Tristan MURAIL
Born in 1947
Biography
Born in 1947 in Le Havre, France, Tristan Murail received degrees in classical and North African Arabic (at the National School of Oriental Languages) and in economics (at the Paris Institute of Political Sciences) before turning to composition. A student of Olivier Messiaen, he won the Prix de Rome in 1971 and spent two years at the Villa Médicis. Upon his return to Paris in 1973, he founded the Itinéraire ensemble with a group of young composers and performers. The group became widely renowned for its groundbreaking explorations of the relationship between instrumental performance and many aspects of electronics. In the eighties, Tristan Murail began using computer technology to further his research into acoustic phenomena. This lead him to years of collaboration with the Ircam, where he taught composition from 1991 to 1997 and helped develop the Patchwork composition software. Tristan Murail has also taught at numerous schools and festivals worldwide, including the Darmstadt Ferienkurse, the Abbaye de Royaumont, and the Centre Acanthes. He currently is a professor of composition at Columbia University, New York.
Solo works
Attracteurs étranges (1992)
for cello
Cloches d'adieu, et un sourire... in memoriam Olivier Messiaen (1967)
for piano
Comme un oeil suspendu et poli par le songe... (1998)
for piano
Estuaire (1971/72)
2 pieces for piano
La Conquête de l'Antarctique (1982)
for ondes Martenot
La Mandragore (1993)
for piano
Les travaux et les jours (2002)
for piano
Unanswered questions (1995)
for flute
Vampyr ! (1984)
for electric guitar
Chamber music
Atlantys (1986)
for 2 synthetizers DX7 Yamaha
Feuilles à travers les cloches (1998)
for flute, violin, cello and piano
Garrigue (2008)
for bass flute (or G flute), viola, cello and percussions
Le Fou à pattes bleues (1990)
for flute (G and C) and piano
Les Ruines circulaires (2006)
for clarinet and violin
Mach 2,5 (1971)
for 2 ondes Martenot
Mach 2,5 (1976)
version for 6 ondes Martenot
Où tremblent les contours (1970)
for 2 violas
Seven Lakes Drive (2006)
for flute, clarinet, horn, piano, violin and cello
Tigres de verre (1974)
Concours du CNSM de Paris
for ondes Martenot and piano
Vision de la cité interdite (1986)
for 2 synthetizers DX7 Yamaha
Vues aériennes (1988)
for horn, violin, cello and piano
Ensemble music
Contes cruels (2007)
for 2 electric guitars and ensemble
L'Attente (1972/rev.92)
for 7 instruments
La Barque mystique (1993)
for ensemble
La Dérive des continents (1973)
for solo viola and 12 string instruments
Le Lac (2001)
for ensemble
Légendes urbaines (2006)
for ensemble
Portulan (2006)
cycle for ensemble (Feuilles à travers les cloches, Les Ruines circulaires, Seven Lakes Drive)
Serendib (1992)
for ensemble 22 players
Choral and vocal music
...amaris et dulcibus aquis... (1995)
for mixed chorus and electronic
Les Sept Paroles (2009/10)
for mixed chorus, orchestra and electronics
Works with electronics
Allégories (1989/90)
for 6 instruments and electronics
Bois flotté (1997)
for ensemble and electronics
Désintégrations (1982)
for 17 instruments and electronics
En moyenne et extrême raison (2009)
for ensemble and electronics
Liber Fulguralis (2008)
for ensemble, electronics and video
L'Esprit des dunes (1993/94)
for 11 instruments and electronics
Pour adoucir le cours du temps (2005)
for 18 instruments and electronics
Terre d'ombre (2003/04)
for large orchestra and electronics
Winter Fragments (2000)
for ensemble and electronics
Works for orchestra
La Dynamique des fluides (1990/91)
for orchestra
Le Partage des eaux (1996)
for large orchestra
Sables (1974/75)
for orchestra
Sillages (1985)
for orchestra
Time and again (1985)
for orchestra
Discography
Allégorie - Vues aériennes -
Territoires de l'oubli
Ensemble FA
Dominique My (conductor)
1 CD Accord, AC4658992
Complete piano works
Comme un oeil suspendu et poli par le songe... - Estuaire - Territoires de l'oubli - Cloche d'adieu, et un sourire... - La Mandragore - Les Travaux et les jours
Marilyn Nonken (piano)
2 CD Metier, MSVCD92097
Couleur de mer
Couleur de mer - L'Attente - Treize couleurs du soleil couchant - La Barque mystique
Ensemble Court-Circuit
Pierre-André Valade (conductor)
1 CD Accord, AC4659012
Désintégrations
Désintégrations - Gondwana - Time and Again
Ensemble L'Itinéraire
Orchestre National de France
Yves Prin (conductor)
Beethovenhalle orchestra
Karl Anton Rickenbacher (conductor)
1 CD Montaigne/Naïve, MO782175
Le Piano contemporain
La Mandragore - Cloches d'adieu, et un sourire...
