He participated from 1954 to 1958 in the “Internationale Ferienkurse Darmstadt” - international vacation courses, where he had friendly relations with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luigi Nono, Luciano Berio, Henry Pousseur, John Cage, Edgard Varèse. Later and afterwards Pierre Schaeffer still increasedd his urge to break the dams which force the musical traditions until then. Ferrari could only withdraw himself from dogmas.
Overwhelmed by «Déserts» from Edgard Varèse, he likewise discovered at the broadcast, he decided immediately in the year 1954 to visit him in New York. He dedicated this trip of several weeks on a freighter to the composition of piano pieces. His attraction to the musique concrète and his collaboration with Pierre Schaeffer from 1957 to 1966 led him to extend the notion of abstract music, to want to tear the membrane between the genres. The first portable tape recorders allowed him to collect outside of the studios the sound for his piece Hétérozygote, his first composition that he calls - with a smile, - « anecdotic music » - : «I want that the gesture of taking sounds outside allows my admission to the social. » There is no doubt that this composition from 1963-64 revealed his mind of freedom. From then on, his activities proved this as well as his deep attention to the society, his character open in all directions, marking his work within the most different areas such as films; writings; installations; symphonic works or for ensembles; works, in which he connected instruments with recorded sounds; spectacle-concert; multimedia; electroacoustic works; radio plays and also, starting from 1999, his work with experimental DJs and improvisation. Besides his inclination to the society, to the mixture of genres, his sense of humor, sensuality narration, perversion, to the anecdotic, Ferrari’s compositions transmit his revolt, his desire and his love for life.
With the films of 1965-66 for the Service de la Recherche of the O.R.T.F Les Grandes Répétitions - the important rehearsals - (INA), which he realizes with Gérard Patris, and which opened the spirit of the composers and pioneers such as Messiaen, Stockhausen, Varèse, Hermann Scherchen, Cecil Taylor, it happened for the first time that contemporary music was presented on French television. These are unique documents coveted by a large world of music.
Another turn in his music was for Ferrari: Presque Rien ou le lever du Jour au Bord de la Mer - almost nothing or daybreak at the sea -. This piece illustrates or rather suggests unconsciously a minimalist process, about which one will speak much in the following years.
« Since autumn 99, I have undertaken the composition of a new series of pieces with the general title Exploitation of the concepts. My purpose is to use those concepts I experimented in the course of my life as a composer and to use them in all possible directions. »
Exploitation of the concepts 1 - archives saved from the flood - (for 2 CD and Vinyls - 48 ') "The thought to use my archives resulted from the necessity, to update my tapes of these memories - which suffered in my studio a damage caused by water -. I have indeed analogue tapes with all recordings I made since 1960, and which I have used or not. While copying this material on CD I felt the need to convert this boring work into creative work. And instead of copying I began to compose with them. "
Exploitation of the concept 2 (installation with 6 CD and 4 video projectors) - (duration: endless) "To use the memories is not new to me, who are always backdue regarding the autobiographies.What is different here is to manage together as well the sound as the picture. In the same way as I am a sound taker-composer, I am a here a picture taker-composer. Also the cycle of the memories means that all components are structured in cycles, which produce random encounters by their overlay. Therefore everything is rotating. "
Exploitation of the concepts 3 - Genetically Modified Archives (memorized sounds) - (25') "While listening to my recordings from the seventies I suddenly felt the need, without nostalgia and without allegiance on the past, to make new from it. Also I took very large freedom and easiness concerning the concepts while exploiting them. Indeed, if I speak of it, the question is not to make recognizable the concept, as that was usual at that time, rather to recover this idea thirty years later, how it rubs against the other earlier experiences, how it deforms or takes differently form. Or disappears. Perhaps I like also to use the word „exploitation“ in a provocative sense - although a little frivolously - as a concept. Also I claim the right to use my ideas exactly the same way as my sounds. I listen and I make from it a present that is rich of memory.Thus these archives are fundamentally and even perhaps genetically modified."
Exploitation of the Concepts 4 For 14 sound-amplified instruments and memorized sound (25 ') The Exploitation of concept 1. 3 and 4 use the same elements for the memorized material, but differently assembled and deeply changed. Here the composition for orchestra, using the ideas of the tautology, gives a completely new aspect to the memorized sound. Also one encounters as new the idea of the tautology used in the composition for orchestra, particularly if one refers to the earlier Tautologos."
