Carrousel By Claude Gagnon

Does anyone know anything about the composer of Carrousel, Claude Gagnon? It took me several searches to find much information on the man. I assume that is because he resides and works in Canada. Searching for him for me landed me on French websites. I translated these into English but failed to find any useful information.

Finding The Mysterious Carrousel Composer

I was able to locate his bio page for the publishing company he publishes his works (productionsdoz.com). It seems a little out of date. I could not find him listed as a teacher at Sainte-Foy College (Quebec). He may have retired but I cannot say. Here is their bio for anyone interested.

Claude Gagnon, presently a classic guitar teacher at the Sainte-Foy College (Quebec), performs regularly as a member of various ensembles and as an accompanist for voice and violin. He is interested in Renaissance and Baroque music and occasionally collaborates in projects where he plays cittern with singers and instrumentalists playing the lute, viola da gamba and recorder.

He is also the founder of the Ensemble Arabesque which brings together violin, guitar, and cello and offers programs of original compositions and arrangements of classical traditional and popular works. As a composer, his works include Alice aux pays des Merveilles for three guitars, Hello Cello for cello and guitar, Douze préludes en forme d’études for solo guitar as well as Kamendja for two guitars. Claude Gagnon has published twenty volumes of music for guitar with Productions d’OZ and Éditions Doberman-Yppan. He has also taken part in several recordings as an instrumentalist or as a producer for the Atma and Analekta labels.

productionsdoz.com

About The Piece

Carrousel falls in the Royal Conservatory level of Preparatory. This piece offers a mixture of arpeggios, simultaneous playing with the thumb and fingers, and small-scale movement in the melodic line. I also enjoy the key change from minor to major. It has a likable melody and remains in one position throughout.

If you enjoyed this piece, then you might enjoy Valse d’automne by Lyse Gingras from the same preparatory level. Lyse Gingras is another composer of whom I cannot find a single ounce of biographical information through Internet searches. I can only assume that he is either French or French Canadian. I assume the latter, like Gagnon, is due to his appearance in the Royal Conservatory editions for guitar.

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Chadwick Becks

I have two degrees in guitar performance and was privileged to study under Aaron Shearer, Tom Kikta, David Skantar, Ken Karsh, Tim Bedner, and currently Christopher Berg. Outside my editorial work on this blog, I teach full-time across many genres including classical, jazz, blues, rock, funk, and metal.