Philippe Manoury

Philippe Manoury (born June 19, 1952) is a French composer.

Biography

Philippe Manoury was born in Tulle. His first composition studies were at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, with Gérard Condé and Max Deutsch. He continued his studies from 1974 to 1978 at the Conservatoire de Paris with Michel Philippot, Ivo Malec, and Claude Ballif. From 1975 he undertook studies in computer assisted composition with Pierre Barbaud. He joined IRCAM in 1980. He is currently on the composition faculty at the University of California, San Diego where he teaches courses in composition, real-time signal processing, and musical analysis.

Music

Manoury's work is strongly influenced by Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Iannis Xenakis, and his early work from 1972–76 combines serial punctualism with the densely massed elements characteristic of the music of Stockhausen and Xenakis, and the paintings of Jackson Pollock.

Works such as Sound and Fury are of interest because of the use of computer assisted composition. Sound and Fury also uses a very large orchestra, which is symmetrically disposed, and makes quite extensive use of left-right spatial effects. The Sonus ex machina series of works, which were developed in collaboration with Miller Puckette, are among the first pieces to utilize real-time audio signal processing.

His substantial "Abgrund—pour grand orchestre" was commissioned by the Bavarian State Opera together with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and premiered by the Bavarian State Orchestra on November 26, 2007. It has been described as "a work that will neither disturb nor annoy [...] a pleasant and perhaps harmless string of dissonant semi-climaxes, little jolts, and resting phases. It has an invigorating effect, is easy to concentrate on. . . . In it "Manoury [...] mercifully knows how to use [the abundance of percussion instruments] in ways far more discriminately than his contemporaries beholden to one bongo-frenzy after another. "Philippe Manoury hit[s] the right mix between shallow and deep, melodic and dissonant, placating and strident, stasis and progress, simplicity and complexity. The steady run-up—stop—tighten—burst—relax scheme may not be novel at all, but it paid dividends [in 'Abgrund'].

Writings

• Manoury, Philippe. 1998. La note et le son: Écrits et entretiens, 1981-1998, with a foreword by Danielle Cohen-Lévinas. Musique et musicologie: Les dialogues. Paris: L'Harmattan. ISBN 273846985X

Compositions

Works for 1–2 instruments/voice(s)

• Sonate (1972/rév.1994) for 2 pianos
• Cryptophonos (1974) for piano
• Petit aleph (1986)
• Solo de vibraphone (1986)
• Jupiter op. 15a (1987/rév.1992)
• Pluton (1988/rév.1989) I. Toccata - II. Antiphonie - III. Séquences - IV. Modulation -
• Xanadu (1989) Text by Samuel Taylor Coleridge for Soprano and clarinette
• En écho (1993-1994. Texts by Emmanuel Hocquart
• Last (1997) for bass-clarinet and bass- marimba
• Toccata (1998) from de « Passacaille pour Tokyo » for piano
• La Ville (…Première sonate) (2001-2002) for piano

Chamber music

• Focus, 1973
• Puzzle, 1975
• Le Tempérament variable, 1978
• Quatuor à cordes op. 6 (1978)
• Musique I (1986) for 2 harps, guitar, mandolin and 2 percussions
• Musique II op. 14 (1986) for 7 brass (2.2.2.1) and 2 marimbas
• Le Livre des claviers (1987) Six pieces for 6 percussionists
• Deux mélodies, 1988
• Neptune op. 21 (1991) for 3 percussions and electronics.
• Michigan Trio (1992) for clarinette, violin and piano
• Gestes (1992) for string trio.
• Métal (1995) for sixxens sextett .
• Ultima (1996) for clarinette, cello and piano
• Slova (2001-2002) for choir.
• Fragments d'Héraclite (2003) for choir.

Music for ensemble

• Numéro cinq op. 5 (1976) for piano and 13 instruments :
• Zeitlauf op. 9 (1982) for choir, 14 instruments and electronics.
• Instantanés (1983)
• Version La Rochelle, op. 10a (1983)
• Version Étude, op. 10b (1983)
• Version Baden-Baden, op. 10c (1985)
• La Partition du Ciel and de l’Enfer op. 19 (1989)
• Passacaille pour Tokyo (1994) for piano and 17 instruments :
• Fragments pour un portrait (1998)7 pieces for ensemble of 30 instruments :
• Épitaphe op. 29 (1995) for 7 instruments :
• Blackout (2004) Mélodram for alto and 13 instruments.
• Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (2004) for 10 instruments.
• Identités remarquables (2005) for 23 instruments.
• Strange Ritual (2005) for 21 instruments.
• On-iron (2005) for choir, électronics and video

Symphonic works

• Numéro huit op. 8 (1980/rév. 1987) for large orchestra.
• Aleph (1985-1987) for 4 singers and orchestra.
• Pentaphone op. 24 (1993) Five pieces for large orchestra.
• Chronophonies I and II (1994) for Mezzo-Soprano, Baryton-basse and large orchestra.
• Prelude and Wait (1995) for large orchestra.
• Douze moments (1998) for Mezzo-Soprano and large orchestra.
• Sound and Fury (1999) for large orchestra.
• Noon (2003) for Soprano, choir, large orchestra, and electronics.

Operas

• 60e Parallèle (1995-1996) for 9 singers, large orchestra, and electronics.
• K… (2001)
• La Frontière (2003) Chamber opera for 6 singers 9 instruments and electronics.

Discography

• Quatuor à cordes. Quatuor Arditti MFA, Harmonia Mundi, C 5139, 1984.
• Cryptophonos. Claude Helffer (pno) MFA Harmonia Mundi, C 5172, 1986.
• Petit Aleph. Pierre-André Valade (Flute), ADDA, 581 075, 1988.
• Zeitlauf. Groupe Vocal de France, Ensemble Intercontemporain, conducted by Peter Eotvös, Erato, ECD, 75552, 1990.
• Le livre des claviers. Les percussions de Strasbourg, Philips Classics, 444 218-2, 1993.
• Epitaphe. Ensemble FA, conducted by Dominique My, MFA 216007, 1995.
• Jupiter and La Partition du Ciel et de l'Enfer. Sophie Cherrier (flute) and Ensemble Intercontemporain. Conducted by Pierre Boulez. In Compositeurs d'aujourd'hui, Adès, 206 062, 1996.
• Pluton. Ilmo Ranta, piano, Technique Ircam Ondine Records, ODE 888-2, 1996.
• 60ème parallèle. Orchestre de Paris, conducted by David Robertson, Naxos 8.554249/50, 1997.
• En écho and Neptune. Donatienne Michel-Dansac (soprano); Roland Auzet, Florent Jodelet, and Eve Payeur (percussion), Technique Ircam ACCORD, 465 526-2, 1998.
• Complete chamber music. Ensemble Accroche Note, Assai 222052, 2002.

External links

• http://www.romaeuropa.net/festival/schede_compagnie2003/oida.htm (in Italian)
• http://www.salabert.fr/formcat/actuel/durand_eschig/manoury_2002.pdf (in French)
• http://mac-texier.ircam.fr/textes/c00000062/ (in French)
• http://mediatheque.ircam.fr/articles/textes/Brindeau97a/ (in French)
• http://www.resmusica.com/actu_presse/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=13 (in French)
• Profile at UCSD (in English)

References

Bibliography

• Boulez, Pierre, and Patrick Greussay. 1988. "Entretien avec Philippe Manoury". Traverses, nos. 44–45:128–37
• Poirier, Alain. 2001. "Manoury, Philippe". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell. London: Macmillan.