String Orchestra

babin-louis-banniere

louis-babin-saint-exuperyCouleurs (+info and audio)

String orchestra
Duration : 5’47”
Commissioned work by FACE School in Montreal as a composer in residence, part of the musical suite Visages

This piece is probably closest to my personal musical language. Though you may not hear it, the musical idea has its roots in the word FACE. My primary motif is built on the melody A-F-A-F-C#-E, a frankly modern idiom which nevertheless retains many of my lyrical characteristics. This is an interior voyage that begins in a schoolyard with a quiet reference to a childhood melody I would sing when I was very young.

louis-babin-faceTo Dream (+ info and audio)

String Orchestra
Duration : 4’25”
Commissioned work by FACE School in Montreal as a composer in residence, part of the musical suite Visages

To Dream is a meandering piece featuring the strings. Sometimes a violin solo breaks free to soar alone and fill the role of an observer watching and commenting from a distance. In the end, the spirit of the piece is one of contemplation. Calm and serenity are also waiting at the end of the journey. This music takes me back to my adolescence, a time of deep personal wondering, and daydreams…

louis-babin-saint-exuperySuite du Promeneur (+ info and audio)

(1992)
String Orchestra
Duration : 10’00”
Premiere by Orchestre Philharmonique de l’Isle under the direction of Boris Brott

Mankind is a wanderer pending death. But sometimes life is lost long before one’s cold body begins to feed the earth. Through lack of trust, neglect, or giving up, it is often difficult to realize that existence depends not only on unknowns but also on a thirst to know oneself, despite the imbalances this may cause.