Composer and guitarist Tim Brady releases his most ambitious project ever with his 3rd Ambiances Magnétiques recording, a 46-minute symphony in 5 movements for solo electric guitar, sampler, live electronics and a virtuoso chamber ensemble of 15 musicians. The work was commissioned in 1997 by Canada’s highly acclaimed contemporary music orchestra, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, and was premiered in Montreal in October 2002, followed by performances in New York and Marseille.

The composition combines all of Brady’s hallmark compositional ideas into a single, rich, complex work of symphonic scope. The electric guitar is a central part of the work, both through Brady’s live performance and through the use of highly processed electric guitar sounds triggered from a keyboard sampler. The orchestral writing varies from delicate, soloistic lines though complex polyrhythmic counterpoint to dense, aggressive rhythmic monoliths, all performed with remarkable precision and consummate musicianship by the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne under conductor Lorraine Vaillancourt.The work was recorded in 24-bit audio using multitrack techniques in order to give the most detailed possible sound to this vibrant sonic tapestry. The recording reveals a new way to create contemporary chamber music: combining the intensity of performance of 16 players on stage with the almost limitless possibilites of sampling and live signal processing so as to allow the composer and the listener an unparalleled freedom to imagine new forms of muscial expression.The CD also inculdes a smaller chamber work for piano, guitar and electronics, entitled « Frame 1 – Resonance », which explores these ideas about new music, guitars and technology on a more intimate scale.

1-7. Playing Guitar: Symphony #1

8. Frame 1 – Resonance