What is hiding behind that longing sigh that speaks so loudly to my ears? Short news reports in the form of soundscapes parleying under a street lamp. What ties ground and sky together are the scope of our anchoring, delicately drawing us up toward our story, travel diaries filled to the last page, the crossroads of our multifaceted lives, and our secret gardens. Le bruit des soupirs is a tight arrangement of audio segments first designed in 2014-15 for a greeting cards sound installation. Each segment, however short, reveals an ideology, a battle, sometimes with a bit of humour through various timbral colours.

Our inner silences dictate occasionally noisy behaviours and reflections. Human battles, debates, failures and sideslips are changed by the ideas, passions, desires and beauties of the world. Exotic bird songs, nature sounds and Creole words from the Seychelles Islands transport us into a wonderland, despite a black shadow cast by a luxury hotel dumping toxic waste in a waterway close to dwellings.

— Roxanne Turcotte [English translation: François Couture, vii-21]

Le bruit des soupirs [The Sound of Sighs] was realized in 2014-2017 in the composer’s studio (Studio Séducson) in Montréal and was premiered on June 2, 2017 as part of the Klang! électroacoustique 2017 festival in Montpellier (France). This work was revised in 2018. Thanks to Michel Dubeau (recorded shakuhachi). Additional thanks go to the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA); François Doyon (photographs et video for the installation version); Arthur, Bénédicte and Paulo (voices recorded in the Seychelles).

Premiere

• June 2, 2017, Klang! électroacoustique 2017: Concert 3, Salle Molière — Opéra Comédie, Montpellier (Hérault, France)