Delirium
Roxanne Turcotte
Programme notes
To my father
Donald Crowhurst, he who fooled the whole world at the 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, has discussed “the mechanics of the mind” and being “a prisoner of one’s own image.” The smallest thing can make your brains tip over
As with an embarkment, delirium is a modification of a person’s state of consciousness. Figuratively speaking, it can become a frenzy. Therefore, sonic delirium is a modification of the audible, an occasionally unsettling and nightmarish disorder. A musical illustration of the many guises of delirium. Confusion, rambling, emotion, enthusiasm, anger, sacred fire, frenzy. To each his own delirium…
Switching from one state of consciousness to another turns into a feeling of temporary paranoid or invading madness, accompanied by extraordinary fears… a state of panic
Is delirium an unconscious or a lucid phenomenon
Sometimes, soft cinematic images featuring gentle small animals and little children appear
I didn’t have enough time to find answers to my questions… My father left us too quickly. It was better that way… at least for him
Simple frequencies occasionally tell us of a distant or even subconscious memory, either happy or sad. Sine waves of various frequencies are heard isolated and disseminated through the channels set all around the listener. A chance rhythm — a random dispersion technique — in a swirling feeling. Then, the musical carrousel grows repetitive, and the waves start combining in a sonic whirl, eventually replaced by a mysterious abyss. This abyss sets the tone for the crazy musical messages that are often muted by the wind whistling through the shrouds of the sails, before creating a peaceful aerial space. Letting futureless enigmas fly away.
Musical winks at Sidney Bechet, Diana Krall, and Harry Belafonte.
— Roxanne Turcotte [English translation
Delirium was realized in 2007-08 at the composer’s studio (Studio Séducson) in Montréal and premiered on March 10, 2011 during the Travaux électroniques féminins concert in the Studio multimédia of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal.
Premiere
- March 10, 2011, 20 Years of empreintes DIGITALes, Électrochocs 2010-11
: Électrochocs 4: Travaux électroniques féminins, Studio multimédia — Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, Montréal (Québec)
- Composer(s): Roxanne Turcotte
- Year of composition: 2007-08
- Duration: 5:00
- Instrumentation: 16-channel fixed medium
- Publisher(s): Ymx média
- ISRC: CAD501110046
