This Centrediscs recording is a retrospect of what Québec composer Denis Gougeon feels is some of his strongest works written between the years 1987 and 2002. Gougeon describes himself as an “intuitive” composer who wishes to touch the listener emotionally; and the four works recorded here are ample proof of his musical passion and communicative skills.

THE COMPOSER

Denis Gougeon has composed over 80 works in various genres including solo and orchestral works, concerti (piano, guitar, English horn, piccolo), chamber opera, musical tale and ballet. The Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, soprano Marie-Danielle Parent, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Erato Quartet from Basel (Switzerland), the New Music America Festival, the Percussions de Strasbourg, the Oslo National Ballet (Norway) as well as the Lights ensemble in Adelaide (Australia), are some of the main commissioners and performers of his works. In January 1989, he was the first to be appointed composer-in-residence of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra by conductor Charles Dutoit.

In collaboration with Gilles Vigneault, Denis Gougeon wrote a musical tale entitled Le Piano muet, published as an audio-book in 2002. His versatility has led him to work with renowned stage director Denis Marleau and his Théâtre Ubu, in Montreal, which has commissioned musical scores for 8 productions : 1993 – Roberto Zucco by Bernard-Marie Koltès ; 1995 – Maîtres Anciens by Thomas Bernhard ; 1996 – Le Passage de l’Indiana by Normand Chaurette ; 1997 – Nathan le Sage by G.F. Lessing ; 1998 – Intérieur by Maurice Maeterlinck ; 2002 – Au coeur de la rose by Pierre Perrault ; 2002 – Quelqu’un va venir by Jon Fosse ; and 2004 – Le moine noir by Anton Tchékov. In June 2005, he composed the music for Ombres, written and staged by Stéphanie Jasmin, Denis Marleau’s artistic collaborator.

On March 24, 1999, the prestigious Bayesrisches Staatsballett in Munich premiered Emma B., a two-hour ballet for large orchestra, at Munich’s National Theater. This ballet based on Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary was choreographed by Jean Grand-Maître. Liaisons Dangereuses, another ballet score for orchestra loosely based on Laclos’ famous work, was premiered on September 28, 2000, in Oslo, by the Norwegian National Ballet.

Denis Gougeon was a member of the board of directors of the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec from 1998 to 2000. In November, 2000, at the Gala of the Opus prizes, he won the prize for Composer of the Year awarded by the Conseil québécois de la musique.

Denis Gougeon received SOCAN’s “Jan V. Matejcek Concert Music Award” in 2001, 2002 and 2003. In 2000, he was honoured by the Association of the University of Montreal graduates in “recognition for success and influence” and, in October 2004, he was made a member of the Club des diplômés émérites of that university. He has been teaching composition at the Faculty of Music of the University of Montreal since 2001.

THE WORKS

À l’aventure (1990) - From the very first notes of À l’aventure (1990), the listener is carried away in a whirlwind of adventures. The piece finds its form as the work develops and becomes
more self-conscious, just as an adventure is, by essence, undetermined. The work plays on very strong contrasts at all levels. The unexpected and the surprise factor are therefore structural elements which inform the personality of the work. Premiered in 1990 by the Metropolitan Orchestra, À l’aventure was performed by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra during its
South-American tour. The work was awarded the First Prize at the 1991 SOCAN Competition in the category "Best Orchestral Work in Canada".

Heureux qui, comme… (1987) - A small odyssey, this composition is a song of joy which alternates between extrovert sections (jubilant, dance-like tutti…) and more intimate moments. The work was premiered on April 16, 1987, during the 20th season of the SMCQ, by soprano Marie-Danielle Parent.

Jeux de cordes (1995) - This work is in five movements or playing sessions lasting from 3 to 5 minutes.

- Jeu d’accents is constructed with accents, synchronous or not.

- Andante des harmoniques underlines the delicate play of harmonics, suggesting a dance of pitches through which passes a melodic line moving from the low to the high register, and played six times.

