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August 8, 2008 8pm
St. Andrew-by-the-Lake Church, Toronto Island $10
Sound Travels renders a portrait of celebrated Quebec acousmatic artist Robert Normandeau through a concert hosted by David Ogborn featuring Normandeau's works "Rumeurs" (Place de Ransbeck), "Mémoires Vives", "Spleen", "StrinGDberg", and "Hamlet-Machine with actors".
Programme notes
Rumeurs (Place de Ransbeck)
by Robert Normandeau (1987)
Premiere: September 24, 1987, Université Concordia (Montréal, Québec)
To Annette Vande Gorne
Rumeurs… (Rumors) — A rumor is a sound in the air. Elusive, we seek to capture it, fearing that it may concern us, that it may hold a part of shameful truth. Fleeting, it cannot be caught. As soon as it materializes, it vanishes, leaving only traces in our memories. Here, nothing is certain. Where does this sound come from? What is it made of?
The piece endlessly oscillates between pure sound and meaning, without ever resolving to one or the other. The piece is at the limit between texture and image, between material and anecdote. And rumors go by, always surrounding us. Here and there, sounds reach us like faint echoes of the world. If you believe hearing things about you, why worry? After all they’re only rumors… and if you listen carefully, you may find the key.
… (Place de Ransbeck) — A small square in Ohain (Belgium), home of the studio Métamorphoses d’Orphée where the piece was produced in June, 1987.
Rumeurs (Place de Ransbeck) was premiered on September 24th, 1987 at Concordia University, Montréal. The residency in Belgium was the outcome of the prize received at the 1st Phonurgia-Nova International Competition in Arles (France, 1986) the previous year and was made possible by a grant from the ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec.[ii-90]
Rumeurs (Place de Ransbeck) was awarded the 2nd Prize of the Electroacoustic Category of the 16th Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition (France, 1988) and consequently was released on the Cultures électroniques 3 compact disc produced by the Groupe de musique expérimentale de Bourges (GMEB) on the Le chant du monde label (LDC 278046/47).
Mémoires vives
by Robert Normandeau (1989) 15m50s
Commission: Événements du Neuf, with support from the CCA
Premiere: March 9, 1989, Salle Claude-Champagne (Montréal, Québec)
Mémoires… (memories) — The fascination with requiems. Not so much for the text — to which I do not subscribe — but for a certain spirit, a kind of depth. The subject itself is demanding and composers have often offered the best of themselves for it. I have taken a path from the Gregorian Mass of the Dead, Ockeghem, de Lassus, Cererols, Mozart and Berlioz to arrive at Fauré, Ligeti and Chion. You will recognize their traces throughout the piece, as a form of homage to these individuals whom I don’t know but who talk to me through their music.
… vives (Vivid) — These works are all part of me; it is me, in a way, who composed them, in a different time and place. I had certainly forgotten this, but the images progressively return. I then proceed to use my electroacoustic instruments to reinvent the ritual. I also integrate here and there, moments for which I pretend to be the author. But memories are so vivid in me that sometimes I doubt myself. These sounds slip through my fingers to form a coherent suite without—it seems—my participation. I give it a name, imagining that this will be sufficient to claim it as mine…In French, the title also refers to computer random access memory (“mémoire vive”) which is a volatile memory where information is only kept temporarily. The piece was mostly realized with computerized instruments and exclusively from sound material extracted from requiem.
The current version of Mémoires vives (Vivid Memories) was entirely reworked during the summer of 1989 at the studio of the Faculty of Music of the Université de Montréal. It was premiered on March 9th, 1989 at the Salle Claude-Champagne, Montréal, as part of the Événements du Neuf C’était concerts series. Mémoires vives was commissioned by the Événements du Neuf and realized with the assistance of the Canada Council [for the Arts]. The piece was selected at the 3rd International Rostrum of Electroacoustic Music (IREM) in Oslo (Norway, 1990).
