The diversity of her art, her talent as a multi-instrumentalist, her idea of the body as a musical instrument and her penchant for collaboration are all reminiscent of the cultural abundance of her native city.
Originally from Recife, Brazil, Montreal-based Lara Klaus is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and educator around the world. She is also a member of LADAMA, a group of four women from different countries with whom she has performed at NPR Music’s famous Tiny Desk studio.
Her solo music presents a mixture of styles, borrowing elements from the South to the North of America to Africa, presenting mainly electric and acoustic guitar, as well as different types of Brazilian and African percussion. She participated in the Syli d’Or de la musique du monde des productions Nuits d’Afrique, and is about to play at the Ministère de Montréal as part of the RADAR event which starts this Tuesday.
PAN M 360: You come from the city of Recife, in the northeast of Brazil, and now you live in Montreal. Why did you decide to move here?
LARA KLAUS: It’s interesting, because I have another project that I traveled a lot in North America with, and we came to Montreal in 2018 to participate in the Nuits d’Afrique festival and other festivals in Ontario. That’s how I got to know the city. Then, a year later, my partner decided to come study here. It was a happy coincidence, and it made things easier with my projects. I found that Montreal opened its arms to Brazilian music and to my work.
PAN M 360: You are a percussionist. Is that the instrument that got you started in music?
LARA KLAUS: Actually, the first instrument I learned to play was the keyboard. Then I learned the acoustic guitar, which I studied for a long time. When I discovered percussion and all its cultural events that were very strong in my hometown, it made me want to play it and to start playing drums. After that, it was singing (laughs).
PAN M 360: So singing came last?
LARA KLAUS: I always liked to sing when I was playing guitar by myself, and when I started being a professional musician and working with other artists, my voice was often in the background. At some point, I decided I wanted to sing for myself.
PAN M 360: When you compose, do you start with percussion? Guitar? Is it different every time?
LARA KLAUS: It depends. Sometimes it comes from a rhythmic idea, other times it’s from a sound I hear. But even when I start with the guitar, the percussion is there, because I have a very percussive way of playing. All the elements are close to each other. When I make demos or start producing songs, it’s often guitar and percussion that are present.
PAN M 360: In relation to this process, it’s obvious that you are a fan of collaboration. You are part of the band LADAMA, you have several songs with other artists, especially on your solo album and on your more recent singles. How important is collaboration to you? Is it the basis of everything?
LARA KLAUS: Yes, absolutely. My solo project comes from my collaborative project. I always invite other people to be part of the process with me, whether it’s on stage or in the studio. Since I started playing, I have a need to share, I really don’t have a solitary approach. Of course, I start with a little idea of my own and then I bring it to others. Most of the songs I’ve written have been done with someone else. I think it’s always better to have other people’s ideas and voices, not only because it’s convenient, but also because it’s the symbolic idea of a community. I come from a place where if you play in the street, there will be a band with you, there will be a parade.
PAN M 360: Not only are you an artist, you are also an educator. You teach music and percussion to young people around the world in conferences and workshops. Do you think that teaching music in this way inspires you to explore its limits?
LARA KLAUS: Totally. Teaching is a constant learning experience for me. For me, it goes back to the idea of community and sharing. What we share has meaning, and it allows us to connect with our culture. I find it important for the people I teach that they in turn succeed in connecting with theirs. It’s really about knowing yourself. For a long time I taught people with disabilities. It doesn’t matter what type of person you are, everyone receives and integrates information differently.
PAN M 360: It’s this idea that you can always learn, even from someone who knows almost nothing about your subject.
LARA KLAUS: Right. And teaching is not just about, “Here’s what I do, here’s the rhythm that’s played in my town,” it’s also about, for example, discovering the use of the body as an instrument.
PAN M 360: Speaking of the body as an instrument, in a TED-Talk you gave with your group LADAMA a few years ago, you quote the great Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos: “The first instrument is the voice, but the best instrument is the body.” Can you talk about what that means to you?
LARA KLAUS: Yes, when I found the quote, I thought, “My God, that’s exactly right!” He was a great master. He traveled the world using his body and percussion as instruments, and led the way in playing with greats like Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. But, yes, at the core, his idea is that we have everything we need inside of us, and if we have that base, there are no obstacles, no barriers that can stop us.
PAN M 360: Before we leave, we wanted to know if you are working on a new project right now.
LARA KLAUS: Yes, I have a few songs that I plan to release soon. I would love to have something out in time for the summer. I’m always working with different artists, and I have my touring band that I play with and collaborate with, obviously. I have shows planned for June and July!
PAN M 360: Finally, can you tell us what to expect from your show when you perform?
LARA KLAUS: You’ll hear my songs, which I’ve written with different people, and you can expect me to alternate between several instruments that I’ve learned along the way. I just hope to give a light performance that people can feel at the end. It’s always a joy for me to play on a stage, and I want to convey that feeling. Even though I sing in Brazilian Portuguese, I believe that music transcends language, and that I can show the best side of who I am and where I come from.
Since debuting in 2016, Debate Club has gone through a sort of sonic resurgence since the music opened back up in Montreal. On Égarements Vol. 1the band honed in on its shoegaze and dreamscape indie roots, what lead singer and guitarist, Philippe Hamelin calls an exhausting process. We spoke with him briefly about the new EP, and when we might expect volume two.
PAN M 360: Égarements Vol. 1 kind of has you going back to your shoegaze and dream pop roots. Was this a natural progression?
Philippe Hamelin: Absolutely, the pandemic slowed everything down, including our music. The raw energy that was driving Phosphorescent slowly faded and turned into something with a bit more depth and a few more layers. We are adamant about keeping the writing process organic, Égarements simply happened.
PAN M 360: What are some of the themes that inspired Égarements?
Philippe Hamelin: One of the recurring themes in our songs is anxiety – not sure if it’s the world’s current state but it seems to affect most people, so it very often makes its way into our writing, this release is no exception. We also always keep a place for friends we love and family we miss because it would be meaningless if we didn’t.
PAN M 360:In dreamscape/shoegaze music, there is always an aura of obscurity in what the song is about to the listener. My example would have to be the Cocteau Twins. Does this make it hard or easy to write music in this genre?
Philippe Hamelin: We try not to get too hung up on the genre we might be doing. Égarements was written and we sort of looked back and said, “oh yeah, there is definitely some shoegaze in there.” Writing music is always an exhausting process, regardless of what you are doing.
PAN M 360:This is Égarements vol 1. Is vol 2 on its way already and written? Will it have the same vibe?
Philippe Hamelin: Volume 2 and 3 are written for the most part. The vibe is definitely the same, but we’ll throw a few surprises in there as we like to improvise a bit through the recording process.
PAN M 360: What was the recording process like in the thick of the pandemic?
Philippe Hamelin: In a nutshell, it was complicated. We produce most of our stuff ourselves, so we had some flexibility, but attendance was kept at a minimum when we needed to and mixing was partially done remotely. We adapted, I guess we’re more resourceful now that we’ve done it in those conditions.
PAN M 360:How has the Montreal music landscape changed since it reopened after the pandemic? Will it ever get back to the way it was?
Philippe Hamelin: It unfortunately made it a bit difficult for small indie bands like us to play live as venues were slowly ramping up to their normal capacity. It seems every artist out there is fighting to be heard, it can get tiring at times.
PAN M 360:Do the instrumentals influence the music? How do you know when to go heavy or when to ease off?
Philippe Hamelin: We have two writing formulas. The first one is simply building on songs someone has partially written already and for which they can guide the rest of us through, including the intentions behind every part of it. The second is simply building on a riff one of us has come up with. The riff then becomes the mood and we build from there, challenging each other in the direction it should take. We definitely feel we do better with the latter.
PAN M 360:Who are some Montreal bands that you are really excited about right now?
Philippe Hamelin: You should definitely check Tu/Lips, their video “Les bêtes de joie” is definitely a coup de coeur of ours. You should also check out Yoo Doo Right, Yocto, DDWD and Seulement if you haven’t already done so.
PAN M 360:What is next for Debate Club?
We are starting to plan some live stuff for the rest of the year, and of course some new music. Stay tuned, we’ll be in touch very soon.
How do you create your own inclusive spaces in a context of exclusion? How do you occupy the public space when the system invisibilizes you as soon as you reach a leadership position? How do you reverse the trend when your image is exploited or when you are subjected to different forms of violence at all levels?
In response to this reality of systemic discrimination, whether conscious or unconscious, the queer/bipoc/trans/allied community has founded the Federation for the Nocturnal Arts to ensure the safety, sustainability and solidarity of a thriving nightlife culture in Montreal.