- Jeu sur un mode plays on loop imitation effects, mostly between the two violins, using only one mode and its transpositions.

- Chant creates an intense atmosphere of interiority through a very pure and very simple melody. The backdrop for this movement is a stable pedal tone played by the cello, and a rhythmical pattern of perpetual motion produced by the viola.

- Jeu d’imitation (suivez-moi!) uses the canonic treatment as its main development technique. This section in a light and fast mood, which nods at the composers of the Baroque period, emphasizes both the solo and the ensemble playing of the quartet.

Commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for the Quatuor Erato, based in Basel, this work was premiered on March 24, 1996, in Morges, Switzerland.

Clere Venus (2002)

Notes on Louise Labé (ca. 1524-1566) - The daughter of a rich ropemaker, Louise Labé received a modern education inspired by Italian ideas. She knew Latin, Italian, Spanish and music. An excellent horse-rider, she learned the basics of soldiering and took part in tournaments. She opened one of the first literary salons. Nothing is known about her love life except for her passion for Olivier de Magny. She was one of the first to claims women’s right to literary creation.

“This very brief work […] is original on account of the violence it imprints on traditional love rhetoric through a deliberate turnaround : it is the man who is made the erotic object whose charms are detailed whilst the woman assumes the favourite role of the petrarquian enunciating subject, the suffering caused by desire. […] For Louise Labé, the woman is not in any way the insensitive mistress: she is the lover rather than the loved one; it is she who suffers, i.e. she who desires and sets up the erotic ritual. That upsetting is nonetheless incomplete: the cruelty of the loved one is not the result of coldness but of light-mindedness. […] Appropriation of desire, appropriation of poetic fury : such is the double ambition that marks Louise Labé’s verses.” (1)

from Anne Berthelot-François Cornilliat
Littérature Moyen-Âge-XVIème siècle
Nathan, Paris 1988

Notes on the making of the work: Louise Labé’s 24 sonnets, though dealing mainly with the same themes, are not directly related; each is complete in itself. They can be appreciated separately, one at a time, as individual 14-verse decasyllable miniature jewels.

Yet, as I read them, I felt it possible to link some of them to one another so as to create a sequence, a poetic journey. The idea of composing a “night” made up of 7 tableaux came to my mind as an appropriate dramatic structure that would (through particular logical links) support the musical expression. For that “staging”, I chose the sonnets which, when linked together, show us a woman who first addresses Venus so as to “cry out her pain all night”, is torn by extreme torments, suffers unrequited love, entrusts her despair to her lute, longs for sleep in order to live love in her dreams, exchanges passionate kisses (still dreaming?) and finally implores the return of the Sun and that of her lover.

As for the music, I called on a very wide expressive range so as to come as close as possible to love’s desire. Louise Labé: 2 Ls (pronounced “deux ailes”, meaning “two wings”) : the Wings of desire!

The work is dedicated to Marie-Danielle Parent.

7 Sonnets by Louise Labé

1.
Bright Venus roaming across the heavens,
Hear my voice, for I will dolefully sing,
As long as your face shines from above,
My difficult labours and annoying troubles.
My wakeful eye will all the better be moved;
And, seeing you, will all the more willingly weep.
My soft bed will all the more bathe in tears
If it sees your eyes witnessing its complaints.
The tired spirits of human beings
Long for sweet rest and restoring sleep.
I endure pain as long as the Sun shines;
But, when I am almost completely broken apart
And have finally slipped into bed, exhausted,
I need to cry my sorrow out, all night through.

2.
I live, I die: I burn myself and drown.
I feel extreme heat when I endure harsh cold:
Life is at once too easy and too hard.
My deepest sorrows mingle with joys:
From one moment to another, I laugh and break into tears,
And, in the middle of pleasure, many a cruel torment I endure.
My well-being comes and goes but never last:
All at the same time, I wither and grow green leaves.
Such is the inconstant way love treats me:
And when I think I am the most in grief,
Without notice, I find myself out of sorrow’s grip.
And then, when I believe my joy to be assured,
When I think I am at the height of happiness,
Love sets me back in my old pain.

