Dominique Lafortune has studied with Schulich School of Music Professor Denys Bouliane, and Lasse Thoresen (at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo), who have given him a thirst for a musical production where perception is the basis for every decision.
He has written for a variety of instrumentations (soloist, performer and electronics, choir, symphony orchestra, as well as chamber music ranging from two to twenty performers), and his works have been performed by ensembles including Montreal’s Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Meitar Ensemble, McGill’s Contemporary Music Ensemble, the Norwegian Academy of Music’s Wind Sinfonietta (Oslo), the UNM-Festival Symphony Orchestra (Aarhus, Denmark), Choeur du Plateau, Voces Boreales Choir and the Arkea Ensemble.
Dominique is currently completing a doctorate in composition at the Schulich School of Music, and in addition to Denys Bouliane and Lasse Thoresen he has also studied with Philippe Leroux, Brian Cherney, Christopher Paul Harman and John Rea (at Domaine Forget in 2012). Having participated in the foundation of an inter-university group of students for the organization of concerts, workshops and conferences centred on new music (Vivier InterUniversitaire), Dominique regularly gives workshops on Aural Sonology, to explore in praxis dimensions of sound left aside by most of conventional music theory.
He has just completed a new ensemble work to be premiered by the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble (CME), conducted by Guillaume Bourgogne, on Friday April 12th. More concert and ticket information is on the website, and the concert will also be webcast live on the Schulich School of Music's .
Where are you from?
A small town not too far from Montreal called Saint-Césaire.
How many years have you been at McGill?
Almost 10 years now… well, technically 9, if we subtract a one-year exchange in Oslo, Norway.
What made you choose McGill for your studies?
At the time, I had just discovered 20th century music (I remember having my mind completely blown hearing Alban Berg's opera Wozzeck for the first time in Cégep!) and I didn’t really know what I wanted to write – even less where I wanted to learn it. What tipped the scale, however, was English immersion. My English skills were very poor and I knew I wanted to travel during my studies, so I needed to get better. Now, of course, I’m happy with my choice, for many very different reasons that I could not see at the time!
How has being a McGill student influenced you and your research?
It’s really about the teachers I got to work with. Having contact with the many composers, music theorists and performers from McGill’s staff has really expanded my comprehension of what music even is. Of course, my private composition teacher and supervisor for all those years, Prof. Denys Bouliane, has been a tremendous help in getting to refine - and trust! – my ear, as well as in getting me to formulate my ideas (musical or conceptual) precisely and clearly.
I also have to say that my studies with Norwegian composer Lasse Thoresen (in McGill for one term, then in Oslo for one year) have greatly expanded my musical hearing capacity, through my work with his method called Aural Sonology. Roughly speaking, it consists in a collection of taxonomies and analysis practices aiming to describe, through phenomenology (thus purely by ear), dimensions of sound which have been left aside by traditional music theory, such as directionality, energy, complexity, etc.
Explain your new piece being performed by the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble in three sentences or less:
Jeux de chromes (in English, roughly: “Plays of chromas”) is about anonymous, texture-based materials becoming more and more “pregnant” (from Schönberg’s idea of “Prägnanz”, i.e. what differentiates a fully-fledged theme from a simple melody) as the piece unfolds. The process is not linear: the musical ideas, at first purely textural, gradually gain recognizable profiles, certain intervals become motives, then the music goes back into textures; then I mix them a bit – and eventually theme-like structures come to dominate the music. There is an intrinsic conflict between those two extremes (anonymous/formless versus distinctive/articulated), but also a historical one: the piece seems to follow an “anti-chronological” course (“melody” is often regarded as a device of the past, while “texture” is seen as “newer”) but really aims to say that “new things” can actually be said in both realms.
What led you to this particular topic?
The idea of “Prägnanz” and the distinction between the anonymous/formless and the distinctive/articulated could be traced back to Schönberg, but they were formulated admirably by one of my composition professors Lasse Thoresen in his book .
However, Jeux de chromes is actually the first piece where I did not force any extra-musical idea or pre-conceived structure upon myself before I started composing (as I would always do in earlier pieces). I started from a harmonic system that allowed me a certain degree of freedom and control, and freely composed several different musical ideas from there, and let them grow, by themselves and in relationship to one another. Eventually, links emerged between certain musical ideas, and became stronger (or weaker, in which case I kept the ideas for other projects). Then, a logical form started to appear, since certain ideas “needed” to be heard before or after others to make logical sense. It soon became clear to me that the logic I was instinctively following was that of “a quest for Prägnanz”, and from then, the piece crystallized very quickly.
