Recurrence

Recurrence is an album that explores repetition through five bold and probing new compositions by Canadian composers. Repetition ripples through every aspect of the universe—in physics, psychology, philosophy, economics—and it evokes curiosity, perplexity, and awe. Each composer on this album was tasked to dig deep into an aspect of repetition and find ways to express its manifestations musically. Some took to ecology, some to politics, and others to mathematics. The result is five exceptional artistic works, each unique in its aesthetics and sonic landscape, which internalize the very notion of repetition in their forms and overall structures.

The composer collective and art organization ICOT, now twelve years old, came up with the idea of exploring repetition in the human experience right at the beginning of the pandemic, when it seemed like the ever-moving rhythm of life had come to a halt. Almost serendipitously, every aspect of the project came together quickly. Two of Canada’s top composers, Nicole Lizée and Jordan Nobles, agreed to contribute their compositions to the album, members of the ICOT chamber orchestra were assembled, the New Orford String Quartet came on board, and from there one esteemed musician after another joined the impressive roster of this project.

For this recording, the ICOT chamber orchestra is made up of a string quintet, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, upright and electric bass, piano, and two percussion players.

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