This non-profit organization, although only recently founded in 2022, is a telling sign that the tide is turning. Using an online questionnaire, the founding team – Lou Seltz, Olivier Philbin Briscoe and Taher Gargouri- assessed the needs of the community in terms of challenges, needs and opportunities to sustain their careers and, most importantly, ensure their decision-making. The results will be made public in May 2023.
In addition, a panel discussion was held on February 25 on the issue of spaces for these communities with rising artists and activists such as Syana Barbara or Crissemarqueur.
FANTOM is in the process of raising funds to ensure the viability of the project in order to create an application to identify safe spaces for this community, to better sensitize municipal policies to take into account their specific needs and to find permanent spaces for their nocturnal activities to flourish. A launch event is scheduled for April 25.
PAN M 360 talks to one of the founders of the project, Taher Gargouri, to better understand the ins and outs of this organization that will certainly revolutionize the Montreal scene!
PAN M 360: Taher, what is your background and your involvement in the Montreal music scene?
TAHER: Taher aka Crissemarqueur, I am a DJ and rave organizer. I started as a percussionist but I also followed a path through studies in cinema, design and photography. I’ve been multidisciplinary for about ten years and I got into the techno scene with this background. The first organization was Slataprod, focused on creating safe spaces for visible minorities. The idea was to put forward artists from visible minorities: trans, colored, Maghrebi too. I am Tunisian and it is important to me to be in solidarity. Since then, other projects have come to fruition such as Tangerine or Latex. My experience of life in Berlin gave me the taste to transpose this atmosphere to Montreal where the techno scene merges with the queer and racialized scene in a relaxed atmosphere. This series of events is in collaboration with Shibari, pole dancer and swana artists.
PAN M 360: How did the idea of creating FANTOM come about? What was the trigger?
TAHER: For the last 2 years I have gained experience in organizing several events and I have been confronted with a series of very problematic situations. First, we lack information on processes related to organizing as safe venues. The older ones do not share their experience because the competition is intense in our environment. We could avoid making mistakes if we were better informed. Second, as a racialized and queer person, techno spaces are very white. The “care” is not meaningful enough towards diversity. As a crowd, we don’t always feel comfortable. Some collectives are sorely lacking in diversity. Thirdly, we would like the city of Montreal to offer more information to support safe organizations. It would be interesting to have regulations on venue rental rates, access for diversity, a charter of good conduct between stakeholders, etc. Lou and Oliver met and discussed solutions to these problems. This is how we created Fantom.
PAN M 360: What are the goals you want to achieve?
TAHER: We wanted to reach this audience to identify the needs and challenges of the racialized and queer community in the face of these issues and try to find solutions. We thought of creating an application, soon, on which we could already exchange and share information. We wish to mobilize politicians to our cause to obtain more benevolence. It is essential to compensate for the shortage of venues in Montreal. We could also think about training centers. In the long term, we could see ourselves as a union with our own consultation table.
PAN M 360: Since the foundation of FANTOM, what have been the reactions to your demands?
TAHER: Overall, the reactions have been positive. People are waiting for concrete actions. We want to change the game quickly and move forward positively.
PAN M 360: What do you think of the situation in the music industry with regards to decision-making, leadership and programming positions in Montreal?
TAHER: Montreal is full of white promoters and it lacks diversity. When you’re intersectional, it’s very difficult to move forward. You have to put in a lot more energy and find a lot of tricks to get to the same level as white people. In reaction, we have to create our own spaces of inclusion in this context of exclusion. In the end, we evolve in parallel universes. And even if we are just as successful and creative, we remain ghostly in society. We want to break this persistent and unjust glass ceiling.
From Cape Town, South Africa, Derek Gripper adapted some african music to his classical guitar training. He is known worldwide for his transcriptions of the great kora player Toumani Diabaté’s recordings – One Night on Earth (2011) and Librairies on Fire (2016). He also played in the Symmetric Orchestra led by the famous griot. Since when the guitarist has played original pieces of his own, he defines « extended cyclical structures ». More precisely, he draws from the oral and improvised traditions of African griots as he does from the South African cyclical traditions known as Koortjie. Then he adapts it to his classical guitar langage and creates a fabulous hybrid. So he can perform compositions from J.S. Bach or Arvo Pärt, as well he can adapt African music from Salif Keita, Fanta Sacko or Baaba Maal. In fact, Derek Gripper’s path is to bring together very different musical forms through a rediscovery of the nylon strings guitar.Because he’s performing on Thursday, March 23th, at Balattou Club, PAN M 360 wanted to learn more about his craft.
PAN M 360 : So you’re from South Africa. After listening to one hour or two or two hours of your music, we can have an idea of what you do but we must learn more. So how did you build that?
DEREK GRIPPER : So I’m, I came from classical music, classical guitar. And have been always looking for different things, different ways to use the guitar followed by you know, my interest and what is moving and what I love. And one of those things was the music of Toumani Diabaté and that I made, you know, very direct classical transcriptions of his music because I felt it was important for us to realize that this is an a great tradition of composition as well as you know, how we abnormally understand it as a griot traditional blah, blah, etc. Now, I’m actually playing with Ballaké Sissoko who recorded with Toumani, a very important album in the 90s called New ancient strings. So that’s wonderful, like coming back to that tradition in a very real way. But bringing my things, I was writing music of my own before, I really investigated Toumani’s music. And I’m still writing music. So what I do live, is I improvise a and I, I remember things spontaneously, and I travel between these different things from Bach to South African music, to the kora music to, you know, completely improvised things to things that the guitar suggests… everything.
PAN M 360 : So you you started as a classical while you had a classical training, and your training was in South Africa.
DEREK GRIPPER :Training was in South Africa, partly and also in other countries traveling, you know, to master classes and festivals, but yeah, my main training is in Cape Town, South Africa. It’s not a big thing in Cape Town. I mean you can study classical guitar at the conservatory if you want, but I can’t say that South Africa has produced many classical guitarists. If they are really serious about it, they leave. It’s not an easy place to make a career. So I’m very lucky. I’m probably the only nylon string player who’s making, you know, concerts all around the world and being able to really make a living from performance.
PAN M 360 : And also probably your transcription of Malian music. did help because it’s a very good idea.
DEREK GRIPPER : Yeah, I think that was a you know, it was harder for people to understand what I was doing before, you know, because it’s even hard enough for people to understand but the Malian transcriptions is something very clear. And I took that for 10 years in North America and Europe, Australia. And that was clear for people. « This person has translated choral music for guitar », you know, and that made it easier. Otherwise, it’s a strange mix between improvised music and classical music. Is this guitar music classical? The classical people don’t think it’s fully classical, it’s not jazz either. So it’s hard for people to understand.
PAN M 360 : So, more specifically, how did you develop this langage?
DEREK GRIPPER : Well, when I was playing this kora music at the beginning, I was working from transcriptions I did. So I would take a recording, and I would transcribe it and I would perform that as a composition, like a piece of Bach, because I wanted people to experience this specific piece from West Africa. And then as I learned the music, I learned how to improvise inside this music, I learned how to make my own improvising of it. Then I had my own compositions, which were different. But slowly, those two aspects have come together, and so it started to be a bigger and bigger language.
PAN M 360 : There are now many ways to develop the classical nylon string classical guitar. In an African way, there is no lineage for that king of playing that kind of guitar. The string instruments in Mali are kora or n’goni or other string instruments of that type.
DEREK GRIPPER : Actually Ballaké and I just recorded this album, we haven’t released it yet. We recorded it in London a few months ago. I’m busy finishing the production. What we’re doing and what I’m doing is a sort of improviser’s guide to African music. And what is improvisation in African music is very different to improvisation in jazz and other musics that includes improvisation. It’s collective and it’s about collective memory. But it’s also about spontaneity, and it inhabits a very different space in music. It’s a kind of mimetic improvisation.
PAN M 360 : Well, this is similar to ragas in South Asia and maqâms in Arabic, Turkish or Persian cultures : musicians have to learn and remember beats and phrases, and after improvise with those elements in real time.
DEREK GRIPPER : Yeah, exactly. It’s the recognition and the assumption of the collective. You know, solo improvisation with someone like Keith Jarrett is a great inspiration for me as an improviser. But the myth of the individual improvising his own ideas as a blank stalte, this very western concept that everything comes from the musician, is very different from the griot idea of improvisation. When you listen to someone like Ballaké improvising, he is always aware of what has gone before him. For him, music comes from the collective wisdom.
PAN M 360 : And so it’s a great playground to develop yourself and remaining in Africa even if it’s hard to be understood with what you’re trying to reach.