3.
O beautiful brown eyes, o turned away gazes,
O warm sighs, o oft shed tears,
O dark nights awaited in vain,
O bright days in vain returned;
O sad moans, o obstinate desires,
O time lost, o sorrows spent,
O countless deaths in countless snares set,
O worst of harms against me intended,
O laugh, o forehead, hair, arms, hands and fingers;
O plaintive lute, viol, bow and voice:
Why, so many flaming torches to set a female ablaze!
I must complain about you: That, carrying so many fires
And in so many parts trying to feel and touch my heart,
You should not have let a single spark upon yourself fly and fall.

4.
Lute, my companion in misfortune,
Perfect witness of my sighs,
True regulator of my worries,
Often have you lamented with me:
And so has my pitiful wailing molested you
That, starting on a delightful sound,
You often suddenly made it woeful
And feigned the tone my sigh had sung.
Yet, if I try to force you to the contrary,
You unwind and compel me to quiet.
But, noticing that I lament tenderly,
You help me through my saddest moaning.
I am thus forced to delight in my worries
And to hope for a sweet end to sweet sorrows.

5.
The very moment I begin to take
In my soft bed my long desired rest,
My melancholy mind, out of myself drawn,
Runs your way, forthwith and straight.
I then think that within my tender bosom
I hold at last what I aspired to,
The treasure for which I have longed so much
That I often thought I would break in two.
O sweet sleep, O night so hopeful and happy!
Pleasant rest, full of peace and quiet,
Please continue my dream each and every night;
And, if ever my poor enamoured soul
Should not have any love in real possession,
Do so that at least it should have some in sweet lie.

6.
Kiss me again, kiss me, kiss.
Give me one of the sweetest you hold,
Give me one of your most loving:
I will give you four hotter than coals.
Alas, are you complaining? Let me appease your ail
And give you ten more of the sweetest.
Thus, as we blend our very happy kisses,
Let us delight in each other all at ease.
A double life in each of us will follow:
Each in oneself and in one’s Love will live.
Let me, my Love, think up some folly:
I always feel awkward, as I am used to live discreetly,
And I can hardly ever give myself any satisfaction
Unless out of my own self I dare some sally.

7.
In order to honour the return of the Sun,
The Zephyr plays to its like a serene breeze.
And, as they wake up from the still and silent sleep
That kept one from murmuring and the other from blooming
Into many a flower of incomparable colour,
Water starts to flow and trees work wonders.
Already the birds in the trees do marvels
And appease the passers’-by weariness.
Already the Nymphs frolic with a thousand games
Under the shining Moon and roll about in the grass.
Would you please, Zephyr, give me some of your joy?
Could I, through you, completely renew myself?
Make my Sun turn towards me truly
So that you may see how it makes me more beautiful.

THE PERFORMERS

Marie-Danielle Parent - Soprano Marie-Danielle Parent has distinguished herself in all repertoires of classical singing, and she has sung many roles at the Montréal and Québec operas. In concert, she has performed with the best Canadian orchestras and many of her concerts have been recorded by the CBC. An inspired performer of contemporary music, she is a regular guest of the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec. She has premiered and recorded works by such composers as Claude Vivier, Gilles Tremblay, John Rea, R. Murray Schafer. As Denis Gougeon’s favorite soloist, she has premiered many of his works : Voix Intimes, Heureux qui comme…, Éternité, Complainte de la Passion, La femme au parapluie, Maouna, as well as Clere Vénus, dedicated to her. She has also played the part of the singer in Anton Tchekov’s The Black Monk, staged by Denis Marleau with a musical score by Denis Gougeon. That play has been staged in Canada and Europe. Marie-Danielle Parent has also taken part in the international festivals of Lanaudière, Victoria, Vancouver, Montepulciano, Royaumont and Amsterdam. Moreover, she has performed with the Ensemble de l’Itinéraire in Paris, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France and the Radio Orchestra of Cologne.

