Pour flûte, clarinette et piano.	

Nix is an older translation of the word snow in Latin, derived from the accusative form nivem. Snow can take so many various states, depending on a multitude of weather conditions. One day, from the sky fall very large and round-shaped snowflakes and a few moments later, it transforms in a threatening, sharp, and dry blizzard. It is sometimes stuck in a heap and or it runs along the roads like immaculate snakes. The variability and the unpredictability of the moving behaviors and textures of the snow are limitless and are always fascinating, each winter, from the first precipitation in November to the melting of April.

Texas New Music Festival 07.14.23

NIX (2023) - Texas New Music Ensemble

Eliot Britton-Cuneiform And Glide  (LIVE Montreal 2010)

Guy Lavoie : Saxophone soprano
Antonin Bourgault : Saxophone soprano
Thomas Gauthier-Lang : Saxophone soprano
Edmond Forest : Saxophone soprano

Harmonium : Hans Martin
Orgue : Olivier Saint-Pierre

Enregistrement : Louis-Michel Tougas

Le titre de l’œuvre renvoie aux maisons-Dieu, hôpitaux-monastères du Moyen Âge qui accueillaient pèlerins, pauvres et malades. Ces institutions caritatives, gérées par l’Église, devinrent plus tard les « hôtels-Dieu », tout en gardant la même mission : offrir hospitalité, soin et refuge.

Au Québec, cette histoire rejoint celle de Jeanne Mance (1606-1673), fondatrice de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal en 1642. Formée en France auprès des victimes de la guerre de Trente Ans et de la peste, elle consacra sa vie aux plus démunis. L’hôpital, d’abord modeste, fut agrandi puis reconstruit en pierre au XIXᵉ siècle, traversant les siècles jusqu’à la fermeture de ses services en 2017, avant son intégration au CHUM. La Maison Dieu demeure ainsi un symbole de charité et de solidarité sociale.

Maison Dieu

Pressure, for viola and live-electronics, is a single movement work that explores the timbral possibilities of the instrument from scroll to tailpiece. The composition contrasts delicate gestures, melodies, and squeaks, with dense sweeping textures, flurries of tapping, and waterfalls of glissandi harmonics. 

The word ‘pressure’ has multiple different meanings, two of which particularly exemplify this work: to push toward a definitive end, and the exertion of force upon an object. Through various extended techniques, including unusual finger and bow placements, tapping, and extreme bow pressure, the physical force on the viola can be seen as well as heard.

The electronics for Pressure are realized with Max/MSP. In the piece, the soloist’s sounds are amplified, processed, and spatialized using predetermined trajectories. The live sound is combined with the synchronized playback of prepared sound files. The resulting textures surround and immerse the listener in a vibrant soundscape. The electronics color, transform, and expand the possibilities of the solo instrument, allowing a pizzicato to have a gong-like resonance one moment and a heavy metal electric guitar timbre the next; or enabling a monophonic gesture to be multiplied a hundred fold into a thunderous orchestral buzzing. 

Pressure was composed for violist Drew Ricciardi at McGill University in Montreal, QC in 2007. The work received the International Alliance for Women in Music’s (IAWM) Pauline Oliveros Prize in 2008. 


Pressure

Nouveaux Territoires 1

Masques et chimères (1996)

Tom Lachance (b. 1998) is a Montreal based Canadian composer whose research is
grounded in synesthesia, which is the perception of associations between different 
sensations. He notably uses visual or tactile input to generate musical structures and ideas. 
This exploration takes place in different forms using visual art and landscapes, or natural 
processes.
His works have been commissioned and performed by various ensembles, including the 
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Paramirabo Ensemble, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, 
Cobalt String Quartet, the TorQ Percussion Quartet, the Texas New Music Ensemble and 
Orchestre de l’Université de Montréal.
His music has been recognized by numerous grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, 
Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec and LOJIQ. 
He is currently pursuing a PhD of Music Composition with Chris Paul Harman. He 
completed a Master’s at the University of Montreal in 2022, studying with Ana Sokolović

NIX (2023) - Texas New Music Ensemble

Tom Lachance

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