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violin and orchestra

Once I had the pleasure of hearing a child tell me that being impatient was “when one waits fast.” The kernel of truth and wisdom in this observation draws me as a music listener to something which is neither negligible nor without interest, for a part of my experience with respect to music has already lead me to live this state and to know this waiting fast.

When I listen to certains works, I ask myself whether it is I who am in a hurry or whether there is the presence of a hurried condition — resident within the music itself — to which I am particularly sensitive.

The expression, to wait fast, in no way suggests the rather contradictory expression, to hurry slowly. Nevertheless, there does exist a saying, more haste-less speed. Here then are the elements of this little paradox that I tried to infuse into the very heart of my Figures hâtives.

Thanks to a grant from the Canada Council, this composition was commissioned by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and intended for its concert master, Richard Roberts, to whom it is dedicated.

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