Michaël LEVINAS
Born in 1949
Biography
Concert pianist and composer, Michaël Lévinas occupies an unusual place in today's musical world. This double identity has influenced his performance and writing styles. His principal teachers were Vlado Perlemuter, Yvonne Loriod and Olivier Messiaen. He was in residence at the Villa Médicis, at the time it was directed by the painter Balthus.
Often associated with the spectral movement and with the founding of Ensemble l'Itinéraire, the compositional path of Michaël Lévinas is distinguished by the production of noteworthy works. Among these are Appels (1974), Ouverture pour une fête étrange (1979), the Conférence des oiseaux (1985), Par delà (commissioned in 1994 by the Donaueschingen Festival for the Südwestfunk Orchestra, conductor Michaël Gielen) and more recently Implorations (Printemps des Arts, 2007) or his opera Go-gol (premiered in 1996 by the Musica Festival in Strasbourg, Ircam and the Montpellier Opera with staging by Daniel Mesguich). His opera Les Nègres, after the play by Jean Genet, with the composer's own libretto, was commissioned by the Lyon National Opera and Geneva Opera, premiered in 2004 with staging by Stanislas Nordey, followed by a new production in 2006 at the Grand Theatre in Freiburg. The recording, released by Sisyphe in 2008, is a critical and public success.
His work on what he calls the "paradoxical polyphonies", based principally on complex tone quality counterpoint and variations of temperament, have produced, among others, Les Lettres enlacées IV (2000), Se briser for ensemble (2008, commissioned by the Ars Musica Festival, Brussels) and Evanoui for orchestra and electronics (commissioned by Radio France, premiered in Paris on March 6, 2009, with electronics by Ircam).
A third opera, composed after La Métamorphose by Franz Kafka, is currently being composed and constructed in collaboration with Valère Novarina and Emmanuel Moses. This work, a commission from the Lille Opera, will be premiered in Lille, spring 2011.
Michaël Lévinas is a professor at the National Paris Conservatory.
Solo works
Accords tremblés (2008)
for organ
Anaglyphe (1995)
for piano
Arsis et Thésis ou La Chanson du souffle (1971)
for sonorised bass flute in C
Etude sur un piano espace (1977)
for piano
Etudes pour piano (3) (1992)
Les Lettres enlacées II (2000)
for viola
Chamber music
Arcades (1982)
for viola and piano
Cadence pour un lever de rideau (1984)
for piano-percussion, flute and horn
Canons rythmiques (1991)
for cello and prepared piano
Choral-paraphrase (2000)
for brass quintet and percussion
Diaclase (1993)
for brass quintet
Figures paradoxales (2000)
for 8 cellos
Hoquet suffoqué (1995)
for flute and string quartet
Les Lettres enlacées IV (2000)
for string quintet
Les Lettres enlacées V (2006)
for two violas
Pièce pour piano et clavecin (1977)
Quatuor à cordes n°1 (1999)
for string quartet
Quatuor à cordes n°2 (2005)
for string quartet
Quatuor à cordes n°3 (2010)
for string quartet
Rebonds (1992/93)
for sextet
Spirales d'oiseaux II (2007)
for 3 euphoniums
Tic-Tac / pas de deux (2001)
for 6 percussions
Transir (2005)
for 6 marimbas
Voûtes (1988)
for 6 percussions
Ensemble music
Appels (1974)
for 11 instruments
Arcades II (1984)
for viola and 12 instruments
Implorations (2007)
for barock ensemble
Préfixes (1991)
for 17 instruments
Se briser (2007)
for ensemble
Strettes tournantes-migrations (1978)
for 9 instruments
Trois Pensées pour Coma (1999)
for ensemble
Works with electronics
Arcade III "Le Choeur des Arches" (1984)
for piano-percussion, ensemble and tape
Arcade IV (1984)
for 2 violas, 2 cellos and tape
Clov et Hamm (1973)
for ensemble and 2 tapes
Concertation (1996)
for 4 voices, percussions, keyboard and electronics
Concerto pour un piano espace (1976)
for piano, 8 instruments and tape
Concerto pour un piano espace n°2 (1980)
for piano, 5 instruments, 2 tapes and electroacoustic
Contrepoints irréels III - Rencontres (1980)
for 4 or 6 flutes or ensemble and tape
La voix des voix (1984)
for 9 instruments, 4 tapes and electronics
Le Tambour (1981)
for luth (sonorised) and tape
Les Rires du Gilles (1981)
for 5 instruments and tape
L'Orateur muet (1970)
