Walter's MiXed Bag

Olga Ranzenhofer, violon
Ensemble de la SMCQ
Walter Boudreau, conductor
McGill Percussion Ensemble
Pierre Béluse, director

ACD2 2551

is a journey through the imagination of one of Canada's most outrageously bold composers, Walter Boudreau.   Born in 1947, the prolific composer and conductor has composed more than fifty works that have been performed in Canada, the United States, and Europe.   This deeply personal portrait includes a five-minute capsule of the history of music (Le Récital), a fifteen-minute account of the earth's genesis performed by eight percussionists (Les Sept Jours), and excerpts from L'Asile de la pureté, a work completed in 2003.   La Vie d'un héros is an epic tribute to his friend, composer Claude Vivier, whose tragic death in 1983 profoundly affected him.

Boudreau was awarded the Opus Prize for Composer of the Year in 1998, and became the artistic director of The Ensemble de la SMCQ that same year.

1 • Le Rècital [1992]       5:26       (Variations des variations de W.A. Mozart sur Ah! vous dirai-je maman       ou Petite Histoire ultra condensée de la musique occidentale) 2 • Les Sept Jours [1977]       13:44       Ensemble de percussions McGill       Pierre Béluse chef | conductor       François Clément, Pierre Béluse, Luc Boivin, Raymond Desrosiers, Robert Lépine,       Robert Leroux, Frederik Liessens, Aldo Mazza, Jean-Guy Plante       L'Asile de la pureté (six extraits) [2003]       24:41 3 • Prélude (Destin tragique…)       6:42 4 • Cortège funèbre       1:57 5 • Apparition (jeûne)       3:24 6 • Valse       5:16 7 • Adieu, merle noir…       5:26 8 • Postlude (Les Portes de l'Enfer…)       1:56 9 • La Vie d'un héros (Tombeau de Vivier) [1999]       32:45