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Rodolphe Mathieu (1890-1962), Lionel Daunais (1901-1982), André Prévost (1934-2001), Claude Vivier (1948-1983), Rachel Laurin (1961-2023) and also the (very) living Denis Gougeon, Ana Sokolović, Louis Desjarlais, Francis Battah and others Pascal Germain-Berardi, without naming them all, have this in common: composition for choral singing.
And this is why, in the context of its 60th anniversary under the theme of intergenerational dialogue, the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ) presents the program Au Chœur du Québec at the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, on October 30th.
Under the direction of Pascal Germain-Berardi, who has a background as a choir conductor, combined with other practices in contemporary music and even prog metal as well, a choir of 24 singers will be brought together to illustrate many generations of Quebec composition dedicated to choral singing. And that is why PAN M 360 presents this interview with Pascal Germain-Berardi.
PAN M 360: How was this program designed for 24 performers instead of 16, as originally planned?
Pascal Germain-Berardi: When I provided all my production information to the SMCQ, we were working on a scenario of 16 performers. Since then, we have obtained additional funding, which allows us to do the concert with 24 singers, which has expanded our deployment.
PAN M 360: Are these arrangements of works adapted for choral singing?
Pascal Germain-Berardi: These are not arrangements, they are compositions for choral singing, works by composers who have marked the history of Quebec, or by younger composers. It’s true that Lionel Daunais, for example, has made many choral arrangements of traditional music. But we will be performing Sous le pont Mirabeau, an original work he composed on a poem by Guillaume Apollinaire.
PAN M 360: Does it seem like this is not the very beginning of this project?
Pascal Germain-Berardi: This project dates back to 2018, when it was called Au choeur de Montréal. And this is the first time we’ve done an iteration of it. In 2018, I had chosen exclusively Montreal composers. What gave me this idea was the 375th anniversary of Montreal, which had taken place shortly before. Afterward, we managed to schedule a tour of the Maisons de la culture. We also received a nomination for an Opus Prize. From this adventure emerged the idea of a more global project on Quebec to broaden the palette. Rachel Laurin, for example, grew up in Mirabel, André Prévost in Saint-Jérôme. So that allowed us to embrace the entire Quebec territory. Since the beginning of this project, we have given around twenty concerts in Montreal, Laval, Drummondville, Beloeil, Sorel-Tracy, etc. We even performed in Chile. And here is this occasion with the SMCQ for its 60th anniversary.
PAN M 360: Is there any added value for this anniversary program?
Pascal Germain Berardi: I decided to offer the widest possible range of new pieces that I had never performed before. Some of these works were impossible to perform with smaller choirs. André Prévost’s Soleil couchant, for example, was conceived for six voices, which is difficult to do with 12 or 16 choristers. With 24, it works very well.
Nature, the piece by Rodolphe Mathieu that we’re going to do, was the first movement of what would become his last work, Symphony for Human Voices, which he was unable to complete before his death. This movement is presented for a double six-part choir, so 12 voices at certain points. Obviously, it works at 24, which is a multiple of 6.
PAN M 360: This program is therefore part of a continuum and is currently being renewed. Still a motivation?
Pascal Germain Berardi: I noticed that there was too little effort to defend what we might call our musical historical heritage. That’s why this project was born and continues. From one year to the next, this project does not lose its relevance. I have the opportunity to renew the repertoire while maintaining the same concept, the same title that embodies this idea of defending our musical history.
PAN M 360: Can your Temps Fort choir rely on a stable core to carry out its missions?
Pascal Germain-Berardi: Temps Fort is the production organization I founded, with which I carry out my projects. When we started, it was limited to choir concerts. After a few years of activity, I managed to lead other projects with instrumentalists and build a reputation. In fact, we are currently in a crowdfunding campaign to help us finance our next album. But I have a core group of artists who have been there since the very first concert we did in 2014, at a time when we were still students, and no one was getting paid. We were young people who were hungry!
PAN M 360: And appetite comes with eating!
