Toile De Sons

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Bernard Donzel-Gargand (1955 – 2015) was a French electro-acoustic composer who ran the Studio Forum in Annecy together with Philippe Blanchard, Pierre Coppier, Jacques Lorrain and Jean-Louis Belmonte, and also founded the studio Collectif & Cie in 1981.

“A French electro-acoustic composer, Bernard Donzel-Gargand delivered Toile de Sons (Web of Sounds), his first CD, in 2000. It collects four works, each a little under 20 minutes. The composer belongs (at least aesthetically) to the young generation of electro-acousticians. His approach eschews some of the genre’s traditional rules and restrictions, which results in richer, less austere music. But richer does not necessarily means better. In general Donzel-Gargand’s aural stories lack a plot. The title track features some very conventional passages held together by a weak compositional structure. “Rêves Oubliés Dans les Yeux de Grigri” (“Dreams Forgotten in Grigri’s Eyes”) is an attempt at peaking into a cat’s dreams. Paradoxically, this piece is harsher but holds stronger poetic contents. The contrast between the rough sonic edges and the naïveté of the intention recalls the works of Yves Daoust. “Mise En Ciel D’un Scarabée” follows a similar path. The album’s highlight is “Légende du Pont d’Yeu,” clearly a superior composition. It illustrates an old folk tale about how the Devil was tricked by St. Martin of Vertou into building a bridge to the island of Yeu. The tale is narrated by an old man with a thick regional accent. His ageless words are displaced in space and time, woven into the fabric of a modern electro-acoustic piece — well done. All things considered, Toile de Sons makes a honest musique concréte CD.” FC