S2E2 Perspectives: bricolage in the practice of the composer Stacey Brown

Perspectives, the sculpture by Michel Longtin that inspired Stacey’s composition.

In this episode we interviewed the Canadian composer Stacey Brown. Stacey originally came from Kamloops, BC but studied and worked for a long time in Montréal where she composed for such groups as Les Voix Humaines. Her orchestral composition Perspectives received its American debut with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yannik Nézet Séguin. Stacey now lives and composes in St. Johns, Newfoundland and resides in our neighborhood. In a casual conversation with Jack, Stacey remarked that bricolage was essential to her practice.

Stacey with some of her “black notes on a white page” which, as she notes, must be interpreted by the musicians who play them.

Below: Three views of Michel Longtin’s sculpture to illustrate the shifts in perspective created by changing the angle from which it is viewed.

Below: Two images from Stacey’s composition Urgent Solitudes showing the shifting pictures of trees taken by Stéphanie Pothier

To listen to the full concert of Perspectives played by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra and many more excerpts of Stacey Brown’s compositions click on the link to her homepage below.