Luc Ferrari

Luc Ferrari (5 February 1929 – 22 August 2005) was a French composer of Italian heritage and a pioneer in musique concrète and electroacoustic music. He was a founding member of RTF's Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRMC), working alongside composers such as Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry.

Biography
Ferrari was born in Paris, and was trained in music at a very young age. He studied the piano under Alfred Cortot, musical analysis under Olivier Messiaen, and composition under Arthur Honegger. His first works were freely atonal. A case of tuberculosis in his youth interrupted his career as a pianist. From then on he mostly concentrated on musical composition. During this illness he had the opportunity to become acquainted with the radio receiver, and with pioneers such as Schönberg, Berg, and Webern.

In 1954, Ferrari went to the United States to meet Edgard Varèse, whose Déserts he had heard on the radio, and had impressed him. This seems to have had a great effect on him, with the tape part in Déserts serving as inspiration for Ferrari to use magnetic tape in his own music. In 1958 he co-founded the Groupe de Recherches Musicales with Pierre Schaeffer and François-Bernard Mâche. He taught in institutions around the world, and worked for film, theatre and radio. By the early 1960, Ferrari had begun work on his Hétérozygote, a piece for magnetic tape which uses ambient environmental sounds to suggest a dramatic narrative. The use of ambient recordings was to become a distinctive part of Ferrari's musical language.

Ferrari's Presque rien No. 1 'Le Lever du jour au bord de la mer (1970) is regarded as a classic of its kind. In it, Ferrari takes a day-long recording of environmental sounds at a Yugoslavian beach and, through editing, makes a piece that lasts just twenty-one minutes. It has been seen as an affirmation of John Cage's idea that music is always going on all around us, and if only we were to stop to listen to it, we would realise this. Ferrari continued to write purely instrumental music as well as his tape pieces. He also made a number of documentary films on contemporary composers in rehearsal, including Olivier Messiaen and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Ferrari died in Arezzo, Italy on 22 August 2005, at age 76.

Discography

 * Acousmatrix
 * Petite symphonie intuitive pour un paysage de printemps (1973–74)
 * Strathoven (1985)
 * Presque rien avec filles (1989)
 * Hétérozygote (1963–64)
 * BVHAAST 9009 Acousmatrix 3 – 1990


 * Unheimlich schön
 * Unheimlich schön (1971)
 * Coll. Cinéma pour l'oreille
 * Metamkine MKCD008 1993


 * L'Escalier des aveugles
 * Patajaslotcha (1984)
 * L'Escalier des aveugles (1991)
 * Xavier Legasa / Donatienne Michel-Dansac / Michel Musseau (song)
 * Ensemble Le Banquet, Dir. Olivier Dejours
 * Ina-grm ina c 2008/Musidisc 201302 – 1993


 * Presque rien
 * Music promenade (1964–69)
 * Presque rien No.1 – le lever du jour au bord de la mer (1967–70)
 * Presque rien No.2 – ainsi continue la nuit dans ma tête multiple (1977)
 * Presque rien avec filles (1989)
 * Ina-grm 245172 – 1995


 * Piano-piano
 * Suite pour piano (1952)
 * Antisonate (1953)
 * Suite hétéroclite (1955)
 * Visage I (1956)
 * Fragments du journal intime (1980–82)
 * Comme une fantaisie dite des réminiscences (1989–91)
 * Christine Lagniel / Michel Maurer (Piano)
 * Auvidis Montaigne MO 782110 – 1997


 * Cellule 75
 * Cellule 75 (1975)
 * Place des Abbesses (1977)
 * Chris Brown (Piano), William Winant (Perc.)
 * Tzadik USA – TZ 7033 – 1997


 * Interrupteur / Tautologos III
 * Interrupteur (1967)
 * Tautologos III (1970)
 * Ensemble de musique vontemporaine de Paris, Dir. Konstantin Simonovitch
 * Blue Chopsticks USA BC1, distrib. France : Chronowax – 1999


