ProStudioMasters.com

"WHY COMPOSE? I have always composed to tell a story, a story that helps listeners find their own. When you have had, for almost half a century, a special connection with the greatest masterpieces, you need a large dose of humility and innocence in order to give music lovers these special moments of life, as everything I compose starts simply with a smile, a phone call, an emotion. WHAT KIND OF MUSIC? Classical? Absolutely not! Popular? Neither! Crossover? Oh no, not at all. So? I am really walking a fine line here. Maybe the answer lies hidden in the fact that composing has always been an outlet for my sorrows, fears and passions. A music critic at Le Devoir said: “There must be a demand for romanticism […] (but) Fidèles Insomnies (Blissfully Sleepless) cannot be categorized”. I believe I must agree with him. THE BLANK PAGE: Writing is not something I choose; the themes come flooding to my mind. Quite often, I wake up in the middle of the night and save on my phone a theme that pops to the surface just like that, without even looking for it. Then, the work really begins. When I sit down at the piano, all the pianistic knowledge I have accumulated goes into action hand in hand with all the information stored in the back of my mind, suddenly all made available to shape, enrich and bring these themes to life. If the theme does not come by itself, the piece will not be, because composing is a relaxing time and paradoxically it is also some kind of exorcism or auto psychoanalysis. THE WORLD OF MUSIC AND AUDIENCES: It saddens me to see a particular audience turn up its nose at Maurice Jarre, Michel Legrand or Alexandre Desplat or even our own André Gagnon, who has written marvellous pieces. How can we not break down in tears after just a few bars of Brel’s Ne me quitte pas? Because what we retain most from it, is that it is a gorgeous theme and I believe that inspiration is a state of grace. I can’t help but reiterate that André Mathieu has been blessed more often than not. I see my own pieces like films for the ear, images for the piano. WRITING: Although my compositions tell simple stories, the day-to-day discipline to which I have submitted myself to for decades cannot not interfere in the making of these pieces. All these digitally illuminated networks add their own colours to the story and bring structure to it. Though they hold pleasant titles, both amateur and professional pianists who have tried to play them have come to realise just how dauntingly diffi cult they are." - Alain Lefèvre