"Since the beginning I composed as many works for instruments or orchestra as electroacoustic or acousmatic pieces. In other words and, in order to approach more precisely my topic, I would speak here only of the electroacoustic pieces or those developed with technology. First unconsciously, then more and more aware came up to me that I worked on the field of the autobiography. Thus I can only retrospectively speak about the time that led me to this concept. This happened about 1962, while I worked on the project of an electroacoustic piece: Hétérozygote. I thus want to try to explain, how significant the simple gesture was to go out from the studio searching sounds outside. I went out with portable utensils, which were my property, i.e. with my microphones and my tape recorder. This was my equipment, and it was I.Whether one wants or not, I was here in an original situation of presence and instrumental recognition making of me without being conscious, a manufacturer of the autobiography. I was present, I held my microphone, I put on my tape recorder as soon as I considered it was good, I took the sound that occurred front of me at the time I decided. This sound was my choice, my moment of the life stored on my equipment. In other words, should the last sentence not be clear, this compositional gesture in the recognition of the even indistinct sound, recognizing the found object as the first condition of an emotional attitude, was the inevitable introduction of the composer’s present in real time and thus as an autobiographer. " In this sense were realized the radio compositions for the German broadcasts Südwestfunk and Hessischer Rundfunk,
Luc Ferrari wanted to remain young, not age. The life of this thus young 76 years old man expired in Arezzo on 22 August 2005.
1967 LUC FERRARI by Pierre Schaeffer In La Musique Concrète QUE SAIS-JE Presses Universitaires de France, Paris 1967, p. 108 - 113
1970 LUC FERRARI. Interview by Denys Lémery In Actuel N° 12, 1970, p. 14 - 18
1971 Luc Ferrari - FÜR WEN KOMPONIEREN SIE EIGENTLICH? (For whom do you actually compose?) By Hansjörg Pauli Ed. S. Fischer - Frankfurt 1971, p. 37 - 59
1972 Discussion with Luc Ferrari by François-Bernard Mâche In Nouvelle Revue Française N° 232, 1972
1973 Luc Ferrari LES DANSES ORGANIQUES Remarks collected by Daniel Caux in Art Vivant - Le Corps (The body) 2, N° 41, July 1973, p. 30 - 32
1974 Tibor Kneif: Types of the « Entsprachlichung » in the new music 1 Stephan, Rudolf (Hg.): About music and language. SEVEN ATTEMPTS ABOUT THE NEWER VOCAL MUSIC Mainz (Schottt) 1974, p. 30 – 31
1974 Luc Ferrari. INTERRUPTEUR, TAUTOLOGOS 3, Ensemble Instrumental de Musique Contemporaine de Paris, Konstantin Simonovitch By Klaus Stahmer In Melos Heft IV, July-August 1974, p. 242 - 244
1975 ALLO, ICI LA TERRE... (Hello, the Earth is speaking) by Luc Ferrari In Art Vivant - La Mort, (The Death) N° 54, January 1975, p. 22 - 23
1977 Luc Ferrari - FÜR WEN KOMPONIEREN SIE EIGENTLICH? For whom do you actually compose? By Hansjörg Pauli Reproduction in Beiträge zur Musikwissenschaft, Heft 4, 1977, p. 260 - 269
1977 Luc Ferrari. Discussion with David Jisse In Unison N° 3 Paris, May 1977, p. 14 - 16
1977 Reflections by Luc Ferrari on DOES THE MUSIC OF FUTURE HAVE A FUTURE? In Cahiers Recherche/Musique, INA-GRM, 1977, p. 77 - 79
1978 François-Bernard Mâche: LES MAL ENTENDUS. Composers of the 70s In Revue musicale N° 314, 1978, p. 65 - 69
1978 - SREFACIO A... Y REFLEXION SOBRE... por Luc Ferrari - UN PUEBLO NUMERO 11350 por Luc Ferrari In Arte Nuevo 1, Universidad Veracruzana 1978, p. 10 - 13
1979 Luc Ferrari ERUDITE CULTURES AND POPULAR CULTURES Interview by Catherine Millet In Art Press International, N° 26, March 1979, p. 18
