Inspired freely by The Glass Bead Game, a novel by Hermann Hesse (1887-1962).

To celebrate the 60th birthday of musique concrète, I decided to stick closely to the spirit of the origins, so I opted to use concrete sources almost exclusively, and to apply very light treatments — if any — to them.

This piece was realized in 32 tracks and designed to tap into the possibilities offered by a triple playback system consisting of the Wave Field Synthesis (WFS), the GRM’s Acousmonium (Paris, France), and a mini-dome similar to the one found at the ZKM (Karlsruhe, Germany).

— Gilles Gobeil [English translation: François Couture, v-15]

Castalie [Castalia] was realized in 2008 in the studios of Technische Universität (TU) in Berlin (Germany). It was premiered on July 31, 2008 during SMC08. The piece was commissioned by DAAD. Thanks to Folkmar Hein, and Ingrid Beirer. Castalie was awarded the 1st prize at the 2009 Black & White Audiovisual Festival in Porto (Portugal), and a Mention at the 36th Bourges International Electroacoustic Music and Sound Art Competition (France, 2009).

Premiere

• July 31, 2008, SMC 2008: Concert, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin (Germany)

Awards

• Best Sound Work Prize, Festival Black & White 2009, Porto (Portugal)
• Mention, Work of Programme Music Prize, 36th Bourges International Electroacoustic Music and Sound Art Competition 2009, Bourges (Cher, France)