André Duchesne

Victo 40th Anniversary Super Sale. For the 1989 edition of the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, guitarist André Duchesne (Conventum, Les 4 Guitaristes de l'Apocalypso-Bar) put together the most ambitious project of his career: L' Ou 'L, subtitled "Concerto for a Solitary Composer." The conceptual work (dealing with dream and reality in the life of a composer-pilot and set in a science fiction frame) called for a string quartet, a saxophone quartet, an electric guitar quartet (including Claude Fradette and Roger Boudreault of Les 4 Guitaristes de l'Apocalypso-Bar), electric bass, piano, and three percussionists. Duchesne conducted the ensemble and recited narratives that held the show together (percussionist Michel F. Côté recited also). The ten-part, 70-minute work used any of the quartets or the whole ensemble and included a solo for virtuoso cellist Claude Lamothe, who would launch a career as a rock cellist in the 1990s. The music is a lot more open than what Duchesne usually does: his contrapuntal writing is still featured (mainly on "Riffs" and "5/8 Pour Guitares Électriques et Basse," but he also draws from the chamber rock stylings of Art Zoyd and Univers Zero ("Quatuor à Cordes No. 1," parts of "Rigby"), although not as bleak, and free improvisation. Duchesne served a treat to his fans: the last piece, "Épilogue," is actually a completely rewritten version of "Le Piège," a piece from Conventum's first LP À l'Affut d'un Complot.

François Couture, AllMusic