À ses derniers pas, entrant dans la boue

CMCCD 29221_À ses derniers pas, entrant dans la boue_Digital Booklet

Even among innovative geniuses, Russian physicist Leon Theremin (Lev Sergeyevich Termen) is a giant. His work in electromagnetic fields and radio frequency lead him to invent his namesake instrument, the theremin, in 1920 and thereby usher a new era in electronic musical instruments. A century later, this album presents new works for theremin and piano by Canadian composer Aleks Schürmer. These works contain elements of 18th and 19th century forms and performance practices, popular music tropes and post-20th century tonalism, and while they are often harmonically challenging, the music can still feel comfortable and familiar to the uninitiated listener. Many of the album’s works reflect on the optimism of the early 20th century’s imagined utopic future and where we’ve ended up a hundred years later. From the rise of nationalism, fascism, isolationism, anti-socialism and even a global pandemic, the shared traits of both the early 20th and 21st century are explored in the album’s main work, “À ses derniers pas, entrant dans la boue (Quelques petites pensées sur nos jours)”.

Aleks Schürmer is a Canadian composer, multi-instrumentalist, educator, and artist who merges disparate genres, historical periods and cultural interests in his work, exploring the underlying sameness of all things. An Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre (CMC), Aleks holds a Masters degree in Historical Performance from the Schulich School of Music at McGill and studied modern flute with Patrick Gallois. His compositions have been called “major discoveries” (Stephen Ritter, American Record Guide) and he has been called “particularly brilliant” (Claude Gingras, La Presse), a “superbe pianist” (Tamara Bernstein, National Post) and a “young visionary” (Marilis Cardinal, Nightlife Magazine).

Grégoire Blanc is an emerging French musician among the few virtuosos of the theremin today. Following engineering studies at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers, Grégoire completed his Masters degree in Sciences and Technologie for Music at the Institut de Recherchre et de Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) and his ongoing artistic research centres around expressiveness in electronic music, with classical music as a starting point. He is a frequent collaborator of contemporary theatre and dance artists both as a multi-instrumentalist and a sound designer. This album is Grégoire’s first solo recital album, celebrating the release of a newly designed instrument from Moog, as well as the 100-year anniversary of the invention of the theremin.