Country : Quebec Label : Independant Genres and styles : Contemporary Year : 2024

Vanessa Marcoux – Cendres

· by Frédéric Cardin

Vanessa Marcoux is a violinist who graduated from McGill and studied composition with Ana Sokolovic at the Université de Montréal. It’s an impressive background that gives her the rare ability to play her own compositions on the violin (something much more common among pianists). Cendres (ashes) is her second recording. If you’ve heard the first, entitled La jungle (The Jungle) and released in 2023, you’ll recognise Vanessa Marcoux’s neo-romantic/cinematic universe. That said, on Cendres and especially in the disc’s main piece, a substantial Sonata for violin, piano and strings, Marcoux sprinkles her soundscapes with modernist asperities and avant-garde techniques that spice up the recipe and give it enhanced depth. Although it remains very much immersed in the work’s moderno-consonant structure (the last movement is full of nods to Le Sacre!), the influence of Ana Sokolovic is clearly evident.

…over the years I’ve accumulated a lot of ideas for textures and soundscapes
unexplored. This sonata was therefore an opportunity for me to synthesise all this language in a single work, in which I pay tribute to my instrument and to all its expressive potential.
– Vanessa Marcoux

The Petite suite aquatique (aquatic little suite) is an impressive emotional release for violin and piano, full of evocative impulses. The first movement, Aquarium, is typically undulating, but navigates through turbulent eddies rather than following a tranquil river. In my imagination, Deep Blue Saloon is a spectacular and truculent projection of a bar frequented by the motley fauna of the deep sea, who have come to witness the burlesque stripping of a wanton octopus. By the end of the show, it looks as if the battle is going down to the wire between inebriated spectators. 

It ends with Cendres, the title piece, for string quintet. It’s a tempestuous, melancholy piece. It sounds like a mixture of post-minimalism and the greyness of Bernard Herrmann, Hitchcock’s composer. Very nice.

Vanessa Marcoux’s next concerts : 

  • February 18, 2024 Garden Room, KC Irving Environmental Science Centre, Wolfville (Wolfville, Nova Scotia)
  • 22 February 2024 De Coste Centre for Arts and Creativity, Pictou, Nova Scotia
  • March 19, 2024 Centre Culturel Henri-Lemieux, LaSalle, Qc
  • April 6, 2024 Saint-François-Xavier Church, Prévost, Qc

Latest 360 Content

Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp – Ventre Unique

Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp – Ventre Unique

Fantastic Negrito – Son of A Broken Man

Fantastic Negrito – Son of A Broken Man

Cumbia, Chaos, and Resistance: Empanadas Illegales Bring the Heat to Montreal Jazz Fest

Cumbia, Chaos, and Resistance: Empanadas Illegales Bring the Heat to Montreal Jazz Fest

Turnstile – Never Enough

Turnstile – Never Enough

FIJM | Dianne Reeves and Romero Lubambo: An Intimate Duo of Virtuosos

FIJM | Dianne Reeves and Romero Lubambo: An Intimate Duo of Virtuosos

FIJM | Brandon Woody’s Upendo: Baltimore Represents !

FIJM | Brandon Woody’s Upendo: Baltimore Represents !

FIJM | Stella Cole: From Tik Tok to The Biggest Jazz Stages

FIJM | Stella Cole: From Tik Tok to The Biggest Jazz Stages

ALICE on Her X

ALICE on Her X

FIJM  | Samara Joy: Pushing Classic Vocal Jazz Repertoire to its Limits

FIJM | Samara Joy: Pushing Classic Vocal Jazz Repertoire to its Limits

FIJM | Nas symphonic and Nas not symphonic

FIJM | Nas symphonic and Nas not symphonic

Suoni | The Jellicle KIKI Ball #2 – Feline Grace is Served

Suoni | The Jellicle KIKI Ball #2 – Feline Grace is Served

Suoni | The Dark, Wicked, Warm and Absurd on the Same Dish

Suoni | The Dark, Wicked, Warm and Absurd on the Same Dish

FIJM | Azimuth: Brazilian Jazz Fusion of the Highest Order

FIJM | Azimuth: Brazilian Jazz Fusion of the Highest Order

FIJM | Anomalie and Lewis: Two hour Jam by Two Heavy Hitters

FIJM | Anomalie and Lewis: Two hour Jam by Two Heavy Hitters

FIJM | Thanya Iyer and Arooj Aftab, Perfect Transplants!

FIJM | Thanya Iyer and Arooj Aftab, Perfect Transplants!

Festival de Lanaudière | Renaud Loranger Explains The Program

Festival de Lanaudière | Renaud Loranger Explains The Program

FIJM | Kojo Melché Roney, Born to Drum

FIJM | Kojo Melché Roney, Born to Drum

FIJM 2025 | King Makaya triumphs again

FIJM 2025 | King Makaya triumphs again

FIJM | It’s About Time to Ackowledge Peter Evans Fabulous Playing

FIJM | It’s About Time to Ackowledge Peter Evans Fabulous Playing

FIJM | Yasmin Williams: Reinventing The Guitar!

FIJM | Yasmin Williams: Reinventing The Guitar!

FIJM | Natalia Lafourcade Sparks a Place des Arts Gone Mexican

FIJM | Natalia Lafourcade Sparks a Place des Arts Gone Mexican

FIJM | Clown Core: the theatre of extremes, between Pennywise and Krusty

FIJM | Clown Core: the theatre of extremes, between Pennywise and Krusty

Domaine Forget | A Summer of Discovery

Domaine Forget | A Summer of Discovery

FIJM | Wynton & JLCO: Something of an Opening Ceremony

FIJM | Wynton & JLCO: Something of an Opening Ceremony

Subscribe to our newsletter