Dominique My (piano)
1 CD Accord, AC205752
Mémoire/Erosion
Mémoire/Erosion - Ethers - Les courants de l'espace - C'est un jardin secret...
Alain Noël (horn), Ensemble l'Itinéraire, Charles Bruck (conductor)
Pierre-Yves artaud (flute), Ami Flammer (violin), Geneviève Renon (viola), David Simpson (cello), Joëlle Léandre (doublebass), Christian Marchand (trombone), Jacques Mercier (conductor)
Sylvie Altenburger (viola)
Jeanne Loriod (ondes Martenot), Orchestre National de France, Yves Prin (conductor)
1 CD Accord, AC4659002
Serendib - L'esprit des dunes - Désintégrations
Ensemble Intercontemporain
David Robertson (conductor)
1 CD Accord, AC4653052
Treize Couleurs du Soleil Couchant - Bois Flotté - Winter Fragments
Ensemble Les Temps Modernes
Fabrice Pierre (conductor)
1 CD Accord, AC4725112
Treize Couleurs du Soleil Couchant - Bois Flotté - Winter Fragments
Ensemble Les Temps Modernes
Fabrice Pierre (conductor)
Herbé Bailly-Basin (video artist)
1 DVD Accord, AC4725109
Winter Fragments
Winter Fragments - Unanswered Questions - Ethers - Feuilles à travers les cloches - Le Lac
Argento Chamber Ensemble
Erin Lesser (flute)
Michel Galante (conductor)
1 CD aeon, AECD0746
Bibliography
La Couleur sonore
Thierry Alla
Editions Michel de Maule, 2008
Dans le contexte
Julian Anderson
Entretemps n°8, 1989
Front the philosophical to the practical. The music of Tristan Murail
Claude Ledoux
Contemporary Music Review n°19, London, 2001
In Harmony. The music of Tristan Murail
Julian Anderson
The Musical Times, juin 1993
An interview with Tristan Murail
Anton Rovner
Century Music, 1998
Introduction to the pitch organization of French spectral music
François Rose
Perspectives of New Music n° 34 (2), 1996
Modèles et artifices
Textes de Tristan Murail, réunis par Pierre Michel
Presses Universitaires de Strasbourg, 2004
Les modèles perceptuels par simulation instrumentale dans les oeuvres de Tristan Murail
Éric Humbertclaude
Dissonance n° 13, 1987
Repris dans La Revue musicale n° 421-424
Musiques spectrales : nature organique et matériaux sonores au XX° siècle
Pierre-Albert Castanet
Dissonance n° 20, 1989
Mutation de l'écriture : Eclat, Stria, Désintégrations
Philippe Schoeller
InHarmoniques n° 1, Ircam-Centre Pompidou, 1986
Notes sur Gondwana
Marc-André Dalbavie
Entretemps n° 8, 1989
Le reflet d'une oreille dans Vingtième siècle. Images de la musique française
Éric Humbertclaude
Textes et entretiens, SACEM/Papiers, 1986
La Transcription dans Boulez et Murail - De l'oreille à l'éveil
Humbertclaude Eric
Editions de l'Harmattan, 1999
Tristan Murail
Textes réunis et présentés par Peter Szendy
Collection "Compositeurs d'aujourd'hui"
Editions Ircam-Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris, 2002
Tristan Murail - Une expression musicale modélisée
Garant Dominic
Editions de l'Harmattan, 2001
L'univers de Tristan Murail
Marc Texier
Résonance n° 1, Ircam/Centre Georges-Pompidou, 1992