Pandémonium, for three instrumentalists, is a work from the series Live Structures, a project I have been developing since 2016 through compositions and research in the interpretation of digital data, including the development of a custom software: Ocular Scores.

This piece explores very basic concepts of traditional classical music: a main voice, which will be drawn in white, an accompanying part, drawn in blue, and free solos, duos, and trios, drawn in red.

A fixed graphic score is projected onto the musicians’ iPads, along with precise instructions for each musician regarding the playing they are to execute. That is: white means to interpret the fixed score, blue means to accompany the other musicians, and red means to improvise a free part. The sound performance of the three musicians is analyzed in real-time, interpreted in graphic notation, and overlaid on the fixed score by Ocular Scores.

On the large screen, only the musicians’ performance is projected, without the fixed score.

Pandémonium is also an exploration of the unique experience imposed by the interpretation of visual notation, an experience fueled by spontaneous reactions in listening to one another, and how a saturation of auditory and visual information can influence an overall perspective, giving rise to the possibility of pandemonium — an unpredictable tumult.

Premiere

• November 27, 2022, Trioculaire +, Espace bleu — Édifice Wilder — Espace danse, Montréal (Québec)