Prelude & Dances for Horn Solo
performed by Valery Whitney on March 13, 2022 at the Orpheum Annex, Vancouver. Composed in memoriam Gunther Schuller (1925 – 2015) composer/horn player/conductor/writer.
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Shared Solitude for bassoon-piano-footwork (one performer) Ingrid Chiang (bassoon-piano-foot work)
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Mathieu Désy – Réjean Marois
Renaud Gratton – Mathieu Désy
Bonus & Bassus
Renaud Gratton – trombone; Mathieu Désy – contrabass “polyphonic”.
Recorded on May 2, 2019 in studio Makina, Montréal.
Technician: Simon Godin; Mix: Mathieu Désy.
Corsi E Ricorsi (for Clarinet 4tet)
The piece was written between 2017 and Spring of 2019. It was recorded at the Pyatt Hall in Vancouver on June 15, 2019 with AK Coope, Christopher Lee, Sidney Tetarenko on clarinets and Julie Begg on bass clarinet. Sound technician, mix and edition by Lawrence Wu.
Corsi E Ricorsi was inspired by the concept “corsi e ricorsi” (cycles and counter cycles) that came in the early 18th century from Giambattista Vico in Naples. His concept is often seen as espousing a cyclical philosophy of history where human history is created by man…
Bonéoles (for Trombone 4tet)
The piece was first written in 2015 and revised in the Spring of 2018. It was recorded at the Pyatt Hall in Vancouver on June 15, 2019 with Brian Wendel, Principal Trombone with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Morgenstern, Bass Trombone with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Ellen Marple, freelancer trombone in Vancouver, Jeremy Berkman, Principal Trombonist with the Vancouver Opera Orchestra. Sound technician, mix and edition by Lawrence Wu.
El Reflejo Del Agua
Composed in 2018 for for flute – clarinet – oboe – bassoon – trumpet – trombone – french horn – piano – percussion (1) – 2 violins – viola – cello – double-bass.
Duration: 7.35 min.
Based on a painting by artist Frida Kahlo, considered one of Mexico’s greatest artists who began painting mostly self-portraits after she was severely injured in a bus accident. This painting has another name of “What the Water Gave Me”. In one conversation with her friend Julien Levy she explained this painting as: “It is an image of passing time about time and childhood games in the bathtub and the sadness of what had happened to her in the course of her life”.
Chanson Ubuesque
Composed in 2016, for Alto, Flute, Clarinet, Piano & Cello.
Duration: appr. 7 min.
The piece was inspired from the work « Pantagruel » by François Rabelais (1494 – 1553), and by the play « King Ubu » by Alfred Jarry (1873 – 1907). I used a song from the Middle-Age: « I Saw The Wolf, The Fox and The Hare » because some sources believe that the wolf, the fox and the hare represented the King, the Lord and the Church whom, in the old days, were the « authorities who collected taxes, leaving nothing for the peasants. »
Four hundred years later, « King Ubu » is seen to have been preceded in the spirit of outrageousness, and comic grotesquery by François Rabelais’s Gargantua and Pantagruel novels. In her work: « Ubu and the Truth Commission », 2007, Jane Taylor wrote « the central character is notorious for his infantile engagement with his world. Ubu inhabits a domain of greedy self-gratification ».
« Chanson Ubuesque » has three sections: #1 – « drinking » from letter A to C. #2 – « singing » C to F. #3 – « dancing » F – to the end. My composition used some motivic elements from the original melody of « I saw the wolf… » “J’ai vu le loup…” and national anthems of few countries…
nalim’s prism
Composed in May 2016, for violin and piano. Premiered in Milna, Croatia, July 2016.
Duration: 6:30
na-lims-prism-sample na-lims-prism-sample-2
Sospesos
Composed in 2016, for Flute (hand clap) – Bb Clarinet/Bass Clarinet (claves) – Percussion (1 player) – Piano – Violin – Cello.
Duration: approx. 6:15 min.
« Sospeso » is a composition based on a tempera by Milanese painter/set designer/photographer Luigi Veronesi (1908-1998). I discover the work in July 2013 at the Gallerie d’Italia, Piazza Scala, Milano. The composition, a set of seven musical miniatures, is my reflection of the dynamic relationship between colours in the sequence of balanced and rhythmic forms articulated in Veronesi’s work. The title itself declares a lightness and a « suspension » that are the result of research consistently addressed to freedom of imagination and intensity of expression.
Wind Quintet #1
March 2016, Wind 5tet sample 1 sample 2 sample 3 sample 4
Premiered in March 2018 by the Ad Mare Wind Quintet
Dream Reflection
composed in January 2015, for flute – clarinet – oboe – bassoon – trumpet – trombone – french horn – piano – 2 violins – viola – cello – double-bass.
Dream Reflection, drawn from a dream sequence, features elements of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions, as an expression of the unconscious…
The first section of the piece, in a « freely » tempo, is about seeing our reflection in a dream as our true self; it highlights both our flaws and positive attributes, and we should learn from our flaws and how to improve them. The clarinet introduce a motif that will reoccur in different moods and textures but gradually lead toward a livelier context…
The second section, Giocoso « playful », is a reflection (mirror) on how you want others to see you. The faster tempo features some rhythmic games while a little motif gradually develops, grows amongs other melodies; that motif will unexpectedly take over the entire piece at the end.
The audience will recognize some elements of both jazz and baroque music; an association that recurrently appears in my « musical » dreams…
Bergère
From a poem by Émile Nelligan (1879 – 1941, Québec, Canada.) The poem « Bergère » is public domain.
Composed by Réjean Marois between September and November 2013, for Tenor solo, C Flute, Bb Clarinet, Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano.
Duration: 5:23 minutes.
score sample 1, score sample 2, score sample 3
In The Scope Of Time (Trio version)
Composed by Réjean Marois in September 2014 for flute, violin & piano.
score sample 1 – score sample 2 – score sample 3 – score sample 4
Ross (piano solo)
(in memoriam Ross Taggart, 1967 – 2013)
On January 9, 2013, Ross Taggart left us. Equally the master of both piano and tenor saxophone, Ross was one of Vancouver’s finest and most beloved musicians, admired not only for his superior musicianship but for his humour and generosity of spirit. Ross was a faculty member in the Jazz Studies Department at Capilano from 1988. During those years, I will never forget all the long minutes I spent in front of his teaching studio listening to his wonderful playing; and the first draft of the piece who will hear tonight was writen way back then, it was just in a lead sheet format, with a different name, hoping that one day he could possibly play it… Things went differently… So, last year, when I heard about this beautiful project (Convergence) and I decided to get back at the piece in order to complete it, true compose it, in the version you will hear tonight. I also have the privilege to have the piece: « Ross » premiered by a great friend and a wonderful musician, Mrs Grace McNab.
Marois Music Publications 