Spleen
by Robert Normandeau (1993) 15m00s
Premiere: December 10, 1993, Journées Électro-Radio Days (Montréal, Québec)
Musique et rythme [Music and Rhythm]; Mélancolie et timbre [Melancholy and Timbre]; Colère et dynamique [Anger and Dynamics]; Frustration et espace [Frustration and Space]; Délire et texture [Frenzy and Texture]
Spleen is comprised solely of the voices of four adolescents, aged 16 years. The title refers to one of the most significant moods of the adolescent: this kind of sudden melancholy which surfaces for no apparent reason. This work is a sequel to a previous piece, Éclats de voix, which utilized dozens of sounds from the Dictionnaire des bruits by Jean-Claude Trait and Yvon Dulude as a sonorous base. Onomatopoetic, the material is extremely rich because it represents those instances when the sounds of human language correspond directly to the designated object or to the expression of a sentiment.
The piece is divided into five sections which represent typical situations for the adolescent, and a corresponding sonorous parameter. These sections are presented successively in concert, or separately when broadcast on radio.
Spleen was produced at the composer’s studio from recordings of the voice of Marc Gilbert, Laurent-Josée Sainte-Marie, Nicolas Thériault and Patrick Virar. It was premiered during the radio festival Journées Électro-Radio Days broadcast live in Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver on December 10, 1993. Spleen was realized with the assistance of the Audio program of the Media Arts Section of the Canada Council [for the Arts]. The piece was awarded the Public’s Prize at the 3rd Prix international Noroit-Léonce Petitot (Arras, France, 1994).
StrinGDberg
by Robert Normandeau (2001-03) 18m20s
Commission: Ina-GRM
Premiere: June 1, 2001, Salle Olivier Messiaen — Maison de Radio France (Paris, France)
StrinDberg. Adapted from the music composed for the play Miss Julie by August Strindberg (Stockholm, Sweden, January 22, 1849-Stockholm, Sweden, May 14, 1912), staged by Brigitte Haentjens at Espace GO (Montréal) in May 2001.
StrinG. The only sound sources of the piece come from two string instruments, a hurdy-gurdy and a cello. Two instruments representing two eras in the history of instrument factory: the first one belongs to a period where sonorities were rude, closer to the people, and the second one evokes the refinement of the aristocracy.
Actually, the piece is made of two superimposed layers. The first one comes from a single recording of a hurdy-gurdy improvisation about a minute long. Stretched out, filtered, layered, the sound of the hurdy-gurdy, distributed in a multiphonic space, is revealed, layer by layer, throughout the duration of the piece. A second layer, made from the cello, gives the work its rhythm and brings, at the end, a more dramatic quality. It is a deep listening work that penetrates into the sound.
StrinGDberg was realized in 2001 at the composer’s studio and premiered on June 1, 2001, Salle Olivier Messiaen, Maison de Radio France, (Paris, France). The piece was revised in 2002 and premiered on September 14, 2002 at Espace GO, Montréal (Québec). The final version, completely redesigned in 2003 was premiered on November 27, 2003, at the Royal Academy of Music in Århus (Denmark). StrinGDberg was commissioned by the Groupe de recherches musicales (Ina-GRM), Paris (France). Thanks to Silvy Grenier (hurdy-gurdy) and James Darling (cello).
Hamlet-Machine with Actors
by Robert Normandeau (2003) 15m58s
Commission: VNMS
Premiere: October 11, 2003, Scotia Bank Dance Centre (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
To Marc Béland
Adapted from the music composed for the play Hamletmachine (1979) by Heiner Müller (1929-1995), staged by Brigitte Haentjens in Montreal in 2001. The actors were Marc Béland, Céline Bonnier, Annie Berthiaume, Louise de Beaumont, Gaétan Nadeau, Line Naud, Guy Triffero, and François Trudel.
The music was omnipresent during the play, one hour and fifteen minutes of music. Around thirty different themes were used. For the concert version, I reworked every sound and recomposed every sequence to produce an autonomous work. For the first time in a while, I used electronic sounds in the piece. And to this musical material I added the sounds made by the actors, as recorded in three documents I shot: two rehearsals — the rehearsal building, as anyone can hear, was located in an industrial neighbourhood — and the show of the first public performance. By doing this, I have the feeling that I preserved not only the musical material of the play, but also its spirit, thanks to the sonorous presence of the actors. The music, like the play, tries to describe the oppression society exerts on Man, the representation of taboos—including sexual taboos—through the show and the end of art.
Hamlet-Machine with Actors was realized in 2003 at the composer’s studio and premiered on October 11, 2003 at the Scotia Bank Dance Centre, Vancouver (Canada). Hamlet-Machine with Actors was commissioned by Vancouver New Music Society (VNMS). The work was finalist at the 3rd Métamorphoses Biennial Acousmatic Composition Competition (Brussels, Belgium) in 2004.