DEREK GRIPPER : Yeah, slowly, it becomes clearer to me and then to others.
PAN M 360 : It’s not your first time in Montreal, isn’t it?
DEREK GRIPPER : No, I love Montreal. I arrived in Montreal for the first time many years ago. I think it was in the winter series. I went to Balatou in the night time, I walked out of the snow and I walked into Africa, it was incredible. So, coming from Toronto, which for me feels very familiar in the sense of colonial Cape Town,a bubble in Africa, you know, so I’m like, yeah, Toronto, it’s an English colony but then you arrive in Montreal and it’s like, okay, this is a different story. I’ve always had such a good feel for Montreal and I was there last year for Nuits d’Afrique. I played then with the Montreal kora player Zal Sissokho. I have amazing respect for people like Zal, who take their music to this other place completely, especially a place with a hard winter where you can die (!) and you have to create a whole new world for yourself.
PAN M 360 : But this time there won’t be any people on stage but you.
DEREK GRIPPER : Just alone, which is nice because that gives me the best freedom in terms of what I can do. The solo concert is like a realm for me, it’s a free space. I can arrive really with an empty head and then just respond to the audience and the environment and the guitar and the day in and how I am. Just make something fresh happen.
Built around the exceptional legacy of Claude Vivier, who tragically died 40 years ago, the program of La Semaine du Neuf ends up with the ensemble Paramirabo performing (notably) the piece “Paramirabo”, this Friday at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. PAN M 360’s guest is Paramirabo’s musical director and also the artistic director of Groupe Le Vivier, whose name was chosen for the reasons one can imagine. Thus, under the direction of flutist Jeffrey Stonehouse, Paramirabo ensemble explores two works by the late composer as well as two others by eminent composers who were also his teachers: Karlheinz Stockhausen and Gilles Tremblay.
PAN M 360: You have built this Semaine du Neuf around Claude Vivier, one of the most played Quebec composers in the great constellation of contemporary music on an international scale. This is your first signature as artistic director and we can guess why you chose this theme. What do you think about it?
JEFF STONEHOUSE: The idea is to create an event around a theme. This year it’s Claude Vivier and for future editions it will be something else. I like the idea of themes that are linked to a composer or another art form. A theme can be a trigger and generate a ripple effect. So, never rule out the potential to reach the audience by offering them something that interests people.
PAN M 360: For the benefit of our audience, please remind us why the Paramirabo ensemble is called that.
JEFF STONEHOUSE: The founding members of the group met over this piece, and that’s why we have the name. We were actually students (at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal) in the contemporary music class of Véronique Lacroix. We studied this piece, we played this piece. For me, it was my first point of contact with Vivier through this work. Afterwards, it really opened a lot of doors for me because I listened to all of his repertoire and I realized how much it was coming for me. This is also the case with Paramirabo, the ensemble.
PAN M 360: We see that this program has regular members and guests.
JEFF STONEHOUSE: There’s nothing here for the full band – Paramirabo is a sextet. Here, we break into subgroups to play works by Vivier, Stockhausen and Tremblay, with whom Vivier had studied.
PAN M 360: What do you think are the intrinsic qualities of Paramirabo, the work itself?
JEFF STONEHOUSE: What’s interesting about Paramirabo is that the flute-violin-cello trio is really treated as if it were one “organism”. So we observe several motifs in homorhythm, the blend is very important, the rhythmic precision too. The piano is here an almost solo instrument, it has its own part. One of the things that always strikes me about Vivier’s music is the mixture of complexity and almost childlike motifs. In Paramirabo, it is through the whistling of the musicians that this more childlike tone is given. Also, the three musicians (flute, violin, cello) evoke a bit of liturgical or religious music, like a Gregorian chant emanating from the three instruments that become one.
PAN M 360: This sudden candor in Vivier, these more playful moments relax the listener after the more dense passages, more rooted in the idea of Western contemporary music.
JEFF STONEHOUSE: In Vivier’s music, there’s definitely an emotional side that’s present. Because there’s also this fascination with death and a little bit of tragedy that you hear as well. It is slightly less present in Paramirabo than in some of the others.
PAN M 360: Since we’re talking about Vivier, we’ll talk right away about his piece Proliferation, which is the conclusion of the program and the title of your concert. After that, we’ll go to Stockhausen and Tremblay.
JEFF STONEHOUSE: Proliferation is a very interesting work. It has the presence of the Ondes Martenot played by Daniel Agnès. The instrumentation is a bit strange and it gives a very particular flavor. It is a challenge for the musicians to set up but also to understand the score, these open sections that require choices among the performers.
PAN M 360: Now, if we look at the interventions of each one in this and the collective work. How do you see all of that in this context, in the interpretation that you want to do?
JEFF STONEHOUSE: Yeah, I’m definitely speaking for the colleagues here because there’s no flute in this one. I would say that the collective sound is treated differently from Paramirabo. Proliferation is a work that comes early in Claude Vivier’s repertoire – late 60s. And so the style is a little different. I was saying that at the end of the 70s, his style became more precise and we discovered music more typical of his work as we perceive it today. With Proliferation, we see a different period of the composer.
PAN M 360: Let’s move on to the works in the middle of the program, first Stockhausen’s Refrain.
JEFF STONEHOUSE: The connection is obvious: Vivier was a student of Stockhausen. The instrumentation of Refrain… it’s something! Piano, vibraphone, woodblocks, celesta, composed a little earlier than Vivier’s piece, but with similar instrumentation. And so what I find interesting is that there is a texture with a short refrain that comes back. The textures are almost transparent and the audience can perceive them along the way, which makes it a very different work.
PAN M 360: The other work on the program is by Gilles Tremblay, who is part of the first generation of contemporary music in Quebec, we’re talking about Pierre Mercure and other Serge Garant.
JEFF STONEHOUSE: Yes I would say that it is the door of the European music in Quebec. For me, it’s mostly through Gilles Tremblay. I love Triojubilus. David Robbins and I have played it 3 times in the last few years. It’s a work with strange instruments. Here we have the flute and an assortment of cowbells of all sizes – over 40 of them! It really produces an effect where you feel the gamelan music. There’s really something special about the resonance of the cowbells – you could call it something else… Triojubilus is one of the works influenced by Asian percussion music, including the Balinese gamelan. The structure is interesting. It opens with a rather furnished flute solo, then the harp and the cowbells really act together in homorhythm. In Tremblay’s music, there are also playful moments, games between the performers. For example, the harpist has to respond as quickly as possible to the interventions of the percussion. This creates almost comical moments at times, where the musicians can play tricks on their interlocutors.
PAN M 360: These four works create a beautiful corpus and revive the work of Vivier and his colleagues. We’re finally waking up!
JEFF STONEHOUSE: In Quebec, I think we are a little slow to wake up. In Europe, for example, his work “hits” much more than here. I also know a broadcaster from Toronto (Soundstreams) who has made his career largely on adaptations of Claude Vivier’s music. He tells me that in Europe, he has no problem imposing this repertoire because there is a real interest. Vivier is one of the well-known composers who are accepted in contemporary music programs. I have been in Quebec for 15 years and I had never heard Bouchara until the opening night of the Semaine du Neuf!
TO CLOSE THE SEMAINE DU NEUF, THE PARAMIRABO ENSEMBLE PERFORMS THIS FRIDAY, 7:30 PM, AT THE CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC OF MONTREAL
With this seventh effort, UK Grim (twelfth if you count albums prior to Andrew Fearn’s arrival), Sleaford Mods follow up the popular 2021 album Spare Ribs, which managed to crack the UK Top 5. At the time, the UK was grappling with the pandemic, Brexit, and turbulent political and cultural unrest. If the lockdown helped focus the duo’s anger on Spare Ribs, UK Grim sees them reacting to an increasingly complicated post-pandemic world and is a real middle finger to the prevailing gloom.
Led by singer Jason Williamson’s acerbic attacks and Andrew Fearn’s austere, minimalist production, UK Grim is probably one of the Nottingham duo’s most scathing and hard-hitting records. But while there is plenty of rage on UK Grim, there is also plenty of heart, introspection, and subtlety. The album also features a collaboration with Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction and Florence Shaw of Dry Cleaning.
“In England, nobody can hear you scream,” Williamson chants on the title track. He may not scream, but he knows how to make himself heard, and we listened to him and his partner in crime Andrew Fearn, who is not usually prone to journalistic chatter, in a recent interview with the pair.
