22/04/2009 - Montréal, Faculté de musique, NEM 20th Birthday special concert - Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Lorraine Vaillancourt (conductor)
An attempt at combined virtuosity - instruments / electronics.
The electronic sounds extend the acoustic sounds beyond the limits of instrumental virtuosity, and echo the instrumental sounds in space.
The sound synthesis is essentially based on a technique called "synthesis by physical model", where the computer attempts to simulate the physical comportment of the instruments (breath, bowing, etc.).
En moyenne et extrême raison (In medium and extreme reason) may seem a sort of oxymoron, with powerful poetic allusions: but it is in fact a mathematical expression that designates the type of proportions from which these entities are calculated (mythical for many) such as the golden section, the Fibonacci series, etc.
I extrapolated all sorts of unequal divisions for the durations and frequencies, all the while maintaining a somewhat ironic distance with regards to a model that has been overly abused. I hope that the "poetic" dimension implied by the title will prevail above all: unexpected oppositions and words with double meanings.
Tristan Murail