Were there any findings that you found particularly surprising?
One of the findings that struck me was the strength of some of Thoresen’s concepts for describing and guiding what I would have otherwise only called “instinct”. Admittedly, the concepts of Prägnanz and distinctiveness were not really present in my mind when I started composing the piece – and yet once I understood what I was instinctively doing, those conceptual tools helped me refine and strengthen the direction I had already taken.
Another thing that surprised me is the reaction of my colleagues to whom I have shown sketches or reductions of the piece (only my supervisor and the CME performers have seen the final version at this stage). Because of the presence of “more traditional” musical ideas, I was expecting to receive harsh critiques about being too conservative. But their feedback was nothing like that, which leads me to think that the final piece will be successful enough that even a trained composer will have something to chew on even in those (superficially) more traditional ideas!
What are the important practical implications of this piece?
I think Jeux de chromes can stand as a clear demonstration of some of the concepts I mentioned earlier, and how they can act on the understanding of musical form. Hopefully, that might inspire other composers to use them in their own way – I would find it very inspiring to hear what they come up with!
But I believe this piece will also have huge personal repercussions: I like to think that it marks a real turning point for me, as it is the first one (in a long while at the very least) where I felt like I was “being myself” at every step – and the composition process has been a lot more enjoyable for it! I think this can also be heard in the music, especially for those who have heard some of my previous works. I already have many ideas for my next pieces that were born from this project, and I hope that if I am able to do them justice, maybe eventually a style could emerge from this!
What are your next steps?
I already have a few different projects in the oven, which all directly or indirectly use elements of Thoresen’s Aural Sonology in the compositional process itself. I have to finish my thesis first, though – which is a comprehensive analysis of Jeux de chromes – but I’m really looking forward to composing those other pieces!
What advice would you give to new students in your program?
Always trust your ears, and your tastes too! While it is vital to challenge oneself and step outside one’s comfort zone when trying to become an artist, it’s equally important not to lose contact with what “makes you you”. This is what no teacher can give, as well as the key to developing a voice which is at least personal (and eventually, perhaps, original too).
Where is your favourite place to study?
The Montreal Botanical Garden. We have the second biggest one in the world - better make use of it! The themed gardens are absolutely gorgeous (I have a soft spot for the Japanese one), but the arboretum (“tree museum”) is where I really like to get my peace and quiet.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
See above! I’m a little bit of a (amateur) plant geek to be honest… I also have a soft spot for child-like pleasures: games, paper crafts, fairy tales – one can’t be 100% adult all the time I guess!
What is your earliest musical memory?
I think a lot of people will share this one: in my mom’s arms, in a rocking chair at home, her singing a song to me – I still know it all by heart!
If you hadn’t ended up in music, what would your alternate career path have been?
Something involving entertainment for children I think. Horticulture would have also been nice, but just thinking of those excruciatingly hot summer days, working outside for hours under the sun… I have to admire those who are cut out for it!
What was the last book you read?
Lasse Thoresen’s Emergent Musical Forms – I’m actually still reading it, as it’s not the kind of book that you can sprint through from cover to cover – you need to take your time, re-read parts of it, use the theory for yourself, then come back to it… that being said, I’m having a total blast!
If you were offered a return plane ticket to anywhere in the world, where would you go?
I haven’t travelled to enough places to give a good answer I think – but! I have very fond memories of Norway (driving around with a friend in the fjords around Tromsø is one of the most breathtaking experiences I’ve had in my entire life). However, if I could visit a country that I have not been to yet, Japan is definitely the next one on my bucket list!
If you could invite any four notable figures from history to a dinner party, who would they be and why?
Just four? That’s a tough one! Maybe if I exclude people I can actually talk with often (for example Denys Bouliane), I could make this four… let’s say: Joseph Haydn, Bela Bartók, Alexander Calder and Lasse Thoresen. Haydn, because I’m absolutely fascinated by his play with structure and semantics (his music sounds so easy but really is highly sophisticated when one just goes below the “happy” surface!). Bartók, because his compositions resonate with me to a degree I have not been able to find elsewhere. Calder, because his work is for me the perfect embodiment of deep, “serious” artistic genius mixed with humble, child-like play. Thoresen, because I know I still have worlds to learn from – and with! – him, and his thoughts are a tremendous inspiration for my musical work.
