Landscapes of Memory: an interview with composer Emilie Cecilia LeBel
If there’s such a thing as “wide angle” music, composer Emilie Cecilia LeBel is a master of the form. Influenced by the vast, expansive space of the Canadian prairies, her music takes its time and unfolds at an organic pace. This is music for immersion—music that contains action within a static space. It’s music that invites the listener to surrender to the sensual experience of the piece.
Landscapes of Memory features two solo piano pieces, both over 30 minutes in length. The masterful playing of pianists Luciane Cardassi and Wesley Shen—aided by the use of an eBow—creates sound worlds that evoke the landscapes that inspired the music, as well as the imaginative landscapes in the listener’s mind.
Emilie Cecilia LeBel has been the recipient of numerous awards and prizes, as well as multiple composer-in-residence postings. Her compositions have been performed across North and South America, as well as Europe. I’m honored to feature her and her music on No Dead Guys.
Congratulations on the numerous awards and prizes you’ve been awarded for your works, including numerous composer-in-residence postings, a JUNO Award Nomination for Classical Composition of the Year (2024), and a Western Canadian Music Award Nomination for Classical Composer of the Year (2024). When did you first begin composing and what influenced you to do so?
I didn’t think about composition as a clear possibility until my mid-twenties, when I went back to school to do a general music degree. It was at York University (Toronto) that composition became an interest for me. I had thought about it in passing during my audio engineering studies, but I did not think that it was possible for me. At York, I made several good friends who inspired me with their own curiosity around musical creation. I also had professors who treated music school as sonic exploration. My composition professors were not concerned with perfection at that time, and were very encouraging. This created a nice space to just simply try things, and not be too concerned about doing the right thing. All the craft and technique came later in my studies, and I am so grateful for those early experiences in just being encouraged to make interesting sounds.
I understand that you studied audio engineering after an unfortunate accident ended your plans to be a professional trumpeter. How much does your former work in recording studios influence your compositions today?
Studying audio engineering and working in recording studios honed my hearing in different ways than playing trumpet repertoire. The “traditional” ear training that I received in music school focused on melody, harmony, and pitch recognition. With audio engineering, I was trained to hear frequency, balance, and presence. Both ways of listening have been useful in my composition process, and also inform how I think about each instrument’s envelope of sound and color possibilities. I did not receive much training in electronics in my formal composition studies. My audio engineering experience has been integral when developing works that employ technology alongside acoustic instruments. This has enabled me to have an ease with signal flow and general management of technical aspects in a chamber ensemble and electronics set-up.
One of the many things that impresses me about your music is your sense of space and time, and how you create movement and surprise within an envelope of stillness. Who or what most influences you in your musical choices?
The land has influenced me, as I live somewhere with wide open landscapes. In 2015, I moved from a large city (Toronto) to Montana, and then in 2018, I moved north to the Canadian prairies. I have gotten to know the land, and the land has come to know me —existing in these vast expanses of space has infused the music I write. Also, I find that I, and many Canadian composers, have a sense of time, pacing, and scale that is connected to existing in this large and sparsely populated country. Our sense of scale is skewed by these vast landscapes.
Of course, music has also influenced me, but having eclectic tastes makes it harder for me to pinpoint those exact influences. I do particularly enjoy patient music—music that carefully thinks about each event, and the unfolding of a structure that balances familiarity and novelty. The music that I admire finds its way into my thought process when I am working on my own music.
You’ve stated in the past that your music isn’t driven by harmony or melody and that you approach sound in a more visual and tactile way. Can you tell me more about this?
Describing my music this way has been, in part, a response to the very binary way that it has often been categorized by others as atonal. I got a little weary of this description—as all music exists in a continuum, and isn’t necessarily one or the other. I do think carefully about harmonic choices, but my musical decisions are equally driven by color, texture, and resonance choices. When listening and writing, I don’t think of melody and harmony being at the top of a hierarchy, but rather co-mingled with other musical elements.
I often plan the structure for compositions on paper with a timeline and a sort of topography of what I want to happen in a composition with colors, words, pictures. This process of planning my composition ties into my musical subject matter being related to the world around me—to landscape—it makes sense that there would be a link to topography or a tactile sensation.
Congratulations on the release of Landscapes of Memory which features two piano solos, both of which run over 30 minutes each. What drew you to such a long compositional form and why did you feel the piano was the best instrument for pieces of this length?
There were two starting points for this project—long-form composition for solo pianist, and collaborative process. For a while, I had been interested in tackling some pieces that were larger in scope. I was receiving commissions for “concert openers”, which was great! But after writing several pieces like this, I wanted to step outside the 8 to 12 minute structure for a piece, and find some new approaches in my music. I was curious what would arise in my music when presented with the different challenges of composing a longer piece. I was interested in the challenge of conceptualizing a longer shape, and pacing over an extended period. How could color unfold in a longer expanse of time?
The project came out of separate conversations with each pianist. Wesley was also interested in tackling the idea of long-form solo piano works, and so that was an obvious direction for our collaboration. Luciane and I had been talking about doing another project together for quite some time, and we both got excited when discussing long-form. Each of these pieces was a separate project, but as the second piece began to take shape, they seemed to have a sort of lovely synergy. This led to me asking if the performers would like to record and release the two pieces as a project.
Given that much of your music has been written for ensembles, what were some of the challenges you faced in writing for solo piano?
Writing for any solo instrument is the ultimate task! I still think that it is far more challenging than writing for chamber ensemble or orchestra. With solo piano, there is nothing to hide behind for both composer and performer, and there is this immense weight of all the repertoire that has come before—it is a daunting and vulnerable situation. Once I got past this, it became interesting to think about how I could “un-piano” the piano, and find this balance between honoring the repertoire and instrument, and doing something a little different.
