Tristan Murail

Updated on Oct 01, 2024

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Name Tristan Murail		Role Composer

Albums Turangalila-symphonie / Quatuor pour la fin du temps Parents Gerard Murail, Marie-Therese Barrois Siblings Marie-Aude Murail, Elvire Murail Nephews Charles Robert, Benjamin Robert Similar People Gerard Grisey, Olivier Messiaen, Hugues Dufourt, Giacinto Scelsi, Marie‑Aude Murail

Tristan murail d sint grations 1982 83

Tristan Murail (born 11 March 1947) is a French composer associated with the "spectral" technique of composition.

Tristan Murail French Composers39 Names Tristan Murail

Tristan Murail - Cloches d'Adieu, et un Sourire for Piano (1992) [Score-Video]

Early life and studies

Tristan Murail Tristan Murail CompositionTodaycom

Murail was born in Le Havre, France. His father, Gérard Murail, is a poet and his mother, Marie-Thérèse Barrois, a journalist. One of his brothers, Lorris Murail, and his younger sister Elvire Murail, a.k.a. Moka, are also writers, and his younger sister Marie-Aude Murail is a French children's writer.

Following his university studies in Arabic and economics, Murail attended the Paris Conservatory, where he studied composition with Olivier Messiaen from 1967 to 1972. He taught computer music and composition at IRCAM in Paris from 1991 to 1997. While there, he assisted in the development of Patchwork composition software. In 1973 he was a founding member of the Ensemble l'Itinéraire. From 1997 until 2010, he was a professor of composition at Columbia University in New York City.

Music

Tristan Murail Quotes by Tristan Murail Like Success

Murail is associated with the "spectral" technique of composition, which involves the use of the fundamental properties of sound as a basis for harmony, as well as the use of spectral analysis, FM, RM, and AM synthesis as a method of deriving polyphony.

Tristan Murail Tristan Murail Seven Lakes Drive for chamber ensemble

Major pieces by Murail include large orchestral pieces such as Gondwana, Time and Again and, more recently, Serendib and L'Esprit des dunes. Other pieces include his Désintégrations for 17 instruments and tape, Mémoire/Erosion for French horn and nine instruments Ethers for flute and ensemble, Winter Fragments for flute, clarinet, piano, violin, cello and electronics as well as Vampyr! for electric guitar.

Murail also composed a set of solo pieces for various instruments in his cycle Random Access Memory, of which the sixth, Vampyr!, is a rare classical piece for electric guitar. In addition to deriving much of the musical material from the harmonic series over a low E—typically the lowest note on the instrument— the composer also references the timbre and performance style of guitarists in the rock tradition, citing Carlos Santana and Eric Clapton as examples in the instructions to the score.

Among Murail's awards are the Prix de Rome (presented by the French Académie des beaux-arts in 1971), the Grand Prix du Disque (1990), and the Grand Prix du Président de la République, Académie Charles Cros (1992).

Murail's works are published by Éditions Transatlantiques and Éditions Henry Lemoine. His music has been recorded on the Una Corda, Metier, Adés, and MFA-Radio France labels.

Orchestral

1970, Altitude 8000, for orchestra

1972, Au-delà du mur du son, for large orchestra

1973, La dérive des continents, for viola and string orchestra

1973, Cosmos privé, for orchestra

1975, Sables, for orchestra

1979, Les courants de l'espace, for ondes Martenot and small orchestra

1980, Gondwana, for orchestra

1985, Sillages, for orchestra

1985, Time and again, for orchestra

1991, La dynamique des fluides, for orchestra

1996 Le partage des eaux, for large orchestra

2004, Terre d'ombre, for large orchestra and electronic sounds

2007, Contes cruels, for 2 electric guitars and orchestra

2012, Le Désenchantement du Monde, piano concerto

2013, Reflections / Reflets, for orchestra

Ensemble

1969, Couleur de mer, for 15 instruments

1972, L'Attente, for 7 instruments

1976, Mémoire/Erosion, for horn and ensemble

1978, Ethers, for 6 instruments

1978, Treize couleurs du soleil couchant, for ensemble

1982, Désintégrations, for 17 instruments and electronic sounds

1990, Allégories, for 6 instruments and electronic sounds

1992, Serendib, for 22 musicians

1993, La Barque mystique for ensemble

1994, L'Esprit des dunes, for ensemble

1996, Bois flotté, for piano, trombone, string trio, synthetic sounds and synthesized sounds

2000, Winter Fragments, for flute, clarinet, piano, violin, cello, MIDI keyboard and computer

2001, Le Lac, for ensemble

2006, Légendes urbaines for 22 instruments

2006, Seven Lakes Drive, from «Portulan», for flute, clarinet, horn, piano, violin and cello

2008, Liber fulguralis, for ensemble, electronics and video

2011, La Chambre des cartes, from «Portulan», for flute, clarinet, horn, piano, percussions, violin, viola and cello

2011, Lachrymae, for alto flute and string quintet

2011, Dernières nouvelles du vent d'ouest, from «Portulan», for viola, horn, piano and percussion

2012, The Bronze Age, for flute, clarinet, trombone, violin, cello and piano

2014, Un Sogno, for ensemble and electronics

Chamber

1970, Où tremblent les contours, for 2 violas

1973, Les Nuages de Magellan, for 2 ondes Martenot, electric guitar and percussions

1974, Transsahara express, for bassoon and piano

1986, Atlantys, for 2 DX7 Yamaha synthesizers, from Random Access Memory

1988, Vues aériennes, for horn, violin, cello and piano

1990, Le fou à pattes bleues, for flute and piano

1993, La barque mystique, for five instruments

1998, Feuilles à travers les cloches, from «Portulan», for flute, violin, cello and piano

2006, Les Ruines circulaires, from «Portulan», for clarinet and violin

2008, Garrigue, from «Portulan», for bass flute, viola, cello and percussions

2015, Travel Notes, for 2 pianos and 2 percussions

Instrumental

1967, Comme un Oeil Suspendu et Poli par le Songe…, for piano

1972, Estuaire, 2 pieces for piano

1976, C'est un jardin secret, ma sœur, ma fiancée, une fontaine close, une source scellée for viola solo

1977, Tellur, for guitar

1977, Territoires de l'oubli, for piano

1984, Vampyr!, for electric guitar, from Random Access Memory

1992, Attracteurs étranges, for cello

1992, Cloches d’adieu, et un sourire... in memoriam Olivier Messiaen, for piano

1993, La Mandragore, for piano

1995, Unanswered questions, for flute

2002, Les travaux et les jours, for piano

Vocal

1995, ...amaris et dulcibus aquis..., for chorus and electronic sounds

2010, Les sept Paroles, for orchestra, chorus and electronics

2016, La Vallée close, sur des sonnets de Pétrarque

Specialty studies

Humbertclaude Éric (1999), La Transcription dans Boulez et Murail: de l’oreille à l’éveil, Harmattan, ISBN 2-7384-8042-X

References

Tristan Murail Wikipedia

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