Lac-Mégantic

Lac-Megantic by Frank Horvat

2013 / Solo

DURATION
14 minutes, 10 seconds

INSTRUMENTATION
piano

COMMISSIONED BY
Lisa Tahara (pianist)

  1. Lac-Mégantic Lisa Tahara 14:18

Programme Notes

This composition chronicles the tragic series of events that took place in July 2013 in a small Quebec town when a train derailed and exploded. The piece tells the story through the tone of the piano, from the ominous mechanical sounds of a train out of control, to the massive explosion, and finally to the healing that took place afterward as the town had to come to grips with the awful event that changed everything. Each of the five sections captures key moments in the story.

Part 1: A freight train is heading east when the engineer stops to rest for the evening.
Part 2a: The train is parked for the night in a tranquil area near Nantes, QC. The engineer checks into a hotel in Lac-Mégantic.
Part 2b: A Nantes resident notices a fire starting on the parked train and calls 911. Crews are dispatched and extinguish the fire. The train is left alone again to the quiet of a summer evening.
Part 3: The unmanned train gradually starts moving down the track. It picks up tremendous speed as it approaches Lac-Mégantic.
Part 4: The high-speed train enters Lac-Mégantic and derails. Cars of crude oil explode, causing immense devastation to the town.
Part 5: Friends and family of the victims, along with citizens of Lac-Mégantic, mourn.

– Frank Horvat

RECORDING
The Current Agenda
Lisa Tahara (piano)

Producer: Frank Horvat, Jean Martin
Label: I Am Who I Am Records

PERFORMANCES
World Premiere
September 23, 2013
Lisa Tahara
Music Mondays
Church of the Holy Trinity
Toronto, Canada

June 15, 2014
Lisa Tahara
Walter Hall, Faculty of Music
University of Toronto, Canada

December 10, 2014
Lisa Tahara
Arts & Letters Club
Toronto, Canada


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