Tell me a bit about your masterful use of resonance in these pieces. How do you feel it enhances your compositional structure?
This is a really difficult question to answer! I think a lot of this is done intuitively, or in conjunction with other compositional choices. In these two pieces, I thought a lot about the natural decay or shape of the piano’s sound, and I how I might alter it with eBow and sustain pedal to support or intermingle with the harmony.
Both “ghost geography” and “pale forms in uncommon light”—the two pieces on Landscapes of Memory—employ the eBow, an electromagnetic exciter traditionally used on electric guitar. Did you plan these pieces around the eBow or did the idea come to you as you worked on the compositions?
I planned all the harmonic choices in conjunction with the eBow. I saw the eBow as a means to enhance particular notes that I threaded through the harmony, and as a way to expand the resonance of the piano. Starting with the eBow was integral to shaping the initial concepts for each piece.
I understand that both pieces featured on this album portray a specific geographical environment. What can you tell us about the landscapes that influenced each composition?
The North Saskatchewan River is the subject for “ghost geography.” It’s the river that I live near in Alberta. I used old and recent maps of the river to see how the river has changed over time. Overlaying them, I was able to create a sort of palimpsest of the river. Rivers change their path over time—they meander and their deltas grow and recede. Their shape changes through time as erosion.This work revealed gradual changes in the river—repeated patterns and small variations that became the musical starting point for the piece. The title “ghost geography” came out of seeing all the ghosts or old iterations of the river.
“pale forms in uncommon light” is about the region where my collaborator Luciane lives, and where we first met many years ago during an artist residency at the Banff Centre.This work honors the montane ecoregion of Alberta—the many iterations and gradual changes of light patterns that filter through the trees in this region—Douglas fir, trembling aspen, Engelmann spruce, and lodgepole pine.
Listening to this music felt like an act of co-creation between the notes, which provided the sound world, and my imagination. How much of your music is composed with the listener’s imagination in mind?
I always hope that the listener will find a way to be in the music that works for them. In a way, I don’t like to say too much about my compositions in program notes, as I don’t want a listener feel that they have to interpret the music a certain way. I wish to leave space open for a listener to make it their own experience.
My favorite of the two tracks is “ghost geography” for its spaciousness, your use of action within stillness, and the anchoring fixed tone produced by the eBow which provides stability and continuity. Did this piece require any improvisation or was it all notated?
The piece doesn’t incorporate improvisation, but there are moments of choice for the pianist. For instance, they can choose how many times to repeat specific chords and patterns—depending on the room, resonance of the hall, their mood, etc.
Will sheet music be available for the pieces features on Landscape of Memory? If so, where might we purchase it?
Yes, the scores will be available. You can connect with me through my website to request the scores.
What current and future plans are you most excited about?
I am in Toronto right now working with Gustavo Gimeno and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra on their next recording for the Harmonia Mundi label. The project will release in 2025, and features two works by Bartok, and my work “the sediments” (2021).
As the days get shorter and colder, I am inside my studio a lot more. I am deep into writing a long-form string quartet, and an art song project where I am writing both the text and the music. I am already looking forward to next spring when I can get back out into my garden, and to the woods for some camping trips with my dog.
What advice can you offer young composers seeking to create careers for themselves in music?
For a long time, a career in music was quite narrowly defined. Everyone has their own path to a life composition—define your own ideal of what success and happiness is for you
Canadian composer Emilie Cecilia LeBel specializes in concert music composition, and the creation of mixed works that employ digital technologies. Described as a creator whose music “reflects her intelligence and audaciousness” (Sir Andrew Davis), and is “impressively subtle and sensuous” (ConcertoNet), LeBel’s work inhabits sonic worlds that are primarily concerned with textural landscapes, resonance, and variances in colour.
LeBel’s artistic practice has been recognized through several significant awards and appointments, including Affiliate Composer with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (2018–2022), Composer-in-Residence with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada (2015), SoundMakers Composer in Residence with Soundstreams Canada (2015–2016), Land’s End Ensemble Composers Competition (2016), Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award (2015), Canadian Music Centre Toronto Emerging Composer Award (2012), and Canadian Federation of University Women Elizabeth Massey Award (2012). LeBel’s debut album of chamber music, field studies (2023), received a JUNO Award Nomination for Classical Composition of the Year (2024), and a Western Canadian Music Award Nomination for Classical Composer of the Year (2024).
LeBel’s compositions have been performed across North and South America, and Europe by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Mark Takeshi McGregor, Continuum Ensemble, Women on the Verge, Duo Nyans, Voices of the Pearl, Cecilia String Quartet, Plumes Ensemble, Quatuor Bozzini, Arditti Quartet, Land’s End Ensemble, Cheryl Duvall, Luciane Cardassi, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Thin Edge New Music Collective, Onyx Trio, and junctQín keyboard collective, among others. LeBel’s work appears on thirteen commercial recordings.
Active as an educator and mentor, LeBel has served as a mentor composer for several early-career artist programs, including HATCH (Continuum Ensemble, Toronto), PIVOT (Canadian League of Composers), ConneXions (Canadian New Music Network), Explore the Score and NextGen Composers (Toronto Symphony Orchestra), and Young Composers Project (Edmonton Symphony Orchestra).
LeBel holds degrees in music composition from the University of Toronto (DMA) and York University (MA, BFA Hons.), and in audio engineering and music production from the Harris Institute for the Arts (Dip. Hons). Her composition teachers included Gary Kulesha, David Mott, William Westcott, and Michael Finnissy.
Based in Treaty 6 Territory (Edmonton) since 2018, LeBel is presently Composer Advisor with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and a faculty member at MacEwan University.