PAN M 360: There isn’t a shortage of topics to write about. War, the pandemic, inflation, despair, poverty, UK politics… So many that it might even be hard to choose! How do you come up with lyrics for a typical Sleaford Mods song?
Jason Williamson: It could be anything, really not necessarily politics, although that plays a big part into it. It could literally be anything, whatever springs to mind, whatever I feel is satisfying my need to express some anger, or some sorrow, or whatever. You know, I mean, there’s a lot of introspective stuff on the new record. And that kind of trend continues from Spare Ribs. For whatever, really, it can be nonsense, absurd. You know, it can be completely weird, whatever, whatever sounds right, even if the words don’t mean anything.
PAN M 360: Then Is it harder to find beats that will go along with the lyrics? Andrew, I was wondering how much time you spend creating those beats and how you work, to try not to repeat yourself but rather reinvent yourself.
Andrew Fearn: I make music all the time, even if I wasn’t successful, I’d be making music every day. It’s quite good because I can just make stuff that I think will work for Jason. I can just send over a load of stuff.
PAN M 360: So you both work on music, or it’s mostly you, Andrew.
Jason Williamson: It’s actually, Andrew, yeah.
PAN M 360: And what comes up first, words or music?
Jason Williamson: Words or music. It doesn’t really matter. The words mean something but they don’t get elevated until Andrew sends music over.
Andrew Fearn: After 10 years of doing it together, I kind of know what’s something that he can get his teeth into, We’re not to reinventing the wheel here, you know, it’s quite obvious. Quite often the tracks are the wrong way around as well. So what sounds like the chorus will be the verse and vice versa. For as long as there’s like two parts, which are usually the same thing. (laugh) I mean, we’re keeping it open. But making something that’s enjoyable to put some lyrics to ultimately.
Jason Williamson: You know, it always looks after itself. I mean, obviously, I have to write lyrics and obviously, Andrew has to write music, but when the two meet, they kind of look after themselves, almost, you know what I mean?
PAN M 360: On this new album, you have again some collaborators, as for the previous one. This time it’s Florence Shaw from Dry Cleaning, who is featured on the track “Force 10 From Navarone,” and Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro from Jane’s Addiction for the track “So Trendy.” For the former, it’s a bit of a given, but for Jane’s Addiction, it’s a pretty strange combination, isn’t it?
Jason Williamson: Well, we did some demos in March 2021, before we went on tour, and one of those was “So Trendy.” We put it into the back of our minds and we went on tour for a year. But around sort of like May time, Perry Farrell’s manager got in touch and asked if we’d liked to write a song with him. So we said yes, even though we’re not avid Jane’s Addiction fans. But we’ve always thought he was quite interesting. And that became apparent as soon as me and Andrew were like, “Yeah, why not? He’s a cool bloke, you know?” So it took about six months to write that song, it was going back and forth. It’s different.
PAN M 360 : So did he contribute to the lyrics too?
Jason Williamson: Yes, he did his own verse, and, came in with the choruses and added that really nice harmony behind mine on the chorus. It’s quite a bright song, but at the same time, sounding very not bright at all. (laughs) It’s quite dark as well. And it’s got that kind of metal machine, Dead Kennedys guitar sound to it, you know what I mean? it’s really quite abrasive. It works, you know.
PAN M 360: So that’s Navarro’s guitar?
Jason Williamson: No, it’s Andrew’s guitar.
Andrew Fearn: Dave only does it once in the track, near the end of the track, a little guitar riff thing.
Jason Williamson: We didn’t feel it needed too much of it, you know. So it’s an interesting try, one that initially I was a bit concerned about, because it’s quite bright, but it works!
PAN M 360: And what about that one with Florence Shaw? That was more obvious, I believe.
Jason Williamson: It’s a little bit more in keeping with our sounds, yes. But again, it’s quite sinister. It’s possibly some of the best music Andrew has done, I think. It’s really good. I don’t know what it is, to be honest… But yes, I would say it’s closer to the Sleaford sound.
PAN M 360: Would you say that UK Grim is more of an English album than the others?
Jason Williamson: I mean, we’re quite English, you know? (laughs)
Andrew Fearn: I’d say it’s a bit more international, in a sense. It definitely got more similar themes or vibes. I think it sort of reflects the fact that we’ve been out and seeing bits of the world in some way. Not directly, obviously.
Jason Williamson: I think the title, the jacket of it is very English. And the optics are very centered on this country.
Andrew Fearn: No getting away from that, isn’t it?
Jason Williamson: No. it’s the post-lockdown album, where the energy hasn’t been released, and where the aggression and the anger and the unreasonableness are at a very high level in a lot of people since lockdown. So I kind of looked at it like that lyrically, you know?
PAN M 360: There was a lot of stuff that happened in Britain in the last few years. Maybe it inspired you to write about those topics and have a more Britain-focused album somehow, lyrically speaking.
Jason Williamson: Yes, but I guess all our albums are really English. Because we do sound so very English. So, therefore… And the music, I think in a lot of respects, is of this country, it just reminds me of the rhythms and the feeling and the energies of this country. Yeah, that’s an interesting observation.
Andrew Fearn: Well I suppose the influences are a bit more like late ’80s hip-hop, and, you know, smash someone up a bit more, rather than sounding like some sort of punk. It’s still very British, but it’s more ’90s British musically in a way, you know? All electronic, which is still a very British identity. Britain’s had some great electronic bands through the ’80s and ’90s.
PAN M 360: On the song “D.I. Why,” without naming them, you poke at certain types of bands. I mean, your feud with Idles was well publicized, so will this song stir up some more shit? But maybe it’s what you guys expect?
Jason Williamson: I didn’t do it to stir some shit, I just did it because I think they’re such cunts, you know. Somebody reviewed it and said that my Achilles heel was letting people like this bother me and that we should be above them. And they’ve got a really good point, to be honest. At this stage in our career, we shouldn’t even look at it. But I always remember what it was like to be nothing, and then to feel like I was being lectured by these idiots … I kind of almost automatically responded to it. Because I know that they’re all a set of jealous bastards who can’t do anything themselves, and they’re still in the same situation, releasing the same music. Some of them might be happy with that. But as you and I well know, this industry is full of people who want to get somewhere. So, you know, it’s just me having a go at them really. It’s not me being right. And it’s not me being wrong either, I suppose.
PAN M 360: So you guys have been accused of what exactly? Selling out or succeeding?
Jason Williamson: Oh God, yeah, selling out… I got accused because I kind of had a more reasoned view of Spotify. That didn’t go down too well with some of these people that believe that it should start paying you. It’s not going to pay, Spotify will never pay you ever, look at it. I’d be surprised if it did, you know. It’s just not Bandcamp. So the idea was just to skirt around it. It’s an obstacle you need to get over, like any obstacle. You know, they’re always there. If it’s not corporate record labels, it’s always something else. So, then I got accused to be in this, and I was obviously softened by success. Just bullshit fucking bullshit. It’s just naivety, you know, but at the same time, I find myself moaning about it and it’s quite petty really, isn’t it? And I like the pettiness… The pettiness really feeds into the lyrics sometimes, I am attracted to the idea of intelligence to a certain degree, reasonableness, and pettiness. They pepper lyrics in a way that makes me feel like I’m speaking something that is legible and truthful, rather than just being whatever, just talking about dog shit that nobody can really relate to.
PAN M 360: So rather than asking you to name a few of these bands, I will ask you which band or artists you really like. Obviously Amyl & the Sniffers and Dry Cleaning. Any others?
Jason Williamson: Oh, that’s really nice. Lovely. Thank you. What bands that we like currently? Dry Cleaning. Obviously. LoneLady, I’m listening to a lot of. She’s from Manchester, she’s been around for about 10 years. She was signed to Mute. I think she’s left Mute Records now but she’s really good. You ought to check her out, quite minimal, it kind of reminds me of Andrews’s music a little bit. What else? What are you listening to Andrew?
Andrew Fearn: No thoughts really… I mean people that are small. There are these guys from Newcastle called Badger. They’re like a two-piece sort of electronic music-style band. Yeah, a lot of things, really a lot of unheard-of artists. But then I buy a lot of records as well. So I bought some more Autechre reissues today. An Adrian Sherwood record too, Dub No Frontiers. It’s absolutely brilliant. It’s like dub-reggae but the vocals are all female. Like the first track is sung in Mandarin, then in Japanese, Hindi… And it’s just cool hearing females singing in different languages overdub. It sounds fresh.
PAN M 360: You both are at an age where one usually settles down, comes down, resigning itself. And you’re just the opposite. So how do you explain this refusal to, let’s say, fall in line?
