I have the feeling that I cannot betray this continuity,
this thing I carry with me.
The burden of history.
Morton Feldman
Quand j’étais jeune, on me disait :
“Vous verrez quand vous aurez cinquante ans”.
J’ai cinquante ans, et je n’ai rien vu.
Erik Satie
I have nothing to say/
and I am saying it/
and that is poetry/
as I need it.
John Cage "Lecture on Nothing" (1949)
Until I die there will be sounds.
And they will continue following my death.
One need not fear about the future of music.
John Cage "Experimental Music" (1957)
To understand what music has to be,
you have to live for music.
Who's ready to do that?
Morton Feldman, quoted in a 1976 interview, published in Desert Plants by Walter Zimmermann.
Montreal-based pianist Brigitte Poulin is an active and accomplished soloist, chamber musician, accompanist and teacher whose repertoire covers all periods from the invention to the deconstruction of the piano.
This year, she recorded two albums distributed by Leaf music: the present recording, György Kurtág: Játékok for solo piano and Sayeh-Roshan devoted to new Persian works, with the contrabassist Ali Yazdanfar.
Among her most notable collaborations are her participation in Stravinsky's Les Noces with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (conducted by Kent Nagano) in Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire with Patricia Kopatchiskaya (sprechgesang), in Schubert's Piano Trio in B-flat major with violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon and the late cellist Lynn Harrell, as well as two recitals with Silvia Mandolini, violin, at the Venice Biennale.
Brigitte Poulin teaches and performs as a collaborative pianist at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University. She is an active faculty member of the Orford Musique Summer Academy, and is regularly called upon to adjudicate at music festivals and competitions across Canada.
Her CD recordings include Folklore imaginaire featuring music by Ana Sokolović (Naxos), with Ensemble Transmission; Pierrot lunaire (ATMA Classique) with soprano Ingrid Schmithüsen; and Édifices Naturels (Dame) for solo piano. Her performances are available on Naxos Records, Spotify and YouTube.