Catherine Major has had a prolific career as a singer-songwriter for 20 years. But if, with five albums, song has been her main vector, she has also composed music for others – Diane Dufresne, Luce Dufault – as well as for the cinema. In 2022, she even transposed Michel Tremblay’s play Albertine in five parts into an opera, which she composed and orchestrated, a huge project that she carried out with all her might and which was crowned with success.
Even if her relationship with her piano has always been close, it is more than ever the composer Catherine Major who shines on this new entirely instrumental album. The memory of the body is first of all a good idea, that of looking at your life by delving into your sensory memories. And music is certainly the best way to transpose and share these inexpressible emotions.
There is nostalgia and melancholy of course, but also joy, love, turbulence, fullness. On the piano, Catherine Major is by turns delicate and powerful, restrained and lively, always in tune. The orchestrations that she created for strings, English horn and sometimes voices are not just a coating: they are rather a light addition which is superimposed on the enveloping melodies of which she has the secret.
Rue Champagneur, 9 mois, Calm after the storm, Quarante, Lac Notre-Dame… The titles parade like so many cinematographic images on this album released under the Alisma label, a division of Atma Classique devoted solely to contemporary instrumental creation. With her creative sensitivity, the musician takes her place perfectly in the neoclassical universe, a true composer whose depth and originality are undeniable.
An exciting, magnificent and caressing story without words, which says more than many songs.