At first, comes off as a busy sounding cd combining lots of noisy electronics and various samplings of voices and what sounds like acoustic instruments. Everything sounds broken up and jammed in together, without much mixing or blending on the first 4 tracks. Suddenly, with track 5 (prime shake), the sounds seem to resolve & form a more coherent depiction of a moving landscape in sound. Quite a difference, with direction and less broken up elements cluttering jumbled edges of the parts. Instead, a streaming rush of bits of semi-obscured events passing thru, similar to audio sources fading in and out of range of a moving persons hearing. A tendency towards a slightly more sparse mix allows the sounds to reveal themselves better. A diverse cd which is impressive on the more developed pieces, and seemingly lost in the scatter on others.

Rhizomes summarizes Stephan Dunkelman’s 1990s. Most of the seven works included on this CD were already available on a number of compilation albums (Aquaéra 1 on empreintes DIGITALes’ own Miniatures concrètes). Presented together, they form an interesting solo album. The key word to describe Dunkelman’s music is “movement.” He has worked extensively with choreographers and some of these pieces stem from music for dance. There is grace and fluidity in the stereo crisscrosses, the leaps and splits of his sounds. In that regard, Rituellipses is exemplary. Ample without aiming at grandeur, it impressively coordinates the dance of a number of “characters” in a movement that draws from a certain conception of serialism and ritualism, all to great effect. Dreamlike Shudder in an Airstream Part 1: For a Crumpled Woman, encountered at half point in the course of this hour of music, brings an element of disturbance. Its title already hints at something darker or oppressive. The piece is more cluttered and looms menacingly over the listener. The closing Thru, Above and Between approaches radio work (or hörspiel) from a purely musical point of view. Consciously evacuating any possible literary thinking, Dunkelman tries to come back to the essence of “cinema for the ear,” developing a narrative that will not translate into words but makes sense to the listener nonetheless. Through these pieces, the influence of Annette Vande Gorne rarely goes away — in the choice and use of concrete sounds, in the musical flow — but is well integrated to Dunkelman’s style. Academic but warm and with many fascinating facets, this album is definitely worth your time.

Simply put, this is a great project, well conceived and marvelously concretized. Arturo Parra, an excellent classical guitarist specialized in the modern repertoire, has commissioned electroacoustic pieces from four of Quebec’s most renown acousmatic composers: Stéphane Roy, Francis Dhomont, Gilles Gobeil and Robert Normandeau. Each work had to stand on its own (and some have been released on other CDs), but Parra also composed four pieces for guitar and tape using them. The eight pieces (tape only and mixed) were premiered at FIMAV 1998 as the program Parr(A)cousmatique. Four years later the label empreintes DIGITALes released Parra’s four mixed works plus a fifth piece composed with Mauricio Bejarano following the same method. The guitarist has managed to respect the spirit and idiosyncrasies of each composer while giving the cycle its own identity. The pure, untreated sound of the classical guitar could have felt like it was just pasted over the tape part. On the contrary, Parra’s playing creates a fully-integrated contrast with the electroacoustics. He uses extended techniques without banning the instrument’s (and his own) Spanish heritage. La basilique fantôme (with Roy) opens with flashes of typical guitar virtuosity that establish the setting of the whole cycle. That piece and L’envers du temps (with Normandeau) provide the best moments. In the latter, the guitarist elaborates a stunning discourse, a song that parallels a rich tape drone. Highly recommended to enthusiasts of electroacoustic music and contemporary acoustic guitar alike.

Hailing from Belgium, Stephan Dunkelman is a composer of acousmatic music. Once a student of Annette Vande Gorne, he shows interests in space and time relations within sonic movement — common to many such composers working from inside academic institutions. His music shares similarities with the works of Francis Dhomont, Gilles Gobeil and Vande Gorne. His first solo album, Rhizomes, came out in 2002.

Born in Brussels in 1956, Dunkelman first studied at his hometown Conservatoire Royal de Musique. He completed degrees in Electroacoustic Composition and Music History in 1989 and 1990, moment at which he completed his first important works. Signallures, finalist at the Concours Luigi Russolo in 1991, brought him his first laurels and also became one of his first pieces made available (on the 1996 CD Acousmatica). Rituellipses, Metharcana and Dreamlike Shudder in an Airstream Part 1: for a crumpled woman also won international distinctions and were released on compilation CDs. While working on his graduate degree in acousmatic composition with Vande Gorne, Dunkelman multiplied collaborations with visual artists and choreographers, thus further exploring the spatiality of sound. He has worked with sculptor Charlotte Marchal, painter Axel Miret, choreographer Michèle Noiret and fashion designer Azniv Afsar. The prestigious Quebecer electroacoustic label empreintes DIGITALes had included his short piece Aquaéra 1 on the compilation CD Miniatures concrètes in 1998 and four years later released his first solo album, Rhizomes, which includes the aforementioned pieces plus a few more. The album launch was accompanied by feature concerts in Montréal (as part of the 11th Rien à voir festival) and Brussels.

Arrivé au Québec en 1966, Christian Calon s’équipait d’un premier studio de composition électroacoustique en 1975, à l’âge de 25 ans. C’est durant les années 80 que ses premières œuvres furent remarquées (premier prix du Concours international Luigi Russolo en 1985). En 1989-90, il était vice-président de la Communauté électroacoustique canadienne et, en 1991, il repartait pour quelque temps en France afin d’assumer la responsabilité du Groupe de musique expérimentale de Marseille. Ses œuvres, dont plusieurs sont regroupées sur deux disques parus chez empreintes DIGITALes, lui ont valu de nombreuses distinctions. Il conçoit des pièces radiophoniques, des installations sonores et des musiques de concert.

