Martin Bédard

Topographies gathers five acousmatic works that Martin Bédard composed between 2004 and 2012, several of them tied to specific places in Québec. Bédard, who wrote a doctoral thesis on the relationship between cinematic language and acousmatic music, works with recognisable sounds as symbols, clues and metaphors inside a narrative, alongside sliced and treated material that shapes phrasing or plays a purely abstract part.

Grand dehors, commissioned by Erreur de type 27, uses sounds recorded in the restored cells of the former Québec City Jail, now part of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, moving between energetic drives and states of confinement. Champs de fouilles, also an E27 commission, pays tribute to the history of Québec City through what Bédard calls its phonoculture, the audio heritage of a community; its title refers to the archaeological digs under way while he worked. It is the most decorated piece here, with a distinction at Prix Ars Electronica 2010 and first prizes at Computer Space and CEMVA.

Push & Pull, commissioned by Réseaux for Akousma, moves trains between propulsion and standstill and takes its second source from the lyrics of Rush’s Kid Gloves, a song from his teenage years. Métal fatigue treats metal under stress as a metaphor for life, with underwater recordings and the 1907 collapse of the Québec Bridge as its trigger. Topographie de la noirceur, after the night watchman of Aleksandr Zinovyev’s novel Notes of the Nightwatchman, won second prize at the CEC’s Jeu de temps / Times Play in 2005.

Born in Quebec City in 1970, Martin Bédard has been winner or finalist at twelve international competitions and teaches electroacoustic composition at the Université de Montréal and the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal.

CD in OGpak, empreintes DIGITALes IMED 13121, 2013.