Serge Arcuri

Les Méandres du Rêve (Dream’s Meanders) is the album version of Méandres, a mosaic work about dreams that Serge Arcuri had been developing since 1984. Each part can be played alone in concert or staged, as in the version for solo singer, five musicians and two dancers premiered at the Centaur Theatre in Montréal in 1990. Here the tape pieces and mixed works of the project are followed by the two early pieces that started it, Résurgence (1982), his first tape work, and Chronaxie (1984).

Prélude aux méandres rebuilds a summer night with crickets, frogs and birds that are entirely synthetic, made on Jupiter 8 and Fairlight II. La porte des sables, commissioned by the CBC for oboist Lawrence Cherney, follows the doors of Tahar Ben Jelloun’s novel The Sand Child with modal arabesques against MIDI percussion. Murmure, made from voices and a DX-7II for David Olds’ radio programme on CKLN FM in Toronto, traces the path from the original breath of creation myths to the human voice. Errances (1992), for oboe d’amore and harp, was premiered in Cracow by Cherney and Erica Goodman and received a mention at Bourges in 1993. Lueurs sets the horn of Francis Ouellet against ambient sounds, and Chronaxie, subtitled with a line by Marie Uguay, pairs a percussionist with synthetic percussion timbres; it won a mention at Bourges in 1987. Percussion throughout is by Trevor Tureski. The instrumental parts were recorded at Pizazzudio in Toronto in October and December 1992. David Olds also contributes a short letter to the composer in the booklet.

Born in Beauharnois, Québec, in 1954, Arcuri studied composition with Gilles Tremblay at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, graduating in 1981, then electroacoustics with Yves Daoust and Marcelle Deschênes. He won CAPAC’s Sir Ernest MacMillan prize in 1981.

CD in jewel case, empreintes DIGITALes IMED 9310, 1993.