works — detailled information (alphabetical)

1+5 (2006 / 3:00)

for slam poet, flute (or clarinet), viola, cello (or electric guitar), piano and drumset

strictly speaking, there is nothing false in art, only stages of consciousness of oneself: only that which is not self-reflective is false.
—mathias spahlinger, „wirklichkeit des bewußtseins und wirklichkeit für das bewußtseins.”

they had to resuscitate their past in order to love each other.
—henri barbusse, l’enfer.

DUO (1998 / 2:43)

electroacoustic, stereo (analogue synthesis with alto sax materials)

a screaming, ripping, convulsing, thrashing, contorting, thrusting, tender, grinding, oozing discharge of multiple orgasms shared between an aries analogue modular synth and an alto sax

DUO was composed in the Concordia University electroacoustic studios in 1997–98. Thanks to Yves Charuest for the sax materials.

eine schreiende, zerreißende, zuckende, aufeinander klatschende, verzerrende, stoßende, sanfte, zermürbende, auslaufende entladung multipler orgasmen, die einen modularen aries analog-synthesizer und ein altsaxofon vereint.

DUO wurde 1997–98 in den elektroakustischen Studios der Universität Concordia komponiert. Dank an Yves Charuest für die Saxofon-Materialen. [übersetzung: inventionen festival 2008]

for piano [parts] (2003 / 6:30)

for audience, several hundred piano tuning pins and four coordinators

a musical context performed by the audience using sound materials with no recognizable pitch content in a functional sense or, rather, a profusion of functionally-identical pitched materials: several hundred piano tuning pins dropped on the floor in different manners.  the resulting character of each of the sonic events is affected by the unique interpretation of the actions to be executed by each performer.  perception of the resulting events is further and drastically influenced by one’s position within the performance area: the individual musical experience is dependent on the perception and appreciation of the minute to significant variations in tone colour, dynamic and location of the individual pins being dropped, and in the rhythmic configurations, density and spatialization of the events.

in nomine (2004 / 5:00)

for flute, oboe, clarinet, piano, percussion, violin, viola and cello
composed for ensemble recherche

in nomine is a reflection upon issues of consciousness of cultural identity in New Music, in particular the composer’s responsibility to inherited (“tradition”) or appropriated (external influences) aspects of musical identity.

cultural tradition is a living organism, and the relationship each individual has to it suffers a volatile and ever-shifting existence.   consciousness obliges engagement: when the composer critically reassesses and mediates an existing socio-cultural paradigm (source material, compositional method, technique, æsthetic, etc.), he not only assures the validity of the paradigm’s presence in his own work, but also, more importantly, contributes to its refinement and evolution, and thereby helps assure that it remain pertinent to contemporary compositional preoccupations.

the composition of in nomine is but one of a number of possible actions provoked by — and their identity is certainly coloured by — these and other reflections; the essence or “meaning” of the work at a given moment is however unique in relation to the composer’s, the listener’s, the musician’s relationship to the questions at the moment of their asking…

…without… (2007–08/09 / 12:00)

for electric guitar, piano and drumset
commissioned by asamisimasa

a set of variations on a theme which is no more than the rhythmic scaffolding for the entire piece in the form of a number of “points of articulation” grouped and dispersed in varying patterns of density.  as the theme itself is non-sounding, it appears only as each of the variations is played.  each variation is “painted” in a unique way over the unaltered theme, the pre-defined structure being continuously re-interpreted and warped according to local and accumulated æsthetic interests, as well as being subjected to the larger formal implications of the accumulation of materials during the course of the work.  in the end, various processes and interests on other levels continually compromise the perception of their ever-present patron and even blur the points at which the “theme” begins and ends.