 * Chansons pour le corps – Et si tout entière maintenant
 * Chansons pour le corps
 * Elise Caron (Song), Carol Mundinger / Sylvain Frydman (Clar.), Christine Lagniel (Perc.), Michel Maurer (Piano.), Michel Musseau (Synthesizer)
 * Et si tout entière maintenant (1986–87)
 * Symphonic story. (Prix Italia 1987) – Text by Colette Fellous
 * Anne Sée (Voice), Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique, Dir. Yves Prin.
 * Mode Records USA MODE 81 – 1999


 * Danses Organiques cinéma pour l'oreille
 * Danses organiques (1971–73)
 * Elica mpo-3340 – 1999
 * vinyle LP Elica 4VL 3704 – 2003


 * Far-West news
 * Far-West news episode No.1 (1998–99)
 * Histoire du plaisir et de la désolation (1979–81)
 * Nouvel orchestre de France, Dir. Michael Luig.
 * Signature, France ASIN : B00005Q4KU – distribution Harmonia Mundi – 1999


 * Cycle des souvenirs – Exploitation des concepts No.2
 * Cycle des souvenirs – Exploitation des concepts No.2 (1995–2000)
 * Blue Chopsticks USA BC8, distrib. France : Chronowax – 2002


 * Tautologos and other early electronic works
 * Étude aux accidents (1958)
 * Étude aux sons tendus (1958)
 * Visage V (1958/59)
 * Tête et queue du dragon (1959–60)
 * Tautologos I (1961)
 * Tautologos II (1961)
 * Und so weiter for piano and tape (1965–66)
 * (works from 1959 to 1966) EMF and GRM
 * Gérard Frémy (piano)
 * EMF CD 037 – 2003


 * Comedia dell'amore 224 (1992)
 * Performers and composers : Jean-Jacques Birgé, Francis Gorgé, Bernard Vitet and Luc Ferrari
 * Un Drame musical instantané "Opération Blow up" GRRR 2020 – distrib. France : Orkhêstra / Les Allumés du Jazz – 1992


 * Impro-micro-acoustique (2001)
 * Performers and composers : Noël Akchoté, Roland Auzet and Luc Ferrari
 * Blue Chopsticks, USA BC12 – distrib. France : Chronowax  – 2004


 * Collection
 * Collection de petites pièces ou 36 Enfilades pour piano et magnétophone (1985)
 * Jeu du hasard et de la détermination (1999)
 * Michel Maurer (Piano.), Françoise Rivalland (Perc.).
 * Les empreintes digitales, France – distribution Abeille Musique (Nocturne) ED13171 – 2004


 * Les Anecdotiques
 * Les Anecdotiques – Exploitation des Concepts No.6 (2002)
 * SUB ROSA SR 207 – 2004
 * Grand Prix 2005 Charles Cros in Memoriam


 * Archives sauvées des eaux
 * Archives sauvées des eaux – Exploitation des concepts No.1 (2000)
 * Version for plastic, Milan 2004. By Luc Ferrari and Erikm
 * Angle Records, Italie CD 0008 – 2004
 * Grand Prix 2005 Charles Cros in memoriam


 * Son mémorisé
 * Presque Rien No.4 (1990–98)
 * Promenade symphonique dans un paysage musical ou Un jour de fête à El Oued en 1976 : (1976–78)
 * Saliceburry cocktail (2002)
 * Sub Rosa, SR252 – 2006


 * Far-West news episodes 2 and 3
 * Far-West news episodes 2 (May 1999)
 * Far-West news episodes 3 (June 1999)
 * Blue Chopsticks BC16 CD September 2006


 * Et tournent les sons
 * Et tournent les Sons dans la Garrigue – Réflexion sur l'écriture No.1 (1977)
 * Archives sauvées des eaux – Exploitation des concepts No.3 (2000)
 * By the Ensemble Laborintus and Erikm
 * Césaré 06/03/4/2/1 France septembre 2006. Distr. Metamkine


 * Les ProtoRythmiques
 * Les ProtoRythmiques (2007)
 * EriKm (Luc Ferrari) and Thomas Lehn
 * Room40 RM417/ May 2007


