piano, synthetizer (Roland JV-80, Max/MSP sampler) and stereo fixed medium

Commission: SMCQ, with support from the CALQ

Premiere: January 30, 1996, Manuel Schweizer, piano; Anne Gaudemer, keyboard • Live from Lyon, Salle Pierre-Mercure — Centre Pierre-Péladeau, Montréal (Québec)

I completed this piece thanks to the help of Chopin, who for the occasion loaned me his Fantasie-Impromptu in C sharp minor, Opus 66 for piano. I have taken all material for this work from it (aside from a brief allusion to Schumann): the harmonic colors, the pitches, but also the agitation of the writing, the overly abundant energy, the tension. A sort of cry expressing the ‘tortures of the soul’ that continue to plague contemporary human beings, in spite of the myth of a liberating technology. We remain unabashed Romantics…

Impromptu 2 [mixed version, 1995] premiered on January 30, 1996 by the GRAME musicians (France) during a concert produced by SMCQ at Salle Pierre-Mercure in Montréal. Impromptu 2 was commissioned by SMCQ with the assistance of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ).

Yves Daoust