Part of the Resonance Cycle plays with the notion of intimacy in music. Like all my music the tape portion is recorded with close-miking techniques which is intended to produce a fateful intimacy with the sound sources. In this case the soloist is often surrounded with their own sound creating a dissolving of the singular with ‘the other,’ which is in fact the performer reflected back in a narcissistic fashion.

Beyond these elements, the Resonance Cycle also uses voice, which is perhaps the most intimate and seductive sound of all because it represents the body covered with appearances, illusions, traps, animal parodies and sacrificial simulations. However, like in all my music, these elements are multitracked to create a situation of excess and perhaps to leave us sweating in our bed of memories.

As for the philosophical and æsthetic intentions of the hand percussion parts it is well known to any consumer of media music that in order to be considered artistic you have to have an African percussionist. Like the other elements in my music, the African percussionist turns into a dense tribe of sounds, implying some form of primitive seduction or perhaps a post-modern revenge.

In a Bed Where the Moon Was Sweating. Resonance #1 was recorded and produced at the composer’s studio. It was commissioned by François Houle with assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA). The work was premiered by François Houle on November 7, 1993 at a Vancouver New Music Society concert.

Premiere

• November 7, 1993, François Houle, clarinet • Concert, Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada)