Michel Longtin: Light at the dawn of the 21st century 
A pioneer in the transition to post-modernism, Michel Longtin integrates musical languages from various sources (modal music, folklore, ‘film') into his composer's palette. His rupture from the avant-garde milieu of the 1980s seems a fundamental gesture in many ways akin to Gustav Mahler's efforts in the early 20th century to introduce into ‘grand' symphonic music elements borrowed from ‘popular' music. An analysis of three major symphonic works by the Québec composer: La route des pèlerins reclus (1984), Quaternions (1997), ... et j’ai repris la route (2006) support this hypothesis. Taking Jean Molino's tripartite perspective (poetic, neutral and aesthetic levels), this analysis compares Longtin's symphonic work with that of Mahler, in light of Theodor Adorno's remarkable work on the Viennese composer