Il y a déjà un bout de temps que Christian Calon travaille au spectacle auquel l’Association pour la création et la recherche électroacoustiques du Québec (ACREQ) nous permettra d’assister le 8 novembre prochain. La première ébauche du projet remportait en 1996 le prix Lynch-Staunton du Conseil des arts du Canada; en 1998, une première réalisation radiophonique en allemand et en anglais était diffusée sur les ondes de la radio allemande, puis au planétarium de Berlin (sur 89 haut-parleurs!). Cette version récoltait en 1999 le Grand Prix Marulic de l’Union européenne des radiodiffuseurs. En juin 2001, c’est à la Chaîne culturelle de Radio-Canada que fut réalisée et créée l’adaptation française dont nous aurons finalement la création sur scène, avec traitements et spatialisation, au Festival Elektra. J’ai rencontré le compositeur à son studio afin d’avoir un avant-goût de l’œuvre et d’en discuter avec lui.

Le Projet Ulysse est presque aussi dense que l’Odyssée d’Homère dont, bien entendu, il s’inspire. Viennent s’y greffer des références au Ulysses de James Joyce, au satellite Ulysses de l’agence spatiale européenne et des hommages à la musique concrète… «J’ai commencé à composer la pièce sans trop savoir où j’allais aboutir, explique Calon; je me rendais compte cependant que je m’embarquais sur un gros bateau et, de fait, j’ai débuté en 1995 et je suis actuellement en train de finir. De faire la réalisation radiophonique, c’est une chose, mais la transposition sur scène en est une autre. Lorsqu’il m’arrive, à l’occasion, de diffuser en concert une pièce qui contient de la voix, des paroles, je ressens un manque; le manque de la présence du corps. Dans cette pièce-ci, le texte m’apparaissait trop important, il fallait que les personnages soient là afin de défendre les mots avec leur corps, les cautionner. Ça rejoint un peu le théâtre et ça en fait un projet hybride qui est difficile à caser…»

Les références à Joyce se situent surtout sur le plan de la forme, les 24 chants qui constituent la pièce étant tous traités de façon différente, comme les chapitres de Ulysses sont tous écrits dans des styles différents. C’est aussi de cette manière que Calon peut faire des allusions à divers compositeurs qui ont marqué l’histoire de la musique concrète. «Je ne cite pas forcément ces compositeurs, précise-t-il, mais des manières de travailler.» Bien sûr, lors du concert, c’est Calon qui sera à la console de mixage pour spatialiser la bande sur l’orchestre de haut-parleurs et procéder au traitement des voix. Les voix en direct seront celles de Gabriel Gascon (Homère), Elisabeth Lenormand (Athéna), Wajdi Mouawad (Ulysse) et de la New-Yorkaise Shelley Hirsch (Pénélope). Cette dernière, véritable pasionaria surréaliste, chantera sa partie en anglais. Les choeurs, ainsi que d’autres personnages, seront sur bande, comme la musique dont une grande partie du matériau de base a été fournie par les guitares acoustique et électrique de René Lussier. Les versions radiophoniques allemande et française du Projet Ulysse devraient bientôt se trouver sur deux disques compacts édités par empreintes DIGITALes.

En avant-programme, le compositeur diffusera Time Well (La Fontaine du temps), une œuvre qu’il a créée à Paris en mai dernier et que Wayne Siegel nous faisait découvrir le 11 septembre dernier lors d’un concert de la série Rien à voir 12. Notez que le Festival Elektra débute le 7 novembre avec une soirée qui présentera une série de premières d’œuvres vidéo-musique de compositeurs montréalais, parmi lesquels Jean Piché, Zack Settel et VJ Pillow.

I’ve been waiting a long time to get the new string of empreintes DIGITALes CD’s, but it’s been worth the wait. Holy smokes. Arturo Parra is the guitarist on this CD of mixed electroacoustics. This is not the mixed (and oh so!) EA you’ve heard at your local university, this is exciting and fervent music by some big names in the EA scene and some lesser ones all working in collaboration with the guitarist Arturo Parra. The first offering, Stéphane Roy’s La basilique fantôme, is one of the most impressive mixes I’ve ever heard. Perfectly superb. The guitar is never hidden, never outdone by the electronics. Roy and Parra create a wonderful symmetry between the ancient baroque origins of the guitar and contemporary EA. Mauricio Bejarano follows with a quieter but equally strong offering in D’or et de lumière. Parra and Bejerano offer some truly breathtaking and serene moments, which I find is always a shocking in EA. The EA legend, Francis Dhomont follows with Sol Y sombra… L’espace des spectres. Signature Dhomont sounds here which I was a bit worried about, but needn’t have been. Temporally, Dhomont has such control of his material. Dhomont is very aggressive with his sounds. Parra’s not afraid of allowing Dhomont’s music to overpower the guitar, and it’s very effective. In Gilles Gobeil’s Soledad Parra uses a lot of percussive guitar sounds and it’s very enjoyable. Huge, loud sweeping textures, reminiscent of the music if Francisco Lopez are juxtaposed with quiet, minimalist sections. Parra’s collaboration with Robert Normandeau in L’envers du temps, is the one weak track on the disc. There’s something about the sound in his work that I’m not as convinced about. Perhaps it’s the emphasis on tonal centres that I couldn’t get into. The press release states that “style wise, this may not be your usual empreintes DIGITALes fair.” Indeed not, and thank heavens for it. I thought the label was in a bit of a funky rut. I see they are not. A great disc.