Jason Williamson: (sigh) Well, I mean, some people say we fell in line a lot a long time ago, you know? But, no, it wouldn’t sound very good if we fell in line, would it? It would sound absolutely terrible (laughs).
Andrew Fearn: Jason was in a relatively low pay job. And I was in part-time working, or unemployed… so, you know, it’s not like we’ve come from any kind of privileged background. We’re from that kind of scene. I mean, why can’t we be successful? You know what I mean? It’s the best thing to do! (laughs)
Jason Williamson: I mean, we wouldn’t fall in line. We won’t get producers in at this stage. I don’t think we’ll ever do that. Because it would just kill it. And who is going to step forward and do something as good as Andrew? Unless someone’s gonna step forward and blow us both away. Then even that, you know, you kind of feel a bit cheated.
Andrew Fearn: You don’t want to have Mark Ronson come in! You would think “Who is that?”
Jason Williamson: Oh that would be fucking terrible (laughs). To me, this is what falling in line will be, getting a producer. And, I don’t know, just being a bit more shiny, having everything like fucking tuned up on your songs. Not good. We just don’t because we care about music. I really like the music. It really turns me on, it’s fucking great. You know, every album, every demo he (Andrew) sends over, it’s a challenge, it’s interesting, it’s colourful. And I wouldn’t want that to change.
Andrew Fearn: We’ve been able to do it our own way. We’ve been able to create our own style. And, you know, we’re not making hip-hop, or we’re not just adding to a genre that’s already there. We create our own music. So I don’t think anyone will be able to do it. You know, they could impersonate what I do, but I think you’d be able to tell that it wasn’t made by me. And that’s not me showing off. I’m quite flawed in the way I produce music, but then that’s what gives it a lot of character.
PAN M 360: I read recently an interview you guys gave, I think it was with the NME, that the further you go with this, the more you both feel like stepping out of the mould. So what mould are we talking about?
Jason Williamson: That was me saying that. I think that we both feel as if like, we can relax a little bit with the strict formula we had before. You know, loosen it up a little bit and warp it, and mold it a little bit more, and try other things out. Like the collaborations; we initially were skeptical about them, but they really work. The production from Andrew’s side has improved, it just got better. His variations on the stuff he does, and how he makes his stuff. Quite a lot of things can be possible with the sound. And I would imagine that, as we keep going forward with this, other things will reveal themselves, you know … There’s a cycle of shouting male, white bands in this country that keeps going round and round… I think the main thing, from my point of view, is not to be worried about what’s going on around us so much, and just do what we do.
Young pianist Felix Hong has been honored several times.In 2016, he was awarded first prize in the Canimex Canadian Music Competition. In 2017, he won the Prix d’Europe and was named to the CBC’s list of the 30 most promising classical musicians under the age of 30.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Felix Hong settled in Canada in 2012 to pursue his studies in music at McGill University. Afterwards, he did his master’s degree in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
For his recital, he intend to perform works by Alexander Scriabin, Nikolai Medtner and Nikolai Kapustin.
PAN M 360 : More precisely, where did your family settle in Canada before you attend McGill University?
FELIX HONG : My family was settled in Montreal before I came to Canada! Prior to attending McGill, I have visited Montreal for a few summers as a child.
PAN M 360 : How came this inspiration for being a professional classical pianist?
FELIX HONG : When I was in high school, I had the opportunity to perform Chopin Piano Concerto No.1 with an orchestra. It is still one of the most memorable experiences on stage as I really felt the connection between me and the music. For quite some time afterwards, my biggest wish was to have the opportunity to play with an orchestra again in my life because I want to relive that moment. It eventually became my motivation to work hard on piano and pursue a career as a professional classical pianist.
PAN M 360 : When did you realize you had this gift to pursue?
FELIX HONG : I realized that I have the gift to pursue when I was able to develop my own interpretations on different works. I also realized that I have the determination to pursue when I can spend hours on the piano exploring different expression that I want to convey in a certain passage of music
PAN M 360 :Who were your key teachers in Canada?
FELIX HONG : I completed my Bachelor degree and Artist Diploma at McGill with Professor Ilya Poletaev. There is always so much knowledge that I can learn from him and his lessons are so inspiring!
PAN M 360 : Why have you chosen to pursue in UK?
FELIX HONG : For my master degree, I also applied to conservatories in the United States. The reason why I ended up choosing UK to study at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama was not only because of my professor Ronan O’Hora, but also the opportunities that Guildhall provides to their students are unmatchable. (such as masterclasses and chamber music studies…etc.)
PAN M 360 : Where are you based now?
FELIX HONG : Currently, I am going back and forth between Montreal and Toronto. Despite being away from time to time, I am still proud to call Montreal my hometown!
PAN M 360 : It’s hard to say from the musician himself but let’s try : how would you describe your pianistic characteristic at this stage of your development?
FELIX HONG : This is indeed a very hard question to answer! Personally, I believe one’s pianistic characteristic can be related (or partially related) to their personalities; since performing is essentially another method to communicate. As I am a rather shy person, I have always naturally felt more comfortable performing lyrical, exquisite pieces. However, I wanted more development in myself to be a more complete artist, thus this year I picked a very challenging Kapustin Sonata to work on, which probably has one of the most virtuosic and flashy last movement I have ever played.
PAN M 360 : What is your quest as an interpret?
FELIX HONG : My quest as an interpret is to ensure that my audiences receive what character am I trying to deliver while I am performing the music. This depends on different works: I could be telling a story, and trying to walk the audiences along as we move into contrasting sections, I could be also simply creating an aura, and bring my audiences into a certain mood.
PAN M 360 : About the program. You’ve chosen Russian (and Russian Ukrainian) composers. So you must have an appeal for them. How did it happen in your artistic life?
FELIX HONG : I have been introduced to Medtner by Ilya during my studies at McGill. I was fascinated by Medtner’s ability in storytelling in his pieces; the way how Medtner’s composition techniques can be so sophisticated, adventurous but keeping everything together tight is just marvelous. On the other hand,
Scriabin has always been one of my favorite composers; studying his music from his earlier periods all the way to “late Scriabin” is quite a journey as we see how Scriabin develops his unique “colors” and gesture of expression. His music in his “mid period” where he was wandering by the boundaries of tonality is exceptionally beautiful.
I actually discovered Kapustin’s music from Youtube’s “Autoplay Next Video”, as one of his concert etudes pops up. Unlike many classical composers who added “jazz elements” into their compositions, Kapustin’s music has a jazz essence, with a classical formation structure. With that, Kapustin maintains jazz harmonies throughout his work, I failed in love studying his music immediately because of the colorful , but at the same time ambiguous harmonies.
PAN M 360 : We have here 2 generations of Russian composers. Can you comment on this choice
FELIX HONG : While Scriabin and Medtner shares relatively more similar style in terms of music in the late romantic period. Kapustin’s music also inherited many Russian music’s texture, for example in his neighboring long linear writing. I made the choice to present 2 generations of Russian composers to showcase how contrasting in musical styles they can be but can also have similar voice and compositional techniques at the same time.
PAN M 360 : Please give us an appeal of each challenge and love for playing those
The 2 Mélodies oubliées from Medtner – beginning of 20th century:
FELIX HONG : Even though this is probably one of the less complicated Medtner’s sonata, it doesn’t erase the fact that the Sonata Tragica has many virtuosic challenges and the difficulty to present a complete big picture of this work. My love for playing this piece is in the coda: even though technical very demanding but there is nothing more satisfying than playing a coda written by Medtner!
The 5 préludes and 2 Poèmes from Scriabin – end of 19th century:
FELIX HONG : Out of all the preludes set that Scriabin wrote, the Op.16 set has probably the thinnest texture while reserving a huge amount of emotion. My love for playing Scriabin music is it often has a huge amount of room to make creative rubato and explore different possibilities of voicings.
The Kapustin Sonata no 1, – end od 20th century, sometimes very close to modern jazz.
FELIX HONG : In Kapustin’s first piano sonata, the most challenging part is to execute the complexity of its rhythm: the upbeat gestures, syncopations and rests are very challenging for a classically trained pianist. I enjoy playing this work a lot not only because jazz harmonies are so satisfying to hear! Jazz music can really help us pianists work with two-hand coordination, and creating different colors.
PAN M 360 : What are the next steps for Felix Hong?
FELIX HONG : In the past two years, I was mainly focusing as a collaborative pianist at McGill. While taking a break this year, I am able to work on more solo repertoire and various projects. I am planning to have a program of more Kapustin’s sonatas ready later in the year, and I can’t wait to present them so that more people can enjoy this classical-jazz amalgamation!
