The four works in the third volume of Nouveaux Territoires are representative of the century in which we live, with its blending of pop and highbrow culture, tradition and new technology.

The vocal part in Michel Gonneville’s Microphone Songs is sung, manipulated, and processed in a way that recalls Björk’s stylings. Like Nicole Lizée’s Left brain / Right brain, Gonneville’s piece shares the rhythmic complexities of modern music, and syncopations typical of rock, jazz, and popular music.

Michael Oesterle’s Dialogue sur d’infimes souvenirs. evokes world music with a touch of nostalgia. Hints of Middle-Eastern strings are combined with the more familiar sounds of the accordion, piccolo, tuba, and steel and snare drums.

André Ristic pushes contrasting styles even further in Projet d’opéra. The composer takes historically inspired instrumental and vocal structures and makes them modern by adding sampled sounds and electronic manipulations. The deliberately ‘dirty’ sounds of the virtuoso violin playing rubs up against the lush Romantic orchestral accompaniment.

ANDRE RISTIC

1. Projet d’opéra

MICHEL GONNEVILLE

2. Microphone Songs

MICHAEL OESTERLE

3. Dialogue sur d’infimes souvenirs

NICOLE LIZÉE

4. Left Brain / Right Brain