This past Thursday I went to see Robert Normandeau’s performance of Cinema for the Ear at the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center. The unique choice of the word “cinema” is actually perfect. The whole experience was spellbinding; the seat in which I sat was not enough to contain the bizarre sound experience. Just think about it: I don’t know about you, but I had never before listened to professional recordings up to par with great movie soundtrack special effects, like those in The Lord of the Rings, in the second most acoustically tuned concert hall in the world. Normandeau used over 40 loudspeakers hung from both the ceiling and the areas surrounding the audience as he transformed sound into an entity of its own, traveling the hall at its own will.
Seriously, it was amazing. No matter what the sound depicted, from jungle backgrounds to human voiceovers to rattle transitions to thundering booming, the audience was completely caught off guard. In fact, at the end of the piece, everyone in the whole hall was so enraptured that everyone was caught unaware when it ended, causing a delay in the applause. But this effect is what Normandeau is known for. He is one of the most renowned living composers within the “acousmatic” strand of electronic music—a compositional approach that started in France during the 1950s. According to the EMPAC website, “Normandeau has been central to this community and the Canadian Electroacoustic community, the National Organization for Electronic Music Composers, and a founding member of Reseaux, a concert society which has produced innumerable concerts and festivals of multichannel electronic music, including Akousma festival of acousmatic music held for the past four years. He has been Professor of Electroacoustics Composition at University of Montreal since 1999.”
The first piece was “Le Renard et la Rose,” which uniquely incorporated voices and onomatopoeia to depict human feelings, gestures, and designated objects as sound. Drawing inspiration from the audio of the book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the piece has a sonic framework: babbling and rhythm, nostalgia and tone, serenity and texture. I must say that in a very visually-focused world, this experience of sound by itself is a little baffling at first, but hearing rather than watching allows the messages to trickle over one another. I saw this effect clearly on the audience; as I looked around people were serene, heads resting on seats, eyes closed, appreciating the sound experience.
A very interesting piece was “Tangram,” which incorporated the sounds of a zipper to begin and close the piece. The sound clearly resonates around the room in a circular motion. According to EMPAC, the work is inspired by the spirit of the game, the ability to associate and combine simple elements to form recognizable complex structures. “Tangram” consists of six sections and takes the listener on a tour of the seasons, highlighting the elements and materials associated with each.
“Chorus” was also a unique piece, as the sound material used in the work represents the typical sonorities of the three major monotheistic religions: the shofar of Judaism, the church bells of Christianity, and the call for prayer of Islam. This piece has been heavily recognized for its ability to evoke a sense of peace and tolerance in the world.
It is odd that while I know that I wasn’t listening intently throughout the entire piece I was still able to identify the general themes and sense of the pieces. I think this is also something that Normandeau crafted, as each piece had its own listening cycle. The experience was ear- and soul-evoking.
