INA GRM is pleased to present four major multichannel works selected from its repertoire. Those pieces, each in their own way, reflect the composers’ research in sound diffusion and space composition, in the footsteps of what had already been experimented in the early 50’ by Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry as a mean of expression for the nascent Musique concrète, and to explore new ways of presenting works that were fixed on a given media, that were not composed to be performed by musicians on stage. The consideration of space as a parameter that’s part of the composers’ palette of expression alongside pitch, timbre, duration or intensity, didn’t appear in the XXth century, but it largely benefited from the encounter between sound and electricity, notably through the use of the speaker as a sound source that could be placed anywhere, to diffuse any type of sound. GRM composers and researchers have consistently concentrated their efforts to develop and deepen the possibilities offered by such a rich combination, and it’s always with a great emotion that we witness the lasting relevance and consistency of those pioneering works on today’s most advanced sound systems.
Luc Ferrari (1929-2005)
Tête et queue du dragon ǀ Head and Tail of the Dragon (1960, 9'20)
Luc Ferrari's unique body of work has unfolded over the course of fifty years, a work free from dogma which, through a singular type of listening, wrought a hymn to the living world, to the exploration and discovery of things, men and women who inhabit it.
“[…] The work is divided into three linked parts. The first represents the Dragon’s head, it is characterized by a discontinuous acceleration of the movements. […] In the second part, the Dragon’s body is a steady progression towards spatial rhythmic structure. […] The third part is a very rapid dispersion of all the elements of the work, any changes to fragments of a musical object are used to serve the rhythm in space.” L.F.
Bernard Parmegiani (1927-2013)
Capture éphémère ǀ Ephemeral capture (1967, 11'44)
Bernard Parmegiani is a leading figure in the history of the GRM and electroacoustic music as a whole. His tireless curiosity for Sound, in all its forms, which he described as “living”, led him to establish an extensive repertoire.
“[…] Some day, a desert, a sound, then never again... Somewhere, in my head and body something still resonates... resonance, what could be more ephemeral.” B.P.
Beatriz Ferreyra (1937)
Médisances ǀ Slanders (1969, 6’57)
The music of Beatriz Ferreyra bears a magnetic force, which generates a truly recognisable style that could be defined as a unique sense and intuition for sound.
“This electroacoustic piece for 4 channels was produced by manipulating such items as orchestral instruments, a mouth bow, breath and some unexpected technical defects. […]” B.F.
Jean-Claude Risset (1938-2016)
Sud ǀ South (1985, 23'45)
Through his contributions to the development of computer music, and through a unique and innovative work that illustrated the close link sustained between his music and his research, Jean-Claude Risset has been acknowledged as a pioneering figure in the landscape of technology-based music.
“[…] Sud mainly uses sounds recorded in the Massif des Calanques, south of Marseille, as well as sounds synthesized via a computer. Along the piece, they increasingly merge, through mixing and processing. […]”J.-C.R.
