Retour aux racines – saxophone & organ

Biography

Saxophonist Sophie Poulin de Courval and organist Jacques Boucher have been working together since 2003. They realized they had a shared interest in extending their palette of sounds. Both musicians are aware and proud of the rich artistic heritage of their spiritual home, the Kamouraska region of Québec, where they perform regularly. Like missionaries entrusted with the safekeeping of the area’s heritage, they recorded their first and second CDs, released in 2012, on five different organs in the area from Cap Saint-Ignace to Rivière-du-Loup. Since 2003, wishing to share all the potential of the unusual sound mix created by the colours of the saxophone and organ, they have performed in Québec, New Brunswick, USA, Romania and France at a growing number of concert venues.

More information

All three works on the program were written for saxophonist Sophie Poulin de Courval, and all share a common focus: the historical roots of the Québec people. They describe the landscape and the intangible heritage of Québec’s culture, created by ancestors from Normandy who came to a new land and made it their own.
The point of departure for this “journey” from Old to New France is Villebadin. This small town on the Orne river in Lower Normandy was the birthplace of one ancestor, Maurice Poulin dit La fontaine, the first Poulin de Courval, who settled in the Trois-Rivières region. He was a King’s Attorney and judge, and was granted the land of the seignory where his grandson founded the Saint-Maurice forge.
The piece was written by French composer Dominique Joubert, who hosted the saxophonist’s first visit to the land of her ancestor as part of a concert tour of France in the summer of 2013. The single-movement work describes her excitement and curiosity as she discovers the landscape and the history it recounts.
Promenade en Kamouraska. A five-movement suite, two of which have been selected for this program. The work results from a project involving a painter, a photographer, a writer, a composer and two performers, who brought their joint views to bear on the landscape around Kamouraska. The project led to a concert/exhibition and an art book/CD recording. The two selected movements are Monadnocks and le fleuve. The composer, Dominique Joubert, has a deep attachment for the Kamouraska region, and provides a musical depiction of the solidity of the mountain range that has witnessed the presence of human beings since the ice age. Melodic lines evoke the fluid waves of the majestic river that carried the explorers to their goal. Kamouraska is the homeland of both performers.

Variations sur un thème de Gilles Vigneault. This piece was written to explore the range of sounds that an organ can produce, and to highlight the saxophone’s ability to blend in with all the different timbres of the king of instruments. The saxophonist wanted to use a theme by the celebrated poet Gilles Vigneault from his song “Le doux chagrin”, and it is presented here as a theme in “classical music” style. The song’s refrain points out “how difficult it is to live”, and the work explores the complexity of relationships and our attachment to both other people and the land.
This work, with its multiple variations and sound colours depicting a range of emotions, reminds us of our roots and our rich history, and brings the concert to a conclusion.