This is the first of a series of pieces depicting what I call "musical environments" and is also the first one to use a notation where pitches are partially irrelevant (the instrumentists have a certain liberty in the choice of the pitches). The piece follows the mathematical models for competing species (first part of the composition), logistic growth (second part), and so-called predator-prey equations (last part). The idea I had was to create some sort of laboratory where I put different musical "species" (small objects, like for instance two staccato notes) in a superposing counterpoint, and see how they interact together in the three different dynamic systems described by mathematical models. These models are extremely sensible to the initial conditions (for instance a little two few preys will likely make a predator species go extinct) and so I experimented with different "recipes" until I found the ones that had interesting survival equilibriums; the result is a mixture of evolving counterpoints of objects, where each species has periods of emergence followed by quasi-extinction, and so on. Eventually, most species go extinct before the second, slower, part of the piece, where the clarinet takes almost all the available space, but eventually the other musical gestures come back and a new dynamic population is formed out of its ashes, in the closing section of the piece.
André Ristic was born in Quebec City. He studied in Quebec City, Montreal, New York and Paris. He has been active as a pianist, in particular as a member of the Trio Fibonacci. He has won the Jules-Léger Prize for new chamber music as well as a Prix OPUS as composer of the year. His music has been recorded on the SNE, ATMA and NISAPA labels. André Ristic also studied basic sciences at the Université du Québec à Montréal (applied mathematics) and is interested in acoustics and the musical applications of logic and geometry. His compositions are developed around paradoxes, combining complexity, popular music, systematism and interpretive freedom.