Works by Ellen Waterman/James Harley, David Ogborn, Herve Birolini, Jørgen Teller and more
August 9, 2008 8pm St. Andrew-by-the-Lake Church, Toronto Island $10
Saturday evening's concert will include performances by flutist Ellen Waterman in wild fruits 2, works by David Ogborn and Herve Berolini as well as the best of the soundportraits by Jøgen Teller alongside works by Sound Travels emerging artists.
Programme notes:
wild fruits 2: like a ragged flock, like pulverized jade
by James Harley and Ellen Waterman
Wild Fruits 2 is a hybrid, both composition and improvisation, both pre-recorded and live, both fixed and mutable. It is a collaboration in which both partners have complete autonomy over their contributions, necessitating a high degree of trust. Amplified flute sounds are put under a sonic microscope, spun reverberating around a multi-speaker scenario, but in other ways are left untouched. The flute/voice acoustically mimics recorded and digitally manipulated signals. Real time spatialization blurs the line between acoustically and electronically rendered sounds (which is which?) in a cyborg piece that spins a utopic myth of pristine nature in the full realization of its absence. Recordings made in both “urban” and “natural” environments are transformed through digital manipulation into a raw and wild presence.
Harley’s compositional sub-text provides inspiration for my improvisation; it is a series of excerpts from Annie Dillard’s hymn to nature: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.
“In September the birds were quiet...In October the great restlessness came ...the restlessness of birds before migration... The birds were excited, stammering new songs all day long. ...I watched at the creek. A new wind lifted the hair on my arms. The cold light was coming and going between oversized, careening clouds; patches of blue, like a ragged flock of protean birds, shifted and stretched, flapping and racing from one end of the sky to the other"
Like most works for live, acoustic musician and digital manipulation, the performance of Wild Fruits 2 is deceptive. The eye is drawn to the embodied performer, wired flute, animated flutist, but the sound is equally controlled by the unassuming figure hidden behind his laptop. Speakers are the real mouths of the piece, which is a chorus not a duo.
Second Nature
by David Ogborn
Toronto's Tommy Thompson Park is a manmade spit that snakes its way from where Leslie Street meets Lake Ontario to a lighthouse out beyond the Toronto islands. This work is based on field recordings made in the park, a location I first discovered in 2001, sometime during my first year living in Toronto. It became a place towards which I gravitated - not just as a place to escape the bustle of the city, but as a heightened example of what one might call "second nature" - nature as a construct of mankind, as a reflection of mankind's activity.
This soundscape composition was created during an August 2005 residency with Toronto's Sound Travels (New Adventures in Sound Art). Special thanks to Darren Copeland, Yves Daoust, Charlie Fox, and the InterAccess gallery for their assistance in the creation of this piece.
Trame
by Herve Berolini
Trame is an attempt to make a musical portrait of "Boulogne sur Mer" (North of France). Like an electric wave the listener progresses between the fish cases, the noisy freezers, and the workers of the Port of Boulogne.
Soundportrait
s by Jørgen Teller / best of the Toronto portraits
Selections of the Soundportraits created over the course of the week will be featured on this August 9th performance at St Andrew by-the-Lake church. Soundportraits are produced by Danish sound artist Jørgen Teller after a half hour session of a person making sounds and responding to questions from the artist.
by Wende Bartley
Performed by The Labyrinth Singers Ensemble
August 10, 2008 2pm, St. Andrew-by-the-Lake Church, Toronto Island $10
Site-Specific performance for labyrinth
Sounding Ariadne's Thread is an electroacoustic choral work for 20 singers to be performed while walking the Chartres Cathedral labyrinth pattern. "Ariadne" is known in Cretan & Minoan mythology as 'the Lady of the Labyrinth', and her rituals are associated with ceremonial dance. The performers in this composition will be walking specific patterns that highlight the geometric and rhythmic relationships of the Chartres Pattern, created in the 1200's in medieval Europe. Both the choral music and the electroacoustic source material are based on vocal improvisations by Wende Bartley and soundscape recordings made at various Minoan ancient temple & cave sites in Crete.
with the Element Choir
August 30, 2008 2 pm, St. Andrew-by-the-Lake Church, Toronto Island $10
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