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REGARD 
SUR TROIS CHIMÈRES


CHAMBER MUSIC | DUO FOR ENGLISH HORN, PIANO & RADIO


Credits
Music composition - Francis St-Germain

Duo Alteris
English horn - Mélissa Tremblay
Piano - Bruce Gaulin

Regard sur trois chimères (2021) is a piece for english horn, piano, and radio, commissioned and premiered by Duo Alteris as part of the concert series "Voix du hautbois." The composition reflects on how ideas from the past, once considered as immutable truths, can become outdated or disconnected from reality over time. Like the mythical chimera, one wonders if these ideas ever truly existed or were always untethered from the real.

The piece explores the heritage of Western classical music through three distinct movements, each embodying a musical archetype reimagined with a contemporary lens that blends irony and reverence:

  1. Ouverture
  2. Danse
  3. Lamentation

The first movement, Ouverture, captures the explosive intensity of early overtures, inspired by composers such as Monteverdi. Through bold, sustained, and virtuosic gestures, it offers a playful critique of “show-off” pieces, celebrating their grandeur while acknowledging their excesses.

The second movement, Danse, evokes the delicate and distant echoes of Baroque ballet and the minimalist dance interludes of Philip Glass. It evokes a fragile, nostalgic memory—a waltz-like ripple lingering in the fading edges of the collective past.

The final movement, Lamentation, weaves together seemingly disparate historical styles, from fugue-like textures and romantic drama to vaporwave-inspired collages, reflecting the uncertainty of memory. The movement’s fragmented structure, punctuated by digital glitch-like interruptions, mirrors the post-digital age, constantly pulling the listener out of familiar narratives and into a disjointed present.

Regard sur trois chimères examines classical music’s weighty legacy through an ironic lens, encouraging listeners to confront their own nostalgic relationship with the past. Is their vision of what has been as authentic as it seems, or is it tainted by an idealized vision of reality?


Duration: 15 minutes
Credits
Music composition - Francis St-Germain

Duo Alteris
English horn - Mélissa Tremblay
Piano - Bruce Gaulin








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