1981 Luc Ferrari - dossier "En attendant Enée" In Cahier de l'animation musicale, N° 19, June 1981, p. 11 - 12
1981 Discussion with Luc Ferrari. Remarks collected by Francis Hofstein Jazz magazine – 1981, p. 26 - 29
1981 Discussion with Luc Ferrari by Denis Levaillant In L'Improvisation Musicale, Editions J.C. Lattès 1981, p. 4 - 7
1983 Luc Ferrari THE MUSIC IS ALSO WORD. JOURNAL INTIME –(DIARY) Interview by Michel Giroud In Canal, N° 54, November 1983, p. 19
1983 Luc Ferrari. SOCIÉTÉ 1 text-score In Chemin de Ronde, Vol. 3, 1983,
1985 Luc Ferrari. About the pleasure of the desire - HISTOIRE DU PLAISIR ET DE LA DÉSOLATION By Klaus Hinrich Stahmer In Melos, N° 4, 1985, p. 19 - 33
1986 Luc Ferrari. Moderato ma non troppo by P. Minod In Restons Simples (Creativ Media), N° 2, January 1986, p. 68 - 69
1989 Hörspiel - Création radiophonique – Radio Art JE ME SUIS PERDU - ABYRINTHE PORTRAIT from Luc Ferrari by Michel Dumont In magazine kanal, N° 42, April 1989, p. 60 - 61
1990 Luc Ferrari. Interview by Stephane Ollivier In Revue et Corrigée, N° 5, Spring 1990, p. 4 - 7
1990 COMPOSERS AND RHETORIC, Discussion between François Delalande and Luc Ferrari In 20 Analyse Musicale, Paris June 1990, p. 47 – 49
1993 ÇA FROTTE – (It brushes) by Luc Ferrari In L'Evidence, N° 2, Autumn 1993, p. 24 - 27
1993 Analyse – Journal (Analysis Diary) by Luc Ferrari In Musiques d'Aujourd'hui Conseil Général de la Creuse - December 1993, p. 69 - 77
1995 Luc Ferrari PRESQUE RIEN By Jérôme Noetinger In Revue et Corrigé, N° 26, December 1995, p. 35
1996 Discussion with Luc Ferrari - by Ch. Zanesi In Ars Sonora, N° 3, March 1996, p. 7 - 15
1996 Discussion with Luc Ferrari - by Danielle Cohen-Levinas In La Règle du Jeu – 1996
1996 Luc Ferrari in: RECHERCHES SUR LA TRANSFORMATION DU TEMPS MUSICAL SOUS L’ANGLE DE LA PHILOSOPHIE JAPONAISE (Research on the transformation of musical time under the angle of Japanese philosophy) by Ryôsuke SHIINA, Université de Lille III, 9, rue Auguste Angellier, 59046 Lille Cedex
1996 JE COURAIS TANT DE BUTS DIVERS... (I was running in so many different directions...) (Contemporary music review Vol. 15 In G+B Arts International, London, p. 95 - 104
1997 Sandeep Bhagwati: TWO FRENCH COMPOSERS (Georges Aperghis and Luc Ferrari) In Jahrbuch der Bayrischen Akademie der Schönen Künste 11. 1997, p. 391 – 399
1997 Luc Ferrari in THE ART OF THE FIXED SOUNDS, by Jean-Noël von der Weid, In La musique du XXe siècle Editions Hachette (Pluriel), p. 221 - 223
1997 Luc Ferrari. Interview by Haruyuki Suzuki In Eigageijutsu, N° 383, Japan 1997
1998 MINIMAL OR NOT Luc Ferrari. Interview by Karen Tanaka In Musée - a shape of miles - Tower records - Vol. 12, Japan, March, 1998, p. 14
1998 Luc Ferrari in: ASPECTS DE LA NOTATION VERBALE ESSAI DE TAXINOMIE DES PROPOSITIONS VERBALES DES ANNÉES SOIXANTE ET SOIXANTE-DIX. Mémoire du DEA (Essay on taxonomy of the verbal proposals of the Sixties and seventies) Memory of the DEA by Radosveta Kouzmanova Bruzaud U.F.R. de Musique et Musicologie du XXe siècle – Université de Paris IV-Sorbonne, Oct.1998
1998 Luc Ferrari - INTERVIEW WITH AN INTIMATE ICONOCLAST by Brigitte Robindoré In Computer Music Journal, Vol. 22, Nr. 3 – Autumn, p. 8 - 16
1999 Luc Ferrari. Remarks collected by Dan Warburton Peace Warriors Nr. 10 - January
1999 Luc Ferrari in: LA NOTATION VERBALE AU SERVICE DU RITUEL (the verbal notation with the service of the ritual) Colloquia „Musique et Rites“ 17-19 May, 1999 by Radosveta Bruzaud
1999 SERIAL DEVIANT by Dan Warburton The Wire – April, p. 26 - 28
1999 Luc Ferrari FAR-WEST NEWS In Soundscapes - VPRO Hilversum – NL, November 1999, p. 20 - 21
1999 LOTS OF LUC FERRARI by John Palmer In 20th Century Music, San Anselmo CA., USA, December, p. 3 - 10
