Pierre-Yves Martel

Adapting and altering the parameters of an instrument first created in the 15th Century, Montreal’s Pierre-Yves Martel’s creates a brief (under 25 minute) sound picture of Mer Bleue, a sphagnum bog near Gloucester, Ontario where he often hikes. No watery or moss-like timbres can be detected in the 10 selections. However Martel’s custom-designed instrument with bass string extensions, unique tuning, a screw-in capo and added nut grooves, augments his range so that he can play two strings with one finger and take advantage of sympathetic resonance.

Selections are for the most part hushed and placid as a protected area should be. Yet the instrument’s additions allow him to vary drones, plucks and sweeps at various pitches and tempos to produce arco and pizzicato tones simultaneously or create both an ostinato and a lead line. This is brought out dramatically on “Accretion” where scordatura and cross stringing allows him to harmonized widely-spaced Arcadian development with pressurized strokes and stops. Some interludes suggest Baroque refinement with lute-like strums. However new configurations and uncommon techniques on other sequences such as “Only a Part” mean that the multiple strings bowed produce either jagged metallic-like notes or contrasting pointillist affiliations while advancing linearly.

At points suffused with nostalgic memory as well as unexpected discoveries, Martel’s creation manages to describe the timeless attraction of a boreal wetland while shaping a Renaissance instrument’s textures to the 21st Century.

–Ken Waxman
— for MusicWorks Fall 2023