About this Piece

A native of Quebec, Denis Bédard (b. 1950) studied under several teachers at the Conservatoire de musique Québec, including Claude Lavoie (1918-2014). In 1994, Bédard published his Rhapsodie sur le nom de LAVOIE based on a six-note motive that Bédard assures us in the score spells out his teacher’s name with the notes D-A-G-G-A-E. This statement first occurs in eighth notes on the pedal. The four movements that comprise the seven-minute piece (Maestoso; Allegro; Tristamente; and Vivo) make stark and inventive use of the motive, which occurs frequently and clearly without much transformation. Parallel dissonant chords accompany the motive in the first movement, with a second movement of fast perpetual motion in the right hand. The slow and sustained Tristamente movement proves sad as its title indicates, but in the fourth movement, an upbeat four-part fugue leads to a grand finale.