Chroniques de la lumière (1989, 2005), 29m12s

commission: SMCQ, with support from the CCA

To Annette Vande Gorne

In three movements: Miroitement (Shimmers); Artifices; Météores (Meteors)

These “Chronicles” are an impressionistic sonic version of visual elements - an undoubtedly metaphorical act -, a personal daydream of light based on a concept by Montréal visual artist Luc Courchesne.

An evocation of luminous phenomena, natural rays or multiple artifacts, Chroniques de la lumière is comprised of three movements: Miroitements (Shimmers), Artifices, Météores (Meteors) or adagio, allegro and presto-finale.

Miroitements is based on the progressive mutations of light in natural settings: aurora and twilight, the slow ascension of the moon, the way a cloud’s shadow moves on the ground, the reflection of sunlight over still water.

Artifices evokes man-made light sources, from a primitive campfire to the sophisticated laser beam. This evolution is illustrated by a gradual movement from the entropic chaos of white noise to the precise tone of the sine wave.

Météores concludes the work while answering and completing the first movement. It also focuses on various celestial phenomena, but unlike those found in the Miroitements, these are extremely mobile: comets, meteor showers, meteorites. This movement follows a slow accumulation of events, an increase in density, and a reinforcement of the sensations of speed and kinetic energy.

An evolution from slow to fast, calm to agitated, piano to forte, static to mobile, simple to complex.

Chroniques de la lumière was realized at the composer’s studio and was premiered on April 26, 1989 at the Doppler Concert of the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ), at the Spectrum in Montréal. The proportions of Météores went through slight modifications in 2005; that particular movement is thus a new version. Chroniques de la lumière was first released on the Halogènes compact disc produced by the Université de Montréal on the UMMUS-Actuelles label (UMM C 101). Météores was released by empreintes DIGITALes in 1991 on Mouvances~Métaphores (IMED 9107/08), and in 1996 on Les dérives du signe (IMED 9608). Miroitements was selected by the 1995 International Computer Music Conference (ICMC95) in Banff (Canada); Artifices was selected by the 1994 International Computer Music Conference (ICMC94) in Århus (Denmark); Météores was selected by the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) for the 1990 World Music Days in Oslo (Norway), and by the 1993 International Computer Music Conference (ICMC93) in Tokyo (Japan). Many of the sounds were realized at Studio 123 and with the Syter real-time sound synthesis system of the Ina-GRM (Paris, France). Special thanks to Yann Geslin, Daniel Teruggi and the late Bénédict Mailliard for their invaluable advice. Chroniques de la lumière was commissioned by the SMCQ and realized with the assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts.

[source: electrocd.com. English translation: , viii-06]

Performances

Akousma (3)
Thursday, November 2, 2006
Francis Dhomont: Ombre et lumière