1999 LUC FERRARI'S ART OF TAUTOLOGY Vous plairait-il de tautologuer avec moi? (Would you like to tautologize with me?) Interview by Jacqueline Caux - French / English In Art Press International, Nr. 252 - December 1999, p. 49 - 52
2000 Luc Ferrari in conversation with J. Palmer In SAN Journal of electroacoustic music, London, p. 36 - 44
2000 Luc Ferrari. About the publication of the CD: CHANSONS POUR LE CORPS AND ET SI TOUT ENTIÈRE MAINTENANT by Ryosuke Shiina In Musée - sacrifice fly - Tower records - Vol. 23, Japan, January, p. 93 - 107
2000 11. Karl-Sczuka-Preis 1972, p. 99-101 PORTRAITSPIEL 27. Karl-Sczuka-Preis 1988, p. 184-190 VERIRRT. EIN LABYRINTH In Akustische Spielformen SWR Schriftenreihe « Grundlagen 1 » Spring 2000
2000 Luc Ferrari in: LE CONCERT ENJEUX, FONCTIONS, MODALITÉS JEU DE SOCIÉTÉ OU LA THEATRALISATION DU CONCERT (Stakes, functions, methods parlour game or the THEATRALISATION in the concert by Radosveta Bruzaud Harmattan – Logique Sociale, p. 137 – 174
2000 Luc Ferrari. Remarks collected by Ryosuke Shiina In Poetry and criticism: Eureka 5 / 2000, p. 39 - 51
2001 Luc Ferrari. PORTRAITS POLYCHROMES Co-Edition Cdmc, Ina Groupe Edition-Documentation 2001-06-13
2001 Luc Ferrari in DIE KUNST DER FIXIERTEN KLÄNGE (The art of the fixed sounds) by Jean-Noël von der Weid, In Die Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts Insel-Verlag, Leipzig, p. 332 - 335
2002 PRESQUE RIEN AVEC LUC FERRARI (Almost nothing with Luc Ferrari) 260 pages with photographs. Author: Jacqueline Caux. Discussions with Jacqueline Caux Publication January 2001 Editions Main d’Oeuvre, Nice Tel./Fax 04 93 92 42 49
2002 LUC FERRARI, OR MEMORY AS NON-„MUSIC“ par Ryosuke Shiina In « Bulletin of Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture » Vol.19 Doshisha Women’s College, Japan, March 31/2002
2002 Cinéma pour les oreilles about Almost Nothing with Luc Ferrari by Jacqueline Caux In Les Inrockuptibles August 14 to 20, 2002 N° 351, p. 58 - 59
2003 T. Möller: Luc Ferrari, in: Komponisten der Gegenwart, (composers of the present) 26. Subsequent edition 12/03.
2003 Luc Ferrari: IMPRO-MICRO-ACOUSTIQUE by Noël Akchoté in skug N° 57– Austria, p. 49
2004 Luc Ferrari in: LE MOT DANS LA PARTITION AU VINGTIÈME SIÈCLE (THE WORD IN THE SCORE AT THE TWENTIETH CNTURY Thesis of Doctorate of Music and Musicology of the XXe century by Radosveta Kouzmanova Bruzaud U.F.R. de Musique et Musicologie - Université de Paris IV – Sorbonne, December. 2004
2004 LA MUSIQUE ET SON DEHORS – RE LA MUSIQUE ANECDOTIQUE À L’ARYTHMIE (Music and its outside - Anecdotic Music with the Arrhythmia) by David Sanson et Pierre Yves Macé. In Mouvement N° 30, p. 48-59
2004 Luc Ferrari tasted by Dan Warburton INVISIBLE JUKEBOX in THE WIRE N° 242 April 2004, p. 20-23
2005 L'ESCALIER DES AVEUGLES: a Hörspiel from Luc Ferrari (The staircase of the blinds). By Andrea Cohen in Les compositeurs et l'art radiophonique (The composers and the radiophonic art) thesis of Doctorate. Sorbonne-Paris IV 2005
2005 L’Eloge de l’Arythmie. LE HASARD AVEC DÉTERMINATION. (The Praise of the Arrhythmia The chance with determination. For his 75th birthday… By David Sanson et Pierre Yves Macé In Mouvement Musique Action, Cahier Spécial, May 18-29, 2005, p. 10-12
2005 Luc Ferrari CYCLES DES SOUVENIRS - EXPLOITATION DES CONCEPTS (Cycle of memories - Exploitation of the Concepts From the “Diary in disorder or the pursuit of the daily life sounds” In: TEMPORALE Edizioni Studio Dabbeni - Lugano - N° 60-61 - 2005 "Joueurs Aspendiens" a cura di Gabiele Bonomo, p. 56-60
2005 Page of the score TAUTOLOGIES ET ENVIRONS – VXPLOITATION DES CONCEPTS N° 4. 2000-2001 in Sound Visions p. 91, Pfau-Verlag, Saarbrücken, Editors Möller/Shim/Stäbler.