 * Didascalies
 * Rencontres fortuites (2003) for viola, piano and memorized sounds.
 * Didascalies (2004) for viola and piano
 * Tautologos III (1969)
 * By Vincent Royer and Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven
 * Luc Ferrari facing his tautology – 2 days before the end,
 * a film by Guy Marc Hinant and Dominique Lohlé
 * Sub Rosa SR261 luc ferrari "didascalies" / cd+ dvd  / May 2007


 * Sonopsys
 * Passage pour mimes (1959)
 * J'ai été coupé (1960–69)
 * Selbstportrait oder Peinture de sons ou bien Tonmalerei (1996–97)
 * Sonopsys 4 – Cahiers musique concrète/acousmatique. May 2007


 * in OHM: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music / 1943 – 1980
 * Music Promenade (1969)
 * Ellipsis arts...... EA500-4 USA


 * in Asia – Trio d'argent
 * Madame de Shanghaï (1996)
 * Michel Boizot / François Daudin Clavaud / Xavier Saint-Bonnet (Flutes)
 * Musique d'Aujourd'hui 9701 MDA M7 847 – 1997


 * in An anthology of noise & electronic music / vol. #2
 * Visage V (1958–59)
 * Sub Rosa SR200 – 2003


 * in Early modulations : vintage volts
 * Tête et queue du dragon (1959–60)
 * Caipirinha CP219 USA – 2000


 * in Archives GRM – CD 2/5
 * Étude aux sons tendus (1958)
 * Étude floue (1958)
 * Étude aux accidents (1958)
 * Ina c 1032(2004) ADD – 750 – 276522


 * Chantal, or the portrait of a villager (1977–78)
 * stereo tape.
 * in collaboration with Brunhild Meyer.
 * Digital on-line edition 2008
 * Room 40


 * Archives Génétiquement Modifiées (2000) – mémorized sound
 * Société II (1967)
 * for four soloists and sixteen instruments (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, 4 violins, 2 violas, 2 violoncellos, 1 contrabass. Soloists: 1 piano, 3 percussions.) recording from 1968 by the EIMCP dir. Konstantin Simonovich.
 * Robot Records, USA


 * À la recherche du rythme perdu
 * for piano and memorized sound. by Wilhem Latchoumia
 * In Wilhem Latchoumia – piano & electronic sounds
 * Sisyphe 013


 * Madame de Shanghaï (1996)
 * for 3 flutes and memorized sound
 * In Manuel Zurria repeat !
 * Die Schachtel, Zeit C01


 * Archives sauvées des eaux – Luc Ferrari with Otomo Yoshihide.
 * Bonus-track (CD extra) for the first 2000 copies : « Slow landing » Luc Ferrari with Otomo Yoshihide, Camera: Miyaoka Hideyuki and Nishihara Tazz Miyaoka
 * Disc Callithump CPCD-001


 * Labyrinthe de violence
 * Danse
 * LP Alga Marghen
 * Disque vinyle PLANA-F alga027 – 2009


 * Sexolidad (1982–83)
 * Dialogue Ordinaire avec la Machine (1984)
 * Elica mpo-4301 – 2009


 * INA-GRM Box (2009)
 * in partnership with La Muse en circuit,
 * contains 10 CD Luc Ferrari’s works for memorized sound as well as film music.


 * Chantal (2009)
 * stereo tape (1977–78)
 * in collaboration with Brunhild Meyer.
 * Ohm/Avatar – ohm 051


 * DIDASCALIES 2 ou Trois personnages en quête de notes (2005)
 * For two pianos and a third very strong instrument capable to uphold a very strong note.
 * Claude Berset and Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven, piano – Vincent Royer, viola
 * Recorded at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
 * Vinyl disc Sub rosa SRV 305- April 2010


 * TRANQUILLES IMPATIENCES (2010)
 * by Brunhild Ferrari recomposing tapes from Luc Ferrari called "Exercices d'Improvisation”
 * vinyle disc ALGA MARGHEN – 2010 – plana-MF alga028


 * EPHÉMÈRE I & II (1974)
 * for tape and undetermined instrumentation
 * éphémère I – L'ordinateur ça sert à quoi ? Nov ; 1974
 * éphémère II – Lyon 75 Nov. 1975
 * ALGA MARGHEN plana f. 33 NMN 081 – 2010


