"Lorsque j'entends de la musique : je vois des couleurs correspondantes."

"Il s'agit seulement d'une vision intérieure, d'un oeil de l'esprit."

"Ce sont des couleurs merveilleuse, ineffables, extraordinairement variées."

"Comme les sons bougent, changent, se meuvent, ces couleurs remuent avec eux en de perpétuelles transformations."

(Olivier Messiaen, "Traité de Rythme, de Couleur et d'Ornithologie" 1949-1992)

Performance of Messiaen's 'Quartet for the End of Time' with video (concept by Roman Borys, cellist of the Gryphon Trio; Video by Bernard White)

My involment in this project has consisted in the study of Messiaen's 'Quartet for the End of Time' in terms of colour. Olivier Messiaen (20th century French composer) was synesthetic; when he heard sound, he also saw colours. Messiaen documented the colours he saw in his treatise 'Traité de rythme, de couleur, et d'ornithologie' (published after his death), ascribing very specific colours to his Modes and Special Chords.

The purpose of the research has been to construct a 'colour score' for the video artist to use in the making of a video that will accompany a live performance of the piece.

On August 3, 2007, at Parry Sound, the Gryphon Trio along with James Campbell gave a work-in-progress performance of this multimedia presentation of Messiaen's Quartet.

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As part of the requirement towards fulfilling a D.M.A. in Composition at the University of Toronto, I will be carrying out a research project involving a study of live electronics. I am specifically interested in pieces written since 1990 that involve some kind of interaction between one or more instruments and a computer (running software such as Max/MSP or SuperCollider).

At present, I am in the initial stages of this research, and I am compiling a catalogue of all such works listing the names of the works, the names of the composers, the software being utilized, and the various techniques of computer programming and digital signal processing utilized.

If anybody has a work fitting the above description and would like to be included in my research, please contact me by email.

Last updated June 2008 Email: info@mnerenberg.ca