Philip Sparke

Sounds Of The Saint Lawrence

2008 marked the 400th anniversary of the 1608 founding of Quebec City in Canada. The Band of Les Voltigeurs de Quebec, an infantry regiment of the Canadian forces, commissioned this piece as part of the anniversary celebrations. The folk songs of Quebec share, for obvious reasons, a history with the folk songs of France, but many can also claim to originate in Canada. All three movements of this suite use different settings of the evocative La'-haut surces montagnes as an introduction, and are then based on two popular folk songs. The first movement uses Veillée rustique and Petit Jean, the second uses la claire fontaine and Vive les matelots, and the third is based on C'estl'aviron and Au cabaret.