About the release

Three Pieces presents a triptych of compositions by Philippe Lauzier, performed by the composer on bass clarinet with Pierre-Yves Martel on harmonium and Gabriel Drolet on contrabass. Written and recorded in the winter of 2025, the pieces grew out of a period when Martel lent Lauzier his harmonium. The instrument’s sustained tones and manually operated bellows became the starting point for a quiet, slowly evolving music centered on harmony.

Slow, breath-like recurrences give the pieces their unhurried pace. While some chords change directly, the music is characterized above all by gradual transformation, as one harmony often becomes another through the movement of a single voice. Acoustic beatings animate each chord from within, while the close orchestration and timbral fusion of bass clarinet, harmonium, and contrabass give the harmonies a lush density and the ensemble an almost monochromatic cast—as though the three instruments were different shades of a single sound. Warm and intimate, Three Pieces is music written by a composer-performer for two close collaborators.

About the artist:

Born and based in Montreal, bass clarinetist and saxophonist Philippe Lauzier is an experimental musician, composer, teacher, and summer sailor. His practice encompasses notated works, improvisation, and sound installations. Across these forms, he frequently explores extended instrumental techniques, new instruments, microtonality, field recordings, and combinations of acoustic and electronic sound. Changes of color, resonance, texture, and density become means of articulating musical relationships and form.

Collaboration has remained central to Lauzier’s practice. His new and long-standing projects include work with Carlo Costa (Interspace and Splendide Abysse), Émilie Fortin and Kalun Leung (Williwaw), Éric Normand (Not the music), Liberté Anne Lymberiou (Frotae), Frédérique Laliberté (Motel Hélène), Pierre-Yves Martel (Weird Studies, Quartetski, and Sainct Laurens), and Michel Doneda (Novembres). He has also created original music for several films and interdisciplinary projects.

Lauzier’s discography includes Transparence (Schraum, 2013), Dôme (Small Scale Music, 2016), A pond in my living room (Sofa Music, 2017), Pianotissage (Mikroclimat, 2019), and Contreplaqué (2021).

Credits:

Composed and recorded in the winter of 2025 by Philippe Lauzier.

Performed by Philippe Lauzier (bass clarinet), Pierre-Yves Martel (harmonium), and Gabriel Drolet (contrabass).

Mixing and mastering by Pierre-Yves Martel.

Audio editing by Philippe Lauzier and Pierre-Yves Martel. 

Cover artwork: Itself III by Kaori Izumiya.

Album design by Kristofer Svensson.

Tracklist:

1. COURBES 17′01″

2. SEMBLANCE NOCTURNE 09′49″

3. ÉCLATS 16′46″