A flight over the Perseids… Your eyes are stars!

A musical triptych focused on the look and visions from outer-space.

Three looks at things, three sound impressions, three radiances, three reflections: a starry spark in the eyes! The structure of each piece is based on building toward a climax as in the unfolding of a story toward its outcome.

Poussière d’étoiles takes its musical inspiration from the symbolism in Hitchcock’s works (the looks in the actors’ playing, the illusion, the objects, the surreal passages and his intrusions into the supernatural) with a wink at the fantastic visions of Guy de Maupassant, at the visions in René Magritte’s modern art and at impressionism. It’s all in the look…

The research through sound observation to describe natural and supernatural landscapes becomes a pause, a break to understand and catch the possibilities offered by three different looks set to music. Each sound is studied, shaped and placed inside a new structure which turns into a surreal source, a piece of music where we feel like we’re being watched.

Realistic sounds (nature sound recordings) are transformed and treated (echo, delay, stretching…) to give them a supernatural feel. They are spatialized using movement effects (rotation, speed, displacement). Repetitive rhythms (symbolizing the “starry heart”) are mixed in while timbre filtering evokes the luminosity of the stars.

— Roxanne Turcotte [English translation: François Couture, vi-03]

Poussière d’étoiles was realized in 2002 at the composer’s studio (Studio Séducson) in Montréal with the help of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ). It was premiered in June 2002 on the composer’s website.

Premiere

• June 2002, Online, www.roxanneturcotte.com