Le projet Ulysse
Christian Calon
Programme notes
Built upon the the well-known contruct of the myth of Ulysses. The Ulysses Project is a contemporary transposition of the poem attributed to Homer which provided a reservoir of symbols to draw from, a network of relationships, as well as the material to be transformed. The Ulysses Project takes up the themes of the original all the while inspired by the interpretation of James Joyce from the beginning of the 20th century.
Composed at the end of the last millenia while looking toward the next, made-up of parallel actions that often run together, The Ulysses Project, along its very short trajectory, attempts a hand-drawn map of knowledge and value.
As much with images made of sound as of text, these sketches come together around several paths:
- Language by which the universe is apprehended
- Writing/the storyteller. The go-between and memory of society
- Migration — the (non) return — The stanger
- Matter. The knowledge of the world and the limits of our perception
- Space. Matter seen from its opposite perspective. The mother of us all
- God. Reality and virtuality
- Love. The all-powerful hand which unleashes and calms the storms
- Time.
The principle characters surrounding Ulysses and Penelope are Homer (the storyteller) and Athena (the mediatic voice). As listeners to the story which begins with Ulysses, we are all a potential Telemachus in this acoustic adventure which we are about to experience.
Here we begin, with a book — or a voice — and a bed.
— Christian Calon [English translation
Le projet Ulysse [The Ulysses Project] was realized in 1996-2001 at the composer’s studio in Montréal. The voices were recorded in Studio 6 of DeutschlandRadio Berlin
The original texts were written in French, except those of Penelope, written in English and reviewed in improvisation context with the collaboration of Shelley Hirsch. The translations are by Éveline Passet (German), Fortner Anderson and Paolo Dibiase (English), and Geneviève Letarte (French).
So numerous were my sources of inspiration, inside cues and references (buried, lost or forgotten), hidden in the text and the music, that I have not been able to keep track of them all. Still, these names stand out that need to be quoted and thanked
With the voices of (German version)
The radiophonic German / English version of the work — produced by Deutschlandradio Berlin, and Sender Freies Berlin
The radiophonic French / English version — produced by the Chaîne culturelle of Radio-Canada, Mario Gauthier, executive producer — premiered on June 10, 2001 during the radio programme L’Espace du son on the Chaîne culturelle of Radio-Canada.
The stage French / English version premiered on November 8, 2002 during the Elektra festival at Usine C in Montréal.
Furthermore The Ulysses Project was broadcasted on June 16, 2004 by SüdWest Rundfunk (SWR, Germany) as part of the 100th Bloomsday celebrations, and in 2009, it represented Deutschlandradio at the 20th anniversary of the Ars Acustica group of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA) and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ).
The realization of The Ulysses Project owes also a lot to
Le projet Ulysse was awarded the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award (Canada Council for the Arts (CCA), 1996), and the Grand Prix Marulic (Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT), Croatia, 1999).
Premiere
- December 4, 1998, Radiophonic German / English version
: Werkstatt, DeutschlandRadio Berlin, Germany - January 15, 1999, Multichannel spatialized version
: Concert, Zeiss Großplanetarium, Berlin (Germany) - June 10, 2001, Radiophonic French / English version
: L’Espace du son, Chaîne culturelle de Radio-Canada, Canada - November 8, 2002, Stage French / English version
: Elektra 2002: Concert, Usine C, Montréal (Québec)
- Writer(s): Christian Calon
- Composer(s): Christian Calon
- Year of composition: 1996-2001
- Instrumentation: fixed medium
- Publisher(s): Yul média
Movements
Les Hommes
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 5:48
- ISRC: CAD501110072
Invocation
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 1:02
- ISRC: CAD501110073
Ouverture
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 1:45
- ISRC: CAD501110074
Le récit
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 1:34
- ISRC: CAD501110075
Jupiter
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 1:48
- ISRC: CAD501110076
Circé
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 1:29
- ISRC: CAD501110077
Bloom
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 1:16
- ISRC: CAD501110078
HMS Calypso / Tempête 1 + Calypso
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 7:15
- ISRC: CAD501110079
La langue — le vent
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 2:23
- ISRC: CAD501110080
Héliosphère
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 2:08
- ISRC: CAD501110081
Le rêve
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 2:50
- ISRC: CAD501110082
Hauteur des simulacres
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 2:24
- ISRC: CAD501110083
Le parking
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 3:16
- ISRC: CAD501110084
Le contour du réel
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 1:42
- ISRC: CAD501110085
La frontière
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 0:48
- ISRC: CAD501110086
Au travers du livre + Deuxième voyage
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 3:52
- ISRC: CAD501110087
Les sanglots + Tempête 2
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 4:48
- ISRC: CAD501110088
Dieu fait le ménage
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 1:56
- ISRC: CAD501110089
L’homme et Dieu
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 2:59
- ISRC: CAD501110090
Premier regard d’Ulysse sur la patrie
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 1:04
- ISRC: CAD501110091
Les retrouvailles
- Movement of: Le projet Ulysse
- Duration: 1:53
- ISRC: CAD501110092
