Intimités
Émilie Girard-Charest
Contemporary music aficionados, and all other listeners too, are encouraged to experience this great Girard-Charest release. — The WholeNote, Canada
Girard-Charest seems to work from a limited set of ideas and with a clear focus. […] Interesting work! — Vital, Netherlands
Prix Opus 2021-22: Album de l’année — Finaliste
Émilie Girard-Charest presents Intimités, an album that brings together 4 works composed between 2014 and 2019. Intended for different ensembles, these compositions offer a moment of intimacy in the musical universe of Émilie. Strings and more strings, sometimes complemented by piano or percussion, plunge us into a delicacy that blends with raw emotion, and we are carried along by the precise and rigorous writing style of the composer. The album reveals the scope and power of Émilie Girard-Charest‘s musical language.
- Composer(s): Émilie Girard-Charest
- Performer(s): Lyne Allard, Geneviève Liboiron, Jean René, Émilie Girard-Charest, Daniel Áñez, Noam Bierstone, Andrea Stewart, Emma Schmiedecke, Audréanne Filion, Veronika Rönkös, Stéphane Diamantakiou, Pierre-Alexandre Maranda, Nicolas Caloia, Étienne Lafrance, Isak Goldschneider
- Cover image: Iris Terdjiman
- Graphic design: Frédérique Laliberté
- Canada Council for the Arts
CD (AM 263)
- 1Asyndètes (2017), 13:50string quartet
- 2Épanchements (2014), 8:36violin, cello and piano
- 3Heurts (2019), 9:56violin, cello, percussion and pianoGeneviève Liboiron, violin; Émilie Girard-Charest, cello; Noam Bierstone, percussion; Daniel Áñez, piano
- 4Intimités (2018), 23:574 cellos and 4 double bassesAndrea Stewart, cello; Emma Schmiedecke, cello; Audréanne Filion, cello; Veronika Rönkös, cello; Stéphane Diamantakiou, double bass; Pierre-Alexandre Maranda, double bass; Nicolas Caloia, double bass; Étienne Lafrance, double bass; Isak Goldschneider, conductor
- Label: Ambiances Magnétiques
- AM 263
- 2021
- UCC 771028126323
- Total duration: 56:14
- Sympathique case
- 126 mm × 126 mm × 5 mm
- 35 g
Download (AM 263_NUM)
- 1Asyndètes (2017), 13:50string quartet
- 2Épanchements (2014), 8:36violin, cello and piano
- 3Heurts (2019), 9:56violin, cello, percussion and pianoGeneviève Liboiron, violin; Émilie Girard-Charest, cello; Noam Bierstone, percussion; Daniel Áñez, piano
- 4Intimités (2018), 23:574 cellos and 4 double bassesAndrea Stewart, cello; Emma Schmiedecke, cello; Audréanne Filion, cello; Veronika Rönkös, cello; Stéphane Diamantakiou, double bass; Pierre-Alexandre Maranda, double bass; Nicolas Caloia, double bass; Étienne Lafrance, double bass; Isak Goldschneider, conductor
- Label: Ambiances Magnétiques
- AM 263_NUM
- 2021
- UCC 771028126385
- Total duration: 56:14
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Review

Review
Émilie Girard-Charest is a rising star from the Montréal-scene. So far, this Canadian cellist, composer and improviser is most known for her work as a performer, being a member of various ensembles, and being involved in the premiere of many new compositions from diverse composers. Her compositions have been performed by ensembles like Zukan trio, Thin Edge New Music Collective, SuperMusique, a.o. Also she has several albums out. All of them are collaborations with artists like Violeta Garcia ( Impermanence ), Sergio Castrillón ( Enthousiasme viscéral ), a.o. Intimités is the first album with compositions solely by Émilie Girard-Charest. Four works are presented here: Asyndètes (2017), Épanchements (2014), Heurts (2019) and Intimités (2018). Asyndètes (2017), is written for a quartet, performed here by violinists Lyne Allard, Geneviève Liboiron and Jean René, plus
Girard-Charest herself on cello. An interaction of short attacks and movements with changing dynamics gives a constant suggestion of discontinuity. Épanchements (2014) is written for a trio lineup. Again we hear Liboiron and Girard-Charest joined by pianist Daniel Anez. Often the music is close to silence here, interrupted by high-pitched and long-stretched noisy sounds. Heurts is a work of more joyful and playful movements for violin and cello accompanied by piano (Daniel Anez) and percussion (Noam Bierstone). Intimités (2018) is written for an ensemble performed here by the Montréal chamber ensemble Novarumori. This microtonal work has penetrating dissonant passages resulting from slow evolving movements. Her strings-dominated works are accessible and stripped down in a way. Girard-Charest seems to work from a limited set of ideas and with a clear focus. On the other hand, the works aren’t accessible at all and need careful attention before they reveal why they are there. Interesting work!