Poussière d’étoiles
Roxanne Turcotte
Programme notes
A flight over the Perseids… Your eyes are stars
A musical triptych focused on the look and visions from outer-space.
Three looks at things, three sound impressions, three radiances, three reflections
Poussière d’étoiles takes its musical inspiration from the symbolism in Hitchcock’s works (the looks in the actors’ playing, the illusion, the objects, the surreal passages and his intrusions into the supernatural) with a wink at the fantastic visions of Guy de Maupassant, at the visions in René Magritte’s modern art and at impressionism. It’s all in the look…
The research through sound observation to describe natural and supernatural landscapes becomes a pause, a break to understand and catch the possibilities offered by three different looks set to music. Each sound is studied, shaped and placed inside a new structure which turns into a surreal source, a piece of music where we feel like we’re being watched.
Realistic sounds (nature sound recordings) are transformed and treated (echo, delay, stretching…) to give them a supernatural feel. They are spatialized using movement effects (rotation, speed, displacement). Repetitive rhythms (symbolizing the “starry heart”) are mixed in while timbre filtering evokes the luminosity of the stars.
— Roxanne Turcotte [English translation
Poussière d’étoiles was realized in 2002 at the composer’s studio (Studio Séducson) in Montréal with the help of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ). It was premiered in June 2002 on the composer’s website.
Premiere
- June 2002, Online, www.roxanneturcotte.com
- Composer(s): Roxanne Turcotte
- Year of composition: 2002
- Instrumentation: stereo fixed medium
- Publisher(s): Ymx média
Movements
Regard étoilé
Intuitive luminosity
A look illustrating spontaneity and the vivacity of a sudden impulse represented by jerky, percussive timbres. (Resounding sound materials with a bell-like timbre, virtual effects and synthesizers, acoustic and electronic sounds.)
— Roxanne Turcotte [English translation
- Movement of: Poussière d’étoiles
- Duration: 3:25
- ISRC: CAD500316930
Regard intérieur
Inner luminosity
Return to one’s self, complexity of the being. A glint in the eyes
— Roxanne Turcotte [English translation
- Movement of: Poussière d’étoiles
- Duration: 3:51
- ISRC: CAD500316940
Regard en voyage
Outer luminosity
Visions from outside one’s self. A world near and far… Known and unknown places, concrete sounds with colours from outer space. Terrestrial world, extraterrestrial world. Waves, take off, the flight of a bird.
— Roxanne Turcotte [English translation
- Movement of: Poussière d’étoiles
- Duration: 2:09
- ISRC: CAD500316950