for ensemble and tape
Ouverture pour une fête étrange (1979)
for 2 orchestras, tape and electronics
Résonances polyphoniques ou La Montée des oiseaux (1985)
for doublebass and electronics
Spirales d'oiseaux (1984)
for horn, electronics and tape
Variation sur un ut clair (1986)
for piano, percussion and electronics
Voix dans un vaisseau d'Airain "Chant en escalier" (1977)
for voice, flute, horn, piano and tape
Vocal and choral music
Barberine de Guillaume Lekeu (1984)
for soprano and chamber orchestra
Chansons pour la Loterie Pierrot et Jean Lagrèle (2008)
for 5 women voices
Go-gol (1996)
opera for soli, mixed chorus and orchestra
Je, tu, il (prologue à La Métamorphose) (2010)
for voices and ensemble
La Conférence des oiseaux (1985)
for soprano-actress, actor, ensemble and tape
La Métamorphose (2010)
opera for soli, chorus and orchestra
La Romance d'Ariel (1983)
extract from Claude Debussy "Chansons"
for soprano and 9 instruments
Le "O" du haut (2008)
for chorus (6 mixed voices)
Les Réciproques (1986)
for 12 solo voices
Les Lettres enlacées I (2000)
for 4 voices
Les Nègres (1999/2003)
opera for 13 solo voices, chorus, orchestra and electronics
Villanelle (1984)
extract from Hector Berlioz "Nuits d'été"
transcription for soprano or tenor and chamber orchestra
Works for orchestra
Cloche fêlée (1988)
for orchestra
Evanoui (2009)
for large orchestra
Incurver (2006)
for wind orchestra
L'Amphithéâtre (2012)
for orchestra
Orchestre (1973)
for orchestra
Par-delà (1994)
for orchestra
Réminiscence d'un jardin féerique (1987)
for orchestra
Vibrations polyphoniques (2007)
for orchestra
Discography
Concerto pour un piano espace n°2 - Ouverture pour une Fête étrange - Les Rires du Gilles
Ensemble 2E2M
Ensemble L'Itinéraire
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
G. Amy - H. Soudant - Y. Prin
1 CD ACCORD 465 606-2
La Conférence des Oiseaux
Ensemble L'Itinéraire
M. Swierczewski - M. Lonsdale - M. Viard - D. Berlioux
1CD ACCORD 465 605-2
Les lettres enlacées
Hindemith, Sonata for viola and piano Op.11 n°4
Hindemith, Sonata for viola and Op.25 n°1
Lévinas, Les Lettres enlacées II et IV
Gérard Caussé (viola)
Quatuor Ludwig
Michaël Lévinas (piano)
1 CD aeon AECD 0312
Les Nègres
Wendy Waller (Queen), Bonita Hyman (Felicity), Hans Voschezang (Village), Colenton Freeman (Valet), Maureen Braithwaite (Vertue), Fabrice di Falco (Diouf), Tinuke Olafimihan (Snow), Mark Coles (Missionary), Lori Brown Mirabal (Bobo), Herbert Perry (Archibald), Brian Green (Judge), David Lee Brewer (Governor), Jean-Richard Fleurençois (Newport News), Choeurs du Grand Théâtre de Genève, Ching-Lien Wu (chorus master), Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Bernhard Kontarsky (conductor)
2 CD Sysiphe 009
Musique de chambre
Quatuor à cordes n°1 - Les Lettres enlacées II - Arsis et Thésis - Froissements d'ailes - Les Aragons
Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles
Ch. Desjardins
C. Binard
R. Safar
P. Davin
1CD ACCORD 461 785-2
Par-delà
Appels - Les Réciproques - Voix dans un vaisseau d'airain - Diaclase - Par-delà
Ensemble L'Itinéraire
Groupe Vocal de France
Just'à 5
Orchestre SWF de Baden-Baden
1 CD aeon AECD 0104
Voûtes
Préfixe - Arsis et Thésis - Froissement d'ailes - Voûtes - Rebonds - Trois études pour piano - La Cloche félée
Ensemble L'Itinéraire
Les Percussions de Strasbourg
Orchestre National de France
1 CD aeon AECD 0103
Bibliography
Qu'est-ce que l'instrumental
Schott, Mainz, 1984
Thriller à la Villa d'Este
Silences n°3, Paris, 1986
Le Son et la musique
Entretemps n°6, Paris, 1988
La Musique et son double
L'esthétique de Michaël Levinas par Pierre Albert Castenet
La Revue Musicale, Paris, Richard Masse, 1990
L'idée musicale dans le Kammerkonzert d'Alban Berg, entre harmonie et spectre inharmonique
Ouvrage publié en co-direction par Michaël Lévinas et Christine Buci-Glucksmann (avec la collaboration de M. Rigoni)
in L'idée Musicale, P.U.V., 1993
La loi et le hors la loi
Texte publié dans le cadre d'un ouvrage collectif dirigé par Michaël Lévinas et Danielle Cohen-Lévinas
Collection du Collège International de Philosophie
Ecrits de Michaël Lévinas
Textes réunis par Danielle Cohen-Lévinas et Pierre-Albert Castanet
Villeurbane, 1995