2005 Möller, Torsten: PLEASE, JUST GO YOUR WAY... - Luc Ferrari died in the Italian Arrezzo at the age of 76 years In: NZfM 6., p. 42-43
2005 Möller, Torsten: ZUM TOD VON LUC FERRARi, (Luc Ferrari passed away) in: Dissonanz/Dissonance 92 (December 2005), p. 43
2005 Luc Ferrari in MusikTexte Heft 107, November 2005 « ALWAYS UNCONVENTIONAL» Remembering Luc – Peter-Michael Hamel. « THE COMPOSER, RADIO PLAY AND FILM PRODUCER LUC FERRARI » Tatjana Böhme-Mehner. « AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE OPERA. LUC FERRARI ABOUT MUSIC THEATER » - Jacqueline Caux. « SOUNDS, SOUNDS… THE PIECES OF ALMOST NOTHING» from Luc Ferrari – Daniel Teruggi. « THE DRAMA OF EVEN THE LIFE». Luc Ferrari’s « Cellule 75 » - Monika Lichtenfeld. « WHAT WOULD BE, IF? STRAVINSKY MEETS BEETHOVEN IN LUC FERRARI’S STUDIO» - Klaus Mehner. « THE TRUE OR UNTRUE STORY OF CAHIER DU SOIR» (1991-1992) » - Luc Ferrari. « EACH TIME… », « THE CITY OF THE FUTURE», Autobiographies from Luc Ferrari. In memory of Luc Ferrari. « “Committed observer of the reality, Luc Ferrari » - Daniel Caux.
2005 Luc Ferrari in: La musique du XXe siècle. - Jean Noël von der Weid. Hachette. ISBN 2-012-235948-5. 2005. P. 359-363
2005 THE LESSON OF FREEDOM - EEMEMBERING LUC FERRARI (1929-2005) By John Palmer - Guilherme Vaz - Hildegard Westerkamp In Soundscape Vol. 6 Nr. 1
2006 K.T. Goldbach: Akusmatisches und ökologisches Hören in Luc Ferraris Presque rien avec filles, (acousmatic and ecologic listening in Luc Ferrari’s Presque rien avec filles) in: Zeitschrift der GMTH 3, H. 1
2006 Böhme-Mehner, Tatjana: HE ALWAYS COMPOSED… UNTIL HIMSELF. THE COMPOSER, ELECTROACOUSTICIAN AND FILM PRODUCER LUC FERRARI In: Dissonanz/Dissonance 93 (March 2006), p. 4-9
2006 Random Notes – Luc Ferrari 1929 – 2005 by David Cotner in SIGNAL TO NOISE Winter 2006 issue #40 operations@signaltonoisemagazine.com
2006 SALUT LUC By Carole Rieussec, David Grubbs, Alessandro Bosetti, Li Ping Ting, Jean-Christophe Camps, Jérôme Noetinger, Chantal Dumas, eRikm, Jean-Baptiste Favory In revue & corrigée N° 67, March 2006
2006 ALMOST NOTHING WITH LUC FERRARI Book by Jacqueline Caux. Discussions with Jacqueline Caux Published in January 2001 Editions Main d’Oeuvre, Nice Tel./Fax 04 93 92 42 49 Published in Japanese by Ryosuke Shiina, Tokyo, March 2006
2007 SONOPSYS N° 4 Luc Ferrari Cahier Musique Concrète / Acousmatique by Florence Gonot and Alexandre Yterce, Edition LICENCES. Publication at the moment of the premiere of Morbido Symphonie in Paris on May 11th, 2007. Art-book with CD.
2007 Luc Ferrari – PORTRAITS POLYCHROMES, Published by INA/GRM, Collection directed by Evelyne Gayou. New increased edition
2007 ALMOST NOTHING WITH LUC FERRARI By Toshiharu Osato in "nobody", critic film-, music-, literature-review Published May-June 2007 N° 25, Japan. Pages 47-57: