustic Experience] was realized in 2012 at the composer’s studio in Mar del Plata (Argentina) and was premiered on October 27, 2012 during the concert Guirlande François Bayle presented as part of the L’Espace du son festival at Théâtre Marni in Brussels (Belgium).

Composition

• 2012, Personal studio, Mar del Plata (Argentina)

Premiere

• October 27, 2012, L’Espace du son 2012: Guirlande François Bayle, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)

To Beatriz Ferreyra, who is pretending to be 80 years young

“Your Petit souper magazine made me laugh, because Tom Thumb [Petit Poucet, in French] is always running, skipping and having fun. Thank you, dear friend, for such a joyful ride.”

Dear Beatriz, your approval is perfectly in tune with my intention: to make you laugh (through the music, and the title’s spoonerism). And since our friendship began because of your Petit poucet magazine, this was also my way of thanking it.

— Francis Dhomont [English translation: François Couture, ix-20]

Petit souper magazine was realized in 2017 at the composer’s studio in Avignon (France).

Composition

• 2017, Personal studio, Avignon (Vaucluse, France)

Tribute to Beatriz Ferreyra

Beatriz, we once discussed the possibility of working with each other’s sounds. Well, here they are! I had a lot of fun playing with your music. Please receive these fragments of several of your pieces as a gift designed to make you smile. Happy birthday!

— Elsa Justel [English translation: François Couture, i-24]

Wessen was realized in 2017 at the composer’s studio in Mar del Plata (Argentina).

Composition

• 2017, Personal studio, Mar del Plata (Argentina)

BF is a short birthday present of the 80th anniversary of Beatriz Ferreyra. Memories of her encounter as well as fragments and words from an interview of the composer at Ina-GRM served as material for the composition.

An homage to Beatriz Ferreyra on the occasion of her 80th birthday.

[vi-18]

Would be to Seek was realized in 2017 at the composer’s studio in Sheffield (England, UK) and premiered on September 22, 2017 during a concert at the University of Greenwich in London (UK). The piece was requested by Annette Vande Gorne, who very kindly coordinated the birthday gift for Beatriz Ferreyra. Would be to Seek received an Honorable Mention at the 15th Musicacoustica-Beijing competition (China, 2018).

Composition

• 2017, Personal studio, Sheffield (England, UK)

Premiere

• September 22, 2017, Loudspeaker Orchestra Concert Series: Adam Stanović, University of Greenwich, London (England, UK)

Awards

• Honorable Mention, Group A: Acousmatic Music, Musicacoustica-Beijing Composition Competition 2018, Beijing (China)

Visual sounds without pictures. Sensations and perceptions. A mountain road on a tango tune. A street lamp illuminates a rhythmic and polyphonic deconstruction of a Latin-American music genre I am particularly fond of, a genre that makes me travel in a welcoming sphere.

A short tribute to an exceptional woman, Argentinian composer Beatriz Ferreyra, who stepped into the world of electroacoustic music through the Groupe de recherches musicales (GRM) of the ORTF’s Service de la recherche, then directed by Pierre Schaeffer.

— Roxanne Turcotte [English translation: François Couture, vii-21]

Tango déconstruit [Deconstructed Tango] was realized in 2017 at the composer’s studio (Studio Séducson) in Montréal and was premiered on February 27, 2021 at the concert La Grande Nuit 2021 — Au-delà de la notation broadcast online live from Agora Hydro-Québec as part of the Montréal / Nouvelles musiques (MNM) festival in Montréal. Tango déconstruit was composed from a piece — realized using a frequency modulation (FM) synthesizer — taken from a suite composed in 1985 for the performance Mime machine by Québécois mime artist Claude St-Denis.

Composition

• 2017, Studio Séducson, Montréal (Québec)

Premiere

• February 27, 2021, Binaural version for online listening: Montréal / Nouvelles Musiques 2021: La Grande Nuit 2021 — Au-delà de la notation, Montréal (Québec)
• December 1, 2022, Concert premiere: Électrochoc 2022-23: Électrochoc 2: Roxanne Turcotte, Studio multimédia — Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, Montréal (Québec)