The Flore Laurentienne project by composer, multi-instrumentalist and arranger Mathieu David Gagnon is “research and experimentation on the same theme”, that of the river, its character and its immensity. With his Volume IIthe artist challenges himself again, imposing rules of play on his creativity.
Posted at 1:00 p.m.
When the time comes to write music, Mathieu David Gagnon thrives on constraint. “It’s a very effective tool,” he says on the phone. When he describes his process, it is very often a question of a rule he established to give himself a creative framework. Thus, the opening and closing tracks on his new disc, entitled Browsing IV and Browsing III, have only two chords. “I start from this principle, and I work with that, explains the musician. I try to find the same musical content and make it change face and character by putting different instrumentations on it. »
On several pieces of this album, as on the first, the movement of sounds evokes that of waves. On River V, the waves of the synthesizers recall the tide. The heavy atmosphere seems to echo the tempestuous nature of the St. Lawrence.
No matter how you interpret them, some songs clearly describe the river.
I have to say that [le fleuve] is a part of me. I was born in Gaspésie, in front of the river. Currently, I am in front of the river, I live very close. I see it as a presence. An immensity which has character, which has its good days, its less good days. It’s like a person next to me that I watch evolve.
Mathieu David Gagnon, composer, multi-instrumentalist and arranger
In the present
The Scrapbook Volume II is “essentially in the same spirit as the Volume I which already addressed Quebec nature and the St. Lawrence. “It’s in continuity, but it remains a kind of Polaroid of an era for me. »
A time that is starting to date a little, since the disc has been recorded since the summer of 2021. “I cannot say that it is music that lives in me as much as it lived in me when I wrote it, says Matthew. But when I play it live, it becomes something of my present. That’s where I find my account: a musical idea is a musical idea, but the way to render it can be multiple. What was played in the studio during the recording is a single version of that work. »
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, PRESS ARCHIVES
Flore Laurentienne in the studio, in September 2020
If he says he is much more a composer than a performing artist, it is again this aspect of the challenge that stimulates him in the act of the concert. His pieces exist each time differently by being presented during shows where the artist allows himself to experiment. “I think it’s one of my favorite things about my job, it’s a bit of a challenge every time. I am one of those arrangers who firmly believe that everything can be arranged. You just have to find how. That’s where the game is.”
The path of experimentation
The Flore Laurentienne project is evolving within a very specific framework. It moves to the rhythm of the river. And because it focuses on a single theme, Mathieu David Gagnon already knows he won’t push the subject too far. “It’s a theme that really lives in me, but I know it won’t stay with me so intensely forever,” he says. I have a very clear idea of the ending. One day, I will have to come full circle. »
For the moment, nothing indicates that the circle is about to be closed. Mathieu was “the first surprised” to see his project take off so much after the first disc. After long years of training at the Faculty of Music of the University of Montreal, at the Conservatoire d’Aubervilliers in Paris and at the Conservatoire de Bordeaux, he worked on the projects of other musicians. He saw himself as an arranger, but finally got started when he felt the wind in the sails of instrumental music in Quebec. Since then, “it’s been progressing slowly, but it’s always kept going,” he says.
The musician writes mainly in winter and therefore intends to get back to it soon, when the days are getting shorter and cloudier. But when Flore Laurentienne has accomplished what he has to accomplish, when Mathieu David Gagnon resumes his name, one thing will never change: “My path in music will always be a path of experimentation,” says the artist, who recently composed the music for the Radio-Canada podcast Portray Riopellehighlighting the 100 years of the illustrious painter.
“Flora Laurentienne is quite smooth in experimentation, observes the musician. Maybe another project will be even more adventurous. In any case, I need to challenge myself to have fun creating. »
Three pieces in the words of Mathieu David Gagnon
River V and River V (slight return)
“These are two pieces in the same tone as the first [Fleuve I et Fleuve III, sur le premier disque], that is, in D minor. These are pieces that have very few chords and that evoke a kind of immensity over which we don’t really have control. The room is called River V (slight return) in reference to Jimi Hendrix, because of the song Voodoo Child. The best known version of this song is Voodoo Child (Slight Return), so in French, it gives “light return”! »
cannon
“On each album, I try to integrate a contrapuntal challenge [du contrepoint, forme d’écriture qui superpose de manière organisée les lignes mélodiques]. On the first disc, it was the fugue. On the second is the canon, a very visual form of counterpoint. It is very difficult to write. We are looking for a musical phrase that has repercussions on several others, while being sure that what it generates will be consistent with the other layers. It is an experience, a challenge, in its joys and its sorrows! »
Ride
“This piece was a game to push the string orchestra to the maximum of what it could play. I wrote a lot more than for the other plays. I’ve been working on this writing for years and I don’t think we’ll ever get to the end of it. Brahms, Beethoven or Mozart have never stopped reinventing themselves in the writing of strings. They are part of my daily life. And when they are there, it’s never optional, they play a very specific role. »