Walter Boudreau - Walter Boudreau (born in Montréal in 1947) is greatly appreciated as a conductor by numerous ensembles and orchestras in Canada and abroad. As a composer, he has produced over fifty works so far and he has received many distinctions : the Grand Prix Paul-Gilson (1991) of the Communauté des radios publiques de langue française, the Opus prize as Composer of the year (1998) of the Conseil québécois de la musique and the Molson Prize for the Arts (2003) from the Canada Council for the Arts. His work as Artistic Director of the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec has been rewarded by the Montréal Arts Council 1991 Grand Prize. He was conductor-in-residence with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (1990-93) and Artistic Director of the Musiques-au-présent festival (1998-2000), along with Denys Bouliane. With the latter, he also planned and produced (on June 3, 2000) the Millenium Symphony, a collective work by 19 Montreal composers. In 2003, with Denys Bouliane, he organized the first international festival Montréal/Nouvelles Musiques. Again in 2003, Walter Boudreau received the Prix du Québec for the performing arts, the highest distinction awarded by the Quebec government.

SMCQ Ensemble - Founded in 1966 by eminent personalities from the music scene, including Serge Garant and Mayvonne Kendergi, the SMCQ has taken on from the very beginning the mission of promoting Canadian and international contemporary music. Headed by composers for the benefit of composers, the SMCQ has had three Artistic Directors to this day : the composers Serge Garant (from 1966 to 1986), Gilles Tremblay (1986 to 1988) and Walter Boudreau (since 1988). Thanks to its own Ensemble, the SMCQ has always offered the public a wide spectrum of contemporary repertoire. Currently directed by Walter Boudreau, the SMCQ Ensemble is the main feature of SMCQ’s concerts and it has performed works by numerous composers including Boulez, Kagel, Stockhausen, Varèse, Xenakis, Garant, Vivier, Tremblay, Cage, Rea, Andriessen, Grisey, Boudreau, Messiaen, Bouliane, Scelsi, Reich and Penderecki. In the last few years, the SMCQ has sponsored soloists and chamber ensembles. It has also set up a residence programme for young ensembles.

The Orchestre Métropolitain - The Orchestre Métropolitain enjoys taking the roads less travelled since its musicians show particular enthousiasm when it comes to performing music by their contemporaries. The Metropolitain is one of a handful of symphony orchestras which have presented concerts entirely devoted to new music. Composers greatly appreciate the fact. Quarter-tones, polyrhythmic complexities and other difficulties related to this type of repertoire do not put off its musicians, on the contrary. Indeed, many of them belong to the SMCQ (the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec) and to the NEM (Nouvel Ensemble Moderne). Unusual as it may be, the Metropolitan Orchestra was founded by its musicians, in 1981. That certainly explains their involvement and the adventurousness that characterizes it.

The Erato Quartet - This quartet, which bears the name of the Greek muse of poetry, has featured the same musicians since its beginnings in 1983: Emilie Haudenschild and Attila Adamka, violins, Heinz Haudenschild —brother of the first violin—, viola, and Emeric Kostyak, cello. It is one of Switzerland’s most renowned string quartets. The particular style of this ensemble resides in a search for sounds seldom equalled, a musical drive sustained by ample phrases and a constant concern for accuracy. The quartet owes its reputation to its exemplary performances of both Classical and Romantic repertoires as well as contemporary works, many of which are dedicated them. As their dicography shows, all four musicians also promote less known works. Thus Erato’s recordings on CD include Hermann Scherchen’s String Quartet, Adolf Busch’s Quintet with saxophone and the Quartet by Swiss composer Paul Glass, written especially for them. The Erato Quartet has received many national and international distinctions, some of them highly prestigious, namely the “Prize for best string quartet” at the “Concorso Int. G.B.Viotti”, the “First Prize” and the “Special Prize” for the best performance of Beethoven, in Colmar, as well as a “Grand Prize” in Évian.