FELIX HONG PERFORMS RUSSIAN MUSIC ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15TH, 12 PM, SALLE CLAUDE-LÉVEILLÉE, PLACE DES ARTS. THIS PROGRAM IS PRESENTED BY PRO MUSICA
NIKOLAI MEDTNER, Mélodies oubliées, op.39, IV. Canzona Matinata NIKOLAI MEDTNER, Mélodies oubliées, op.39, V. Sonata Tragica ALEXANDER SCRIABIN, 5 Préludes, op.16 ALEXANDER SCRIABIN, Deux Poèmes, op.32 NIKOLAI KAPUSTIN, Sonate pour piano no. 1“Sonate fantaisie”, op.39
Forty years ago, Quebec composer Claude Vivier passed away, leaving behind him a body of work as fascinating as it was unheard of, whose lasting influence is still palpable in the music of our creators today. Held from March 7-17, 2023, the Semaine du Neuf, an event organized by Le Vivier, which is in its first edition this year, will pay tribute to this giant of Quebec music through a series of concerts dedicated to part of his production.
On Tuesday, March 14, 2023, it will be the Temps Fort Choir’s turn to take the stage at the Monument National to present Journal, a monumental composition with dizzying technical demands, rarely performed in public, and whose last performance in Montreal dates back to 2009.
PAN M 360 spoke with Pascal Germain-Bérardi, artistic director of this emerging ensemble, to learn more about the process that led to the existence of this project, the challenges of performing such a piece, and what the conductor and his group have learned from it.
PAN M 360: The Temps Fort Choir, of which you are the artistic director, is a growing musical ensemble. How did you come to be asked to perform Claude Vivier’s Journal for the Semaine du Neuf?
PASCAL GERMAIN-BÉRARDI: This project was initiated by percussionist David Therrien Brongo. He and I already knew each other, as we were in the same metal band in the past. David is studying the music of many Quebec composers as part of his PhD. So he was aware of the fact that Journal had been performed here very little in Quebec. He also knew that I run a choir and that I like to do things that are off the beaten path—it is this aspect of our practice that has established the choir’s reputation and given us credibility with granting agencies. As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Claude Vivier’s death this year, it seemed like the perfect time to tackle this ambitious program.
PAN M 360: Journal is a highly virtuosic piece where many forces come into play, both in terms of textures and sound planes. How does a conductor reconcile these technical challenges with the inherent intimacy of the work?
PASCAL GERMAIN-BÉRARDI: As soon as I laid eyes on the score, I knew immediately that this was the most difficult work I had ever conducted. And yet I have conducted Stravinsky, Bartók and Penderecki during my university career! Several members of the choir and soloists have expressed similar opinions. We had to rehearse for a total of 35 hours to achieve our goal, which is much more than for a standard classical music concert, where the average is around 9 to 12 hours. But the difficulties are such that it was necessary to make this extra effort.
The first step in my work with the singers was to isolate the most complex parts of the work. This involved a lot of rhythmic solfeggio, on the one hand, but also a thorough analysis of each of the chords stated in the piece so that each performer could appreciate its distinctive colours. This step was particularly long and arduous. When one plays an instrument like the piano, the accuracy of the sound is not a concern in itself. You just have to press the key to hear the associated note. In singing, this is not possible. It is therefore necessary to integrate the chords one by one in their respective context in order to better feel them and to attack them with confidence during the performance. Fortunately, Vivier’s harmonic language is very intelligible. I also allowed the singers to bring a tuning fork on stage for him to use in case of insecurity. This is not something I usually do, but in the context of a concert, it seemed justified, if only to ensure the well-being of everyone.
PAN M 360: This desire to think outside the box is one of the first things one reads about your ensemble on its website. There are also references to the desire to share powerful moments, the excitement of the ritual of passage, the miracle of a performance, and even music as a survival instinct. In short: a visceral experience.
PASCAL GERMAIN-BÉRARDI: Yes, my relationship to music is visceral, whether we’re talking about metal or punk rock, but that’s true for any style where there’s a very strong energy. Classical music is no exception to this type of intensity—think of Beethoven’s ability to break down walls and conventions, Bruckner’s grandiose, almost cosmic music, the death metal nature of some of Shostakovich’s works, or the tribal nature of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. The concert is for me a privileged moment to share the fruit of our work with the public. It gives us the opportunity to broaden their horizons, to make them experience strong emotions, to teach them something about themselves and to elevate them while giving them a good time. These aspects are fundamental to me and guide every thought I have before producing a concert.
In the case of Journal it is a little different, because its intensity is found less in the raw energy that emanates from it than in the depth of the affects from which Vivier draws his inspiration. The work is divided into four sections: childhood, love, death and after death. Each of these sections is filled with moments of fragility. The love sequence, for example, explores the abandonment of one’s first great love, that moment when one is convinced that one has found in the other the part that completes one. It also deals with the feeling of love that is confused with sexual attraction, the countless questions that its pursuit can generate, as well as the whirlwind of panic that can take hold of us when it suddenly leaves us and we feel as if we have lost it forever.
Human reflection often takes the form of thoughts that unfold simultaneously on different planes. Then, without warning, a fixed and latent idea comes to take all the place, the space of an instant, then declines in a new tree of ideas. Vivier, I believe, translates well this tumultuous cerebral activity. It is the accumulation of these layers and the way they are treated that gives the work its great intensity. It is also in this sense that I approached my work with the singers. Once the technical challenges were overcome, I focused on the meaning and scope of these affects, and on the way they are embodied in the score. Sometimes a piano subito can mean more than just a gentle dynamic. It can also be a symbol of complete uncertainty.
PAN M 360: After all those hours spent working hard to give shape to these complex ideas and crossing the line between life and death a thousand times over through Vivier’s work: what have you learned and how has the group grown from it?
PASCAL GERMAIN-BÉRARDI: Some of the singers have told me that their rhythmic solfeggio is now going to “wipe” (laughs). Others have mentioned that the complexity of Journal has allowed them to put into perspective certain works of the repertoire to which they have been exposed. They also feel a great deal of pride in being part of such a special event. But more than that, there is a strong sense of accomplishment. And that’s something I look for in my projects and value greatly.
Forty years ago, Quebec composer Claude Vivier passed away, leaving behind him a body of work as fascinating as it was unheard of, whose lasting influence is still palpable in the music of our creators today. Held from March 7-17, 2023, the Semaine du Neuf, an event organized by Le Vivier, which is in its first edition this year, will pay tribute to this giant of Quebec music through a series of concerts dedicated to part of his production.
On Tuesday, March 14, 2023, it will be the Temps Fort Choir’s turn to take the stage at the Monument National to present Journal, a monumental composition with dizzying technical demands, rarely performed in public, and whose last performance in Montreal dates back to 2009.
PAN M 360 spoke with Pascal Germain-Bérardi, artistic director of this emerging ensemble, to learn more about the process that led to the existence of this project, the challenges of performing such a piece, and what the conductor and his group have learned from it.
PAN M 360: The Temps Fort Choir, of which you are the artistic director, is a growing musical ensemble. How did you come to be asked to perform Claude Vivier’s Journal for the Semaine du Neuf?
PASCAL GERMAIN-BÉRARDI: This project was initiated by percussionist David Therrien Brongo. He and I already knew each other, as we were in the same metal band in the past. David is studying the music of many Quebec composers as part of his PhD. So he was aware of the fact that Journal had been performed here very little in Quebec. He also knew that I run a choir and that I like to do things that are off the beaten path—it is this aspect of our practice that has established the choir’s reputation and given us credibility with granting agencies. As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Claude Vivier’s death this year, it seemed like the perfect time to tackle this ambitious program.
PAN M 360: Journal is a highly virtuosic piece where many forces come into play, both in terms of textures and sound planes. How does a conductor reconcile these technical challenges with the inherent intimacy of the work?
PASCAL GERMAIN-BÉRARDI: As soon as I laid eyes on the score, I knew immediately that this was the most difficult work I had ever conducted. And yet I have conducted Stravinsky, Bartók and Penderecki during my university career! Several members of the choir and soloists have expressed similar opinions. We had to rehearse for a total of 35 hours to achieve our goal, which is much more than for a standard classical music concert, where the average is around 9 to 12 hours. But the difficulties are such that it was necessary to make this extra effort.
