Portrait Montréal
Christian Bouchard
Programme notes
To Yves Daoust
I am a location sound recordist by trade, so the idea of simply going outside to capture environmental sounds in stereo was accompanied by a strong sense of déjà vu. That is why I decided to multiply and diversify the sources I recorded.
Montréal, October 10, 2013 & January 16, 2014. Over six hours of eight-track recordings made from my car. Those are the tracks
I would like to dedicate this piece to Yves Daoust, whose music was constantly in my mind throughout this adventure… Adagio, L’Entrevue, Suite baroque, Petite musique sentimentale, Fantaisie… The archival document, the art of playing, the rigour, the let’s-stop-being-so-serious moments, the electroacoustic counterpoint…
I started composing first drafts simply by editing these recordings in an attempt to sculpt the material, to push it to the extreme and see how far I could go without resorting to effects or synthesizers. I looped very short segments and then simply had fun mixing the eight tracks and automating extreme changes in volume and panning to bring forth the material’s musical dynamism. To my surprise, I added very little effects and synths to this audio portrait. When the time came to put everything in sequence, I let the dramatic events from the police radio guide me
— Christian Bouchard [English translation
Portrait Montréal [Montréal Portrait] was realized in 2014-15 at the composer’s studio in Montréal and was premiered on December 1, 2016 as part of the concert Électrochoc 3
Premiere
- December 1, 2016, Électrochoc 2016-17
: Électrochoc 3: Christian Bouchard, Studio multimédia — Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, Montréal (Québec)
- Composer(s): Christian Bouchard
- Year of composition: 2014-15
- Duration: 13:52
- Instrumentation: stereo fixed medium
- Publisher(s): Ymx média
- ISRC: CAD502310007
