Empties-Impetus attempts to navigate the instruments of the string quartet as imaginary interior spaces and as bearers of meaning; variously by grappling with the historical weight of the idiom and the recognizable quality of its timbres, and also by subverting that meaning by reassessing the objects according to their physical construction, spatial properties, and different environmental contexts.

Empties-Impetus is the final work in a trilogy of acousmatic pieces, with Objects-Interiors (2013) and Bodies-Soundings (2014), that imagine the sounding bodies of instruments as resonant spaces.

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Empties-Impetus was realized in 2014-15 at the composer’s studio in Montréal (Québec) and completed in 2015 in the studios of the Groupe de recherches musicales (GRM) in Paris (France), and premiered on January 24, 2015 as part of the Multiphonies series presented by the Ina-GRM at the Auditorium Saint-Germain of the MPAA (Paris, France). The piece was commissioned by the Ina-GRM. Empties-Impetus was a finalist at the 2nd Klang! International Electroacoustic Composition Competition (Montpellier, France, 2015).

Premiere

• January 24, 2015, Multiphonies 2014-15: Akousma 4, Auditorium Saint-Germain — MPAA, Paris (France)

Awards

• Special Mention, Ars Electronica Forum Wallis 2017, Leuk (Switzerland)
• Residency Prize, Prix CIME 2017