The first step in my work with the singers was to isolate the most complex parts of the work. This involved a lot of rhythmic solfeggio, on the one hand, but also a thorough analysis of each of the chords stated in the piece so that each performer could appreciate its distinctive colours. This step was particularly long and arduous. When one plays an instrument like the piano, the accuracy of the sound is not a concern in itself. You just have to press the key to hear the associated note. In singing, this is not possible. It is therefore necessary to integrate the chords one by one in their respective context in order to better feel them and to attack them with confidence during the performance. Fortunately, Vivier’s harmonic language is very intelligible. I also allowed the singers to bring a tuning fork on stage for him to use in case of insecurity. This is not something I usually do, but in the context of a concert, it seemed justified, if only to ensure the well-being of everyone.
PAN M 360: This desire to think outside the box is one of the first things one reads about your ensemble on its website. There are also references to the desire to share powerful moments, the excitement of the ritual of passage, the miracle of a performance, and even music as a survival instinct. In short: a visceral experience.
PASCAL GERMAIN-BÉRARDI: Yes, my relationship to music is visceral, whether we’re talking about metal or punk rock, but that’s true for any style where there’s a very strong energy. Classical music is no exception to this type of intensity—think of Beethoven’s ability to break down walls and conventions, Bruckner’s grandiose, almost cosmic music, the death metal nature of some of Shostakovich’s works, or the tribal nature of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. The concert is for me a privileged moment to share the fruit of our work with the public. It gives us the opportunity to broaden their horizons, to make them experience strong emotions, to teach them something about themselves and to elevate them while giving them a good time. These aspects are fundamental to me and guide every thought I have before producing a concert.
In the case of Journal it is a little different, because its intensity is found less in the raw energy that emanates from it than in the depth of the affects from which Vivier draws his inspiration. The work is divided into four sections: childhood, love, death and after death. Each of these sections is filled with moments of fragility. The love sequence, for example, explores the abandonment of one’s first great love, that moment when one is convinced that one has found in the other the part that completes one. It also deals with the feeling of love that is confused with sexual attraction, the countless questions that its pursuit can generate, as well as the whirlwind of panic that can take hold of us when it suddenly leaves us and we feel as if we have lost it forever.
Human reflection often takes the form of thoughts that unfold simultaneously on different planes. Then, without warning, a fixed and latent idea comes to take all the place, the space of an instant, then declines in a new tree of ideas. Vivier, I believe, translates well this tumultuous cerebral activity. It is the accumulation of these layers and the way they are treated that gives the work its great intensity. It is also in this sense that I approached my work with the singers. Once the technical challenges were overcome, I focused on the meaning and scope of these affects, and on the way they are embodied in the score. Sometimes a piano subito can mean more than just a gentle dynamic. It can also be a symbol of complete uncertainty.
PAN M 360: After all those hours spent working hard to give shape to these complex ideas and crossing the line between life and death a thousand times over through Vivier’s work: what have you learned and how has the group grown from it?
PASCAL GERMAIN-BÉRARDI: Some of the singers have told me that their rhythmic solfeggio is now going to “wipe” (laughs). Others have mentioned that the complexity of Journal has allowed them to put into perspective certain works of the repertoire to which they have been exposed. They also feel a great deal of pride in being part of such a special event. But more than that, there is a strong sense of accomplishment. And that’s something I look for in my projects and value greatly.
As part of the Semaine du Neuf, which pays tribute to Claude Vivier and other composers of the Événements du Neuf (1979-1988), Groupe Le Vivier presents a multidisciplinary concert: The Lonely Child Project.
Led by soprano Stacie Dunlop, artists Angola Murdoch (aerial dance), Holly Treddenick (aerial dance) and the Lonely Child Collective revisit three of the composer’s works in a world premiere concert where song, circus, dance and music meet in a spectacular staging.
PAN M 360 spoke with David Therrien-Brongo, percussionist, teacher and researcher who will accompany the artists of the concert with the Quatuor Bozzini, to discuss his involvement in the project, but also the music of Claude Vivier in general.
PAN M 360: Could you tell us the genesis of the Lonely Child project?
DAVID THERRIEN-BRONGO: This project came from Stacie Dunlop. I came into the project afterwards because she wanted to integrate choreography into Claude Vivier’s Cinq chansons pour percussions. When they found out I was playing it, because it’s not a piece that’s performed very often and I had the instruments to do it, they contacted me instead of using a recording.
PAN M 360: It was the fact that you are playing this piece as part of your doctoral studies that piqued their interest.
DAVID THERRIEN-BRONGO: Right. It’s a play I’ve been doing for a while. I had done a re-orchestration of it where instead of using Indonesian gongs I used marimbas, because I didn’t have the gongs for it. I played it a few years ago in Spain and in the final of the Prix d’Europe in Montreal. In the meantime, I have taken steps to acquire the original instruments that Vivier used for the creation of the work, those of Toronto-based percussionist David Kent. I will be performing the piece at my final recital in May and I have also recorded the piece for an album to be released next summer.
PAN M 360: Lonely Child is a landmark piece by Claude Vivier that has some significance because it was inspired by spectral music. Can you tell us a bit more about this paradigm shift in his writing?
DAVID THERRIEN-BRONGO: Claude Vivier’s music, especially Lonely Child, Orion, Wo bist du Licht! is marked – and this I think is unique to him – by a kind of timbral spectralism. So it’s not just taking a note and playing with its harmonic spectrum, but playing with the timbre. For example with Lonely Child, everything is written around the sound of the rin (Japanese bell) from which he will take the timbre, which is not necessarily pure, to write his harmony. Orion is the same thing where he will base himself on the sounds of certain Balinese, Javanese and Thai gongs. So his harmonic writing is mainly based on percussion. This is what he tries to reproduce, especially in imposing chords that imitate the sound of a gong.
PAN M 360: Do you think Claude Vivier’s music lends itself well to the circus art form?
DAVID THERRIEN-BRONGO: I think so. I think it’s really interesting, especially for the Five Songs. They are very poetic and meditative pieces at times. The piece sections five moments a time in the day or in daily life. Each little movement really has its own personality that is very adaptable to dance or different visual arts.
PAN M 360: As a musician, does working with other artists require you to adapt to their playing and parameters or do they have to adapt to the parameters of the music? What is the creative process involved in co-creations like this where you pair two art forms?
DAVID THERRIEN-BRONGO: Well, first of all, we definitely work differently. We learn our music for the concert, but once it’s ready, it’s ready, whereas those who have choreographies to prepare need the music beforehand. So we can’t put the show together at the same pace. The music has to be ready for the choreographers to work and then we put it all together. For example, I was asked to work with my recorded version, but my recording is not yet ready, so I worked with another recording that I was inspired by. So, for sure, there will be some work to do with the dancer to adapt certain moments where for example I will make certain organ points longer or shorter, depending on what the choreography brings, and at other moments, it will be maybe up to Holly [Treddenick] to adapt to what I do. The important thing, and this is for any multidisciplinary collaboration, is to understand the issues of the other art form and adapt to each other.
PAN M 360: Can we see in this approach a kind of total work of art (gesamptkuntswerk), as Richard Wagner saw it, that is to say a form of synthesis of all art forms to create something that captivates the public?
DAVID THERRIEN-BRONGO: Yes, absolutely. And even though Vivier’s music, especially Five Songs, was not written with that intention, I think there are many works by Vivier, and his corpus in general, that are thought of that way. If only because he wrote his librettos himself, or because his music was inspired a lot by Balinese music, but also – and this is less talked about – by the music of the Far East, of Thailand, of Japan and of the Noh theater. There is always a part of theatricality in his music, even if beyond the types of movements, there are no real indications in the score.
But, if we rely on other works he wrote around the same time, notably Journal, a piece for choir, four soloists and percussionist, which I will perform in another concert with the Temps Fort Choir, is a kind of non-religious oratorio, with a story, which is not linear. The percussionist must also take part in the action. I have to talk, interact with the soloists as well. So, for the Lonely Child Project, even though the works were not thought of as a total work of art, it lends itself well to that.
PAN M 360: To conclude, what place does Claude Vivier occupy in the Quebec music world according to you?
DAVID THERRIEN-BRONGO: He does not occupy the place which is due to him. In my opinion, he is the greatest Quebec and Canadian composer. His music is unique. It’s true that you can say that about many composers, you can say that about Stockhausen, for example, to whom he was also close. But Vivier, his music is above all accessible without being easy. And this is not given to everyone.
It is not a music which, when you listen to it, is intellectual and where there are barriers. There is a naivety in the perception of his music, even if it is thoughtful and difficult to play. It’s true that contemporary “classical” music is always a bit of a poor relation in the debates around contemporary arts, but his name should be heard and played more.
