Rien à Voir

Concert Découverte

Réseaux
Théâtre de la chapelle
Montréal
November 12-16, 1997

Index:

Tribu (1997) Alexandre Menachi
Rêveries fugaces et onirismes chimériques… (1997) Alain Gauthier
Orsay, Petit espace de Cerveau (1997) Éric Rocheleau
4372261-01 (1997) François Girouard
Cruor (1997) Nicolas Boucher

Rien à Voir has existed since February 1997, presenting the music of established composers of electroacoustic music. The first Rien à voir welcomed such composers as Jonty Harrison, Randall Smith and Michel Chion. The Rien à voir festival is organized by Réseaux, who aims to promote of the awareness of electroacoustic music through concert series. The founding members of Réseaux Robert Normandeau (also the initiator of the Clair de Terre concerts which were held at the Dow Planetarium in Montreal), Gilles Gobeil and Jean-François Denis are all Montreal-based artists involved in the electroacoustic milieu. Rien à voir welcomes as well the participation of young composers: the festival ends with a concert dedicated to promising members of the new generation of young composers. The third Rien à Voir will take place in February 1998, with composers Christian Calon, Mark Wingate, Annette Vande Gorne and Bernard Parmegiani present.

The Découverte (Discovery) concert was held on Sunday, November 16, 1997 at Théâtre La Chapelle, and was the ninth concert in the Rien à voir (2) series. The first concert of the first night presented works by the the founding members, following the release of Claude Schryer's new disc, Autour, while the second concert was hosted by Montreal composer Ned Bouhalassa. The second night was devoted to the Swedish composer Åke Parmerud, the third to Jon Appleton of the United States, and Saturday night to Luc Ferrari. Last in the series was the Découverte concert, dedicated to the young composers who were part of the technical support for the festival. The festival also saw diffusion workshops given by the invited composers, as well as conferences.

Tribu (1997) Alexandre Menachi

The concert presenting young composers' works, almost an hour long consisted of five pieces. Alexandre Ménachi's Tribuis a work-in-progress. Tribu is a play on words: not only a metaphorical homage to the hardcore group Converge , it is also a sublimation of a form of imaginary tribal music. Alexandre has been studying at Université de Montréal for just over a year now.

Tribu — Alexandre Menachi

Rêveries fugaces et onirismes chimériques… (1997) Alain Gauthier

... pour Justine

Second on the program was Alain Gauthier's Rêveries fugaces et onirismes chimériques, composed in 1997. This work plays, as in a dream, on the temporal unravelling of various sound tableaux, where suggestions of images and places succeed each other in a rather vague, unpredictable and unfocussed manner. The result is a somewhat daydreamish character. Alain Gauthier is near completion of his Bachelor's in Electroacoustic Composition at Université de Montréal, where he is studying with Marcelle Deschênes. He is also a member of a trio which explores improvised electroacoustics, les Impromptistes.

I am a composer of vivid, ornate sound narratives.
I wish to thank Justine Lamoureux for her numerous audio performances, and the group [iks] for their profound participation in the creation of one of my works, whose result is used in part in the present composition.
This piece is:
a play / game: transformation of sound material, with more or less clear relations between the various states of the material.
a dream: transformation of reality, approach through multiple levels of that which is presented aurally, breaks in temporal development.
a voyage: welcome to my world, that world which is found between my ears, where chaos and impossible relations co-exist amidst a great delirium.

Rêveries fugaces et onirismes chimériques… — Alain Gauthier

Orsay, Petit espace de Cerveau (1997) Éric Rocheleau

Éric Rocheleau's Orsay, petit espace de cerveaucame third on the program. Gaining inspiration from various diverse artists, Orsayhas a playful character. Éric works with very concrete materials, which he explores with little or no transformation. He is studying at Université de Montréal in Electroacoustic Composition, with Marcelle Deschènes and Jean Piché. Éric also a member of the trio les Impromptistes.

Far behind the eye, way beyond the spirit is situated the place where unreal memories are stored. Here are found the cerebral gears and the cervical circuit-breaker, supplied for the large part by an excess of neuron vapours. Memories of abstract time and of non-existant worlds, genetic thoughts and the source of encephalitic suction. This is the place that dreams emanate from, where nightmares reside and lose their traces. These composites, grouped together form this organ, which is responsible for the diversion of reason.
If this piece's story must be told, I would mention the work of those artists who inspired me: Yves Klein, Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Ben Vautier, Marcel Duchamp, Arman, César, Giaccometti.

Orsay, Petit espace de Cerveau — Éric Rocheleau

4372261-01 (1997) François Girouard

The fourth piece of the concert is a work-in-progress by François Girouard, another student in Electroacoustic Composition at Université de Montréal, studying with Jean Piché. A reduced version was presented for the present concert. 4372261-01explores the opposition between order and chaos, and sound sources which are not necessarily "pleasing" to the ear. The listener is thus encouraged to experience the hidden beauty within these sounds.

4372261-01 — François Girouard

Cruor (1997) Nicolas Boucher

Finishing the program was Cruorby Nicolas Boucher, a work which rests on memory and its transformation in our mind through constant reminders. The composer's experience in discovering Rodin's La Porte de l'Enferwas a source of inspiration for this work. Nicolas is also a student at Université de Montréal, studying Electroacoustic Composition with Marcelle Deschênes. Nicolas is the third member of the trio les Impromptistes.

Maintenance of memory is faulty: each successive reminder modifies memory. Once a situation is recreated by an individual, he includes, whether consciously or not, his perceptions of the present in the face of the situation. The modifications are perhaps subtle, but nonetheless deform the subject.
How might I ensure that Cruor is a musical representation of the confrontation I experienced withLa Porte de L'Enfer, already a year gone… or perhaps ten? My last impression, despite seemingly clear details, found me unsure whether I was in, trying to escape from within, or simply an spectator. Certain the moment had entered my mind, I now wonder if this is possible: the source is no longer with me.

Cruor — Nicolas Boucher

Texts by Alain Gauthier
gauthial@ere.umontreal.ca
http://mistral.ere.umontreal.ca/~gauthial

Réseaux - Rien à voir
http://www.rien.qc.ca/index.html

Web editors: Yves Gigon & Jef Chippewa

Translation: Jef Chippewa

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