live@CIRMMT: Le médium c'est l'espace

Rebonds is a playful piece that explores the boundaries between rhythm, pitch, texture, and space. The work is inspired by the rhythmic figure of the rebound, a recurrent figure in electroacoustic music, characterized by the repetition of an element at a progressively increasing speed. The goal is to create sound choreographies, exploring sound spatialization possibilities. The work was composed at the Université de Montréal and during a residency at the Sporobole art center in Sherbrooke.  

Raíl is a work that draws its materials from several sources and its inspiration from several ideas. The first of these sources is the train. As much the one that rolls, cracks and passes, than the one that whistles and honks. Train recordings from Canada, the United States and Mexico agree to seal a North American treaty. The title, Raíl, is also the same in the three North American languages ​​(the accent emphasizes the Spanish spelling). Raíl is not so much the representation of the passing train, so often illustrated in electro, as the sound perception of a passenger inside the train. Hence the feeling of muffled, rumbling sound material.

Le chant de la machine is the result of an exploration of the limits of technology and an attempt to create sound material from digital silence. By pushing the computer to its last limits, by using tricks and contradictions, a few songs and a few cries escaped from it. From this standoff with binarity, a troubled electronic soundscape, sometimes erratic chase, sometimes contemplative face-to-face, finally emerged.

Réverbérence is the second part of an acousmatic journey called Cathédrales — that presents sound immersion as a cinema for the ear, inspired by the architectural and acoustic properties of the building itself. Réverbérence can be interpreted in two segments: the first suggests a solemn and reverential contemplation of a vast interior space; while the second manifests its imposing magnificence, to the point of collapse.

Biographies

Robert Normandeau's work as a composer is mainly devoted to acousmatic music. More specifically, by the tones used and the aesthetic choices that tend to it, his approach is part of a "cinema for the ear" where "sense" contributes to the development of his works just as much as "sound". More recently he has composed a cycle of immersive multi-channel music for speaker dome. Space has become a major feature of his musical work. He is Professor in electroacoustic music composition at Université de Montréal since 1999, after completing the first Doctorate in Electroacoustic Composition (1992), under Marcelle Deschênes and Francis Dhomont. He leads the Groupe de recherche en immersion spatiale (Spatial Immersion Research Group, GRIS), which produces sound spatialisation software.

Mélanie Frisoli is a French composer and musician based in Montreal. Before composing acousmatic music, she published 6 albums, 3 books and gave 700 concerts. Her research work focuses on the spatialization of sound and is inspired by soundscape, noise and the limits of technology. She received the Marcelle 2020 Prize and the 1st prize of the JTTP 2020 competition, awarded by the CEC.

David Ledoux is a composer and sound artist residing in Montreal (Quebec, Canada), whose practice consists in creating environmental musics, exploiting many loudspeakers. Aesthetically, his approach consists of constructing sonic worlds where musical and extra-musical elements intertwine following an ecological relationship. He has notably received the Marcelle Prize (UdeM, 2018) and the 2nd prize in the JTTP competition (CEC, 2018). His works were presented in several international events.