Aventa gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for the Aventa Ensemble, (d)Tourner (2016-2017) is conceived as a concerto for percussion and ensemble in which the soloist is not in a relationship of rivalry with other musicians, such as is the case in the classical concerto. The role of percussion here is to set the instrumental ensemble in motion, to extend its initiatives or to be the relay. The soloist does not define his identity by their opposition to the group, but by a synergistic relationship with the instrumental ensemble.

The piece explores the principle of circular movement (Turning) as a periodic movement always returning to its starting point. It can be for example on the aspect of the movement of the instrumental sounds in the space of the stage (the instruments are arranged in a particular way), the rotation of the melodic and rhythmic movements, or the transformations of timbre in the phenomena of rotation of bow of stringed instruments. The general form of the work is also conceived according to this principle; it is organized as a braid with four strands, each strand returning to its starting point, to finally go a little further. It is not a question of imagining a perfectly circular world, a perpetual return of sound events, but of diverting [(d) Turning] the very idea of cyclicity, by using it rather as a springboard towards something else. In this sense, the circles are never perfect, they elongate, deform and are called to lead the listener constantly farther, until the moments when they break and lead them to new sound extensions.

Music has always been intended to divert sounds or communication tools from their original functions or their origins. The vocal sounds for example probably have for first mission, before becoming singing, to allow the expression of the language. It is the same for the sounds made by sound synthesis whose initial function is to replace the human voice in the messages delivered by communicating machines. The internet itself, designed for the army to improve its telecommunications, eventually becomes a tool for sound art, when it allows simultaneous musical interpretations in distant places around the globe. Did not Pierre Schaeffer discover the principle of concrete music through the erroneous use of a striped vinyl record?

This diversion of the primary functions of sounds or devices does not necessarily imply that music has no function, but simply that it has no immediate and profitable utility (in terms of music of creation obviously). There is a free element in the work of art in general, which means that it has no direct or expressive social function. That is what makes all its quality; the music gives itself!
Philippe Leroux