Quatuor Quasar, 40 Years After the Tragic Death of Claude Vivier

As part of the CAM tour, the Quasar saxophone quartet presented its program entitled Five Liquid Pieces, a tribute to Claude Vivier, on Wednesday. This concert, which is not its first performance, is part of the events organized in 2023 commemorating the 40th anniversary of the tragic death of the great Quebec composer Claude Vivier.

If this tribute concert features only one work by the composer, it is to highlight Vivier’s mentors, such as his two teachers, Paul Méfano and Gilles Tremblay, as well as those who were inspired by Vivier, such as Florence M. Tremblay, Émilie Girard-Charest and Yassen Vodenitcharov.

The concert began with “Pulau Dewata,” a piece with variable instrumentation composed in 1977 by Claude Vivier. In Balinese, Pulau Dewata means “island of the gods,” a tribute from Vivier to his trip to Bali, where he became familiar with the gamelan, a major source of inspiration for the composer. Blending homorhythms and a sound very close to that of the gamelan, “Pulau Dewata” was undoubtedly the ideal piece to start this concert. Quasar delivered a very respectable performance of this flagship piece in their repertoire.

The concert continues with “Mouvement Calme” by Paul Méfano, which, despite its careful writing combining rhythmic passages of “slap-tongue” and lyrical moments both unfolding in gentleness, unfortunately gets lost within the eclecticism of the concert.

Next up was Gilles Tremblay, who, in 2009, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Vivier’s death, composed the piece “Levées” for Quasar. This piece perfectly illustrates one of Quasar’s strengths: the dialogue between the different members of the quartet. The piece itself is largely structured around questions and answers, and the potential for dialogue between the instrumentalists. This reaches its peak during a series of short interventions featuring the Quasar musicians’ acting skills, which delighted the audience.

Next, we entered the world of Florence M. Tremblay with “Vapeurs taillées,” a captivating piece that showcased the saxophone’s diverse sounds. But the evening’s biggest surprise was Émilie Girard-Charest’s “Bestiaire,” a completely playful piece blending a wide range of techniques, such as playing only the mouthpiece or the neck, but the most surprising element was the finale with a baritone reed solo. In short, a piece that had the audience laughing like I’ve rarely seen in new music! The concert concluded with the concert’s title piece, “Cinq pièces liquides,” a solid work that, for me, perfectly illustrates the eclecticism of an excellent concert presented by Quasar.