Normandeau is one of the leading contemporary musique concrète artists, and this, his third solo release, makes it easy to see why. His attention to sonic detail is unmatched, and each of his pieces amply rewards repeated and careful listening. The opening piece continues a cycle started on his previous Empreintes Digitales release Tangram. Le Renard et la Rose is the third part of a cycle that includes Tangram's Éclats de Voix and Spleen, based exclusively on the use of the human voice. Each of its five parts associates an emotional state with a sonic framework, from the opening laughter of Babbling and Rhythm to the closing Serenity and Texture. Figures de Rhétorique is Normandeau's first recorded work for instrument and tape, in this case the piano, where he created a pianist's score during the final stages of composition, and where the pianist is free to interpret a number of the passages. Ellipse also exists in a version for tape and guitar, although a tape-only version is presented here. For many listeners, the highlight of this collection is Venture, where Normandeau mines sounds from pop music of the 1960s, similar in origins to fellow Canadian John Oswald's famed plunderphonics. However, where Oswald intends to let the listener make the connections between the plunderphonic piece and its sources, Normandeau blurs the memories, and except for a few unaltered moments of the Beatles' Revolution No. 9, most of the excerpts are too obscured to recognize. Nevertheless, Ventures is a fascinating piece, showing the variety of responses contemporary composers make to the explorations made by the pop musicians of our formative years. ~ Caleb Deupree, Rovi

1		Le reynard et la rose (The fox and the rose)
2		Figures De Rhétorique, for tape & piano [1997]
3		Venture
4		Ellipse [1999]

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