“In Finnish mythology, the Sampo is a magical device or object […] which brings riches and good fortune to its holder.”
— Wikipédia
Réel / Irréel focuses on an artifact that is ubiquitous in the world of real-time mixed music: the presence of visually upsetting wiring on stage and the challenges of live performances.
In 2017, I chanced upon the Sampo, an electronic device invented by Musinfo’s Alexander Mihalic. The Sampo solved these challenges by allowing a musical instrument to be connected to it with a minimum number of cables while providing easy control to the performer through a set of seven expression pedals and a touch screen.
I immediately wanted to experiment with the Sampo to turn a clarinet into an augmented instrument. This piece coalesced in July 2022 while I was an artist in residence at Académie Sampo, in Saint-Étienne (France), with clarinetist Laurent Fléchier.
— Roxanne Turcotte [English translation: François Couture, iv-26]
Réel / Irréel [Real / Unreal] was started in 2017 with the Sampo emulation software at the composer’s studio (Studio Séducson) in Montréal (Québec) and continued in the spring of 2022 before being completed in July 2022 with the Sampo during an artist residency at Académie Sampo in Saint-Étienne (France). It was premiered on July 8, 2022 under the title Clarinoscopie by clarinetist Laurent Fléchier at an end-of-residency concert presented at La Comète in Saint-Étienne. The performance was filmed by Alexander Mihalic, edited in 2024 by François Doyon, and mixed as a 16-channel piece by the composer at her studio (Studio Séducson).
In 2024, Réel / Irréel was adapted as an imaginary duet for bass clarinet and pre-recorded video (2024 version) and was premiered on November 21, 2024 by Michel Dubeau at the concert Artéfacts II presented by Le Vivier at Salle bleue of Édifice Wilder — Espace danse in Montréal.
Premiere
- July 8, 2022, Under the title Clarinoscopie: Laurent Fléchier, clarinet, Sampo • Concert de sortie de résidence, La Comète, Saint-Étienne (Loire, France)
- November 21, 2024, Bass clarinet and prerecorded video capture version (2024): Michel Dubeau, bass clarinet • Artéfacts II, Salle bleue — Édifice Wilder — Espace danse, Montréal (Québec)