In music, his name, and that of Gille Tremblay who was his teacher, are the equivalent of what Michel Tremblay is to literature. Even if he did not teach, Vivier has marked all the composers after him and all the performers who have made contemporary music; we owe him a lot for what he brought.
Presented in the context of the Semaine du Neuf, The Lonely Child Project is performed at Monument National, 9PM, Thursday March 9th. The show will be preceded by a panel led by singer Marie-Annick Béliveau at 6 PM and projections by Michael Greyeyes at 7PM.
Flutist Marie-Hélène Breault and pianist Pamela Reimer pays tribute to three founding Canadian composers of the “Events of the Nine” that were founding rituals of Montreal composers from the end of the Seventies through the end ot the Eighties: the late Claude Vivier, John Rea and José Evangelista who died at the beginning of this year.
Mes Hommages II is a natural continuation to “Mes Hommages”, a recording put out in March 2020 by Breault and Reimer. The duo had previously performed this repertoire in January 2016 at SMCQ, in the context of the Tribute Series and concluded in 2019 (Collection QB).
This project is still alive and kicking, we will get a new version with new arrangements for flute and piano – made by the musicians – of key works of the Quebec repertoire, namely “Las Meninas”and “Portrait of a Man in Elysian Fields” by John Rea, “Monodías españolas and Nuevas monodías españolas” by José Evangelista, “Piece for Flute and Piano and Pianoforte” by Claude Vivier.
Pamela Reimer pursues a diverse performing career as soloist and collaborator, playing traditional and contemporary repertoire. She has studied with Tom Plaunt, Louis-Philippe Pelletier, Gyorgy Sebok, Lorraine Vaillancourt and Frederic Rzewski. Her career led her performing across Canada but also USA, Scotland, New Zealand, Austria, Switzerland.
Invited by PAN M 360 to tell its readers more about this program,answers generously to our questions.
PAN M 360: First, excuse our ignorance but we aknowledge that you and Marie-Hélène perform together for quite a while.
PAMELA REIMER: No problem ! We can’t know everything! And yes, it’s been 10 years so we’re a longtime team. This is our second tribute concert.In 2016, we did our first tribute tribute to five different Quebec composers John Rea, José Evangelista, Claude Vivier, Ana Sokolovic and Gilles Tremblay. We later did a double disc and then we discovered that we really liked to arrange music. We’ve taken pieces of John Rea and José Evangelista originally written for piano and we’ve arranged them for flute and piano. So we had their permission, and they were very pleased that we’re doing this. So we haven’t changed anything like structural pieces, but we’ve added flutes. Sometimes Marie-Hélène plays bass flute, alto flute, piccolo. We’ve made them just even more colorful than they are already. This time however, we also added two pieces by Vivier that are not our arrangements. One is for flute and piano and one is for piano solo, in this context of hommage.
PAN M 360: So those arrangements you did for flute and piano are transcriptions of the original charts. Reduction in some cases ?
PAMELA REIMER: Well, the piano part is not very different from the original. But sometimes we’ve taken melodies that happened in the piano, and we’ve put them into the flute parts, or we’ve added countermelodies but we would play on top of the piano part. And sometimes it’s really just a color, a different sound. Sometimes it’s, in some of the slower pieces, I’ll play the piece and she just makes like whistle sounds or she pulls into the flute and makes interesting sounds to complement the music or to bring out the character of the music.
PAN M 360: Sounds good ! So it must be a lot of fun but also a lot of work!
PAMELA REIMER : It feels very personal !
PAN M 360: How would you describe your artistic relationship with Marie-Hélène ?
PAMELA REIMER: Well, I think that’s actually one of our strengths is that we’re both like incredible listeners, where we can be soloists when we need to, but we’re, we’re very sensitive to each other’s sound. And because we’ve worked together for so long, we were almost in a place where we don’t have to cue each other anymore. We just know.
PAN M 360: And so is it the first time both of you perform this specific repertoire ?
PAMELA REIMER : It’s the first time we’re playing those arrangements of the Evangelista and Rea pieces and we’ve recorded the Vivier’s before.
PAN M 360: Even if you illustrate the work of the three composers, there is a little emphasis on Vivier’s music because this whole Semaine du Neuf is basically a tribute to him. Since when do you know his body of work ?
PAMELA REIMER : I studied piano at McGill, notably with Louis-Philippe Pelletier who premiered many of Vivier’s works. Among these pieces, he recorded “Shiraz” which I will be playing next week with Sixtrum, the percussion sextet – on March 16th at the Monument National. Louis-Philippe told me that when Vivier was writing “Shiraz”, he would call him up in the middle of the night., saying, I found this incredible chord, I found this incredible harmony, like he was just always searching, searching for these new ideas and new harmonies. So I feel like it’s part of my own heritage, just because I studied with Louis-Philippe. With Paramaribo, by the way, I will be part of the ensemble to perform another piece by Vivier that Louis-Philippe created, called “Prolifération” – on Friday, March 17, at the Conservatoire de Montréal.
PAN M 360: What is the challenge of playing piano with the music of Vivier? Because we don’t see him as a piano music composer.
PAMELA REIMER: He was an extravert, he wanted to communicate. In his music, we can hear this personality. In the piano music, he tries to work out the extremes of the piano like very, very loud, very, very quiet. Within those dynamics, he also is working with different characters. For example, when it’s very quiet, it also can sound very sensual and very intimate. And when it’s loud, it can be quite violent, very aggressive. So that’s what he pushed in the technique of the piano with the extremes. And it’s fascinating to work on it because those changes are very, very sudden.
PAN M 360: Well what you are describing is in all his craft. Sometimes very loud and violent, sometimes very sensual and smooth, and enlightening. He was always traveling between the two poles.
PAMELA REIMER: And there’s not so many composers who are able to do that successfully, I think.
PAN M 360: And there was no fracture between the past and the present. He was able to welcome some music that a lot of composers of his generation and the previous one, were rejecting. PAMELA REIMER: It’s interesting, as I’ve been really diving into his music, I can hear into it, I know how it feels to play it. I can feel Bartok, I can feel Liszt, I can feel all the past in there and it’s a new language. It’s quite amazing.
IN THE CONTEXT OF THE SEMAINE DU NEUF, THE PROCRAM HOMMAGE II IS PERFORMED BY MARIE-HÉLÈNE BREAULT AND PAMELA REIMER ON WEDNESDAY MARCH 8TH, CONSERVATOIRE DE MUSIQUE DE MONTRÉAL, 7H30 PM
PAN M 360: Could you tell me about the recording process of Earth Then Air and the atmosphere working in Banff Centre?
Alexia Avina:It was ideal. We met every day in the studio and wrote music. I think we did really create a song pretty much every day, our work ethic was reciprocal, but more than that we were just having fun and vibing. We had plenty of time to take in the rest of the center as well.
PAN M 360: There are so many instruments on this record, it’s hard to picture just the two of you playing everything?
Alexia Avina: We did work more collaboratively on this record than our previous releases, sharing that load. Nick played one of the guitar parts, I played some bits on the piano and vibraphone.
PAN M 360: The album is very ambient but also dreamy in the lyrics, was this the idea to go for from day one?
Alexia Avina: I think that’s just what happens organically when our energies meet as songwriters. It wasn’t a specific intention. I think the only clear intentions were to write music that was more organic than purely electronic, and to have lyrics that were uplifting and universal.
PAN M 360: Have you been able to play the album live at all? They must be stripped back versions of the songs?
Alexia Avina: We have been. The songs are slightly stripped back in certain ways, sure, but I think we do a good job of still making it sound full as we use samples, etc.
PAN M 360: What kind of music were you listening to for not only inspiration but background while working on the album?
Alexia Avina: I don’t think we were listening to music as a part of the process of creating the record at this time. I can’t really recall what I was listening to, only that I recorded a cover of Linger at the same time, so I probably was listening to sappy shoegazy love songs.
PAN M 360: Were you able to take in the nature around Banff? Go on hikes or anything like that?
Alexia Avina: Definitely. We went on a few hikes. The scenery is unreal, the kind where it’s too much for your brain to comprehend the level of magnitude and power.
PAN M 360: The track order seems very important, as tracks kind of bleed into one another. Did it take awhile to come up with the order?
Alexia Avina We did have a few different iterations of tracklisting and in the end this is the one we landed on. The songs are from several years back, so I think coming up with an order was an exercise in itself, as it kind of felt like we were approaching the collections of songs with a new energy.
PAN M 360: Where did the title Earth Then Air come from?
Alexia Avina: Our previous work had been quite swirly and ethereal and we wanted to create something more grounded through incorporating acoustic instruments. The title kind of points to that relational shift in our work.
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