 * EXERCICES D'IMPROVISATION (1977)
 * Suite of exercices (5 to 7 min. each) – can be individual or collective improvisation for any instrument or instrument group (maximum 8). They are intended for amateurs, professionals or students and may take place in concerts.
 * By Gol and Brunhild Ferrari
 * Vinyl disc ALGA MARGHEN planam 5 (it) – 2010


 * PIANO & PERCUSSION WORKS
 * Satoko Inoue piano & Toshiyuki Matsukura percussion
 * CONVERSATION INTIME (October 1987 – March 1988) 19:33

for piano and percussion
 * VISAGE I (1956) 7:21 for piano
 * SONATINE ELYB POUR PIANO (1953–54) – 7 :44 for piano
 * CELLULE 75 – FORCE DU RYTHME ET CADENCE FORCEE (May – November 1975) 32:45
 * for piano, percussions and tape
 * Recorded in 2004 – Hat(now)ART 165 – Jan. 2011 – harmonia mundi


 * LUC FERRARI " Madame de Shanghai " – " Après Presque Rien " – " Visage 2 "
 * VISAGE 2 (1955–56) – 10'02
 * APRES PRESQUE RIEN (2004) – 31'47 (commissioned by Art Zoyd, Musiques Nouvelles and CCMIX)
 * MADAME DE SHANGHAI (1996) – 15'22
 * By the Scottish Flute Trio and Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles, cond. Jean-Paul Dessy
 * Mode 228 – Feb. 2011


 * VISITATION (1 avril 2011) – 25'23
 * eRikm & Luc Ferrari – The night bird, Cap 15 and night bird, Tuchan, in Presque Rien N0 2
 * Vinyle disc Alga Marghen Planam 18 (it) – 2011


 * Souvenir, Souvenir
 * SUITE (1952)
 * SUITE HÉTÉROCLITE
 * SONATINE ELYB
 * VISAGE I
 * COLLECTION DE PETITES PIÈCES OU 36 ENFILADES POUR PIANO ET MAGNÉTOPHONE
 * piano : Elmar Schrammel – WERGO 67372


 * JETZT ou PROBABLEMENT MON QUOTIDIEN IL EST LA, DANS LA CONFUSION DES LIEUX ET DES MOMENTS – Hörspiel 1982 – 1 h. 45'
 * Radio composition for Hessischer Rundfunk.	.


 * Ferrari (r)écouté
 * new compositions with sound material of Ferrari's JETZT tapes from:
 * Tiziana Bertoncini – Antje Vowinckel – Frank Niehusmann – David Fenech – Neele Hülcker


 * COMPOSER LA RADIO – DAS RADIO KOMPONIEREN
 * excerpts from a radio conférence with Luc Ferrari (2000)
 * produced by ZKM, Karlsruhe and WERGO. – WERGO ZKM milestones 2066.2 – 2011


 * PROGRAMME COMMUN Luc + Brunhild Ferrari
 * Double CD


 * Luc Ferrari:
 * MUSIQUE SOCIALISTE, or PROGRAMME COMMUN POUR CLAVECIN ET BANDE MAGNETIQUE – (1972)
 * harpsichord: Elisabeth Chojnacka


 * DIDASCALIES 2 – (2005)
 * for 2 pianos and a third very powerful instrument that can hold a very loud note : viola
 * Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven et Claude Berset : piano. Vincent Royer : viola


 * LES EMOIS D’APHRODITE – (1986) Version 1998
 * for clarinet, piano, percussion, 2 samplers and memorized sound
 * by the ensemble MC BAND, dir. Mary Chun, San Francisco


 * Brunhild Ferrari –  electroacoustic, with sounds from Luc Ferrari :
 * DERIVATIF – (2008)
 * BRUMES DU REVEIL – (2009)
 * TRANQUILLES IMPATIENCES – (2010)
 * Sub Rosa SR363 AB – www.SUBROSA.NET


 * LUC FERRARI « PRESQUE RIEN »
 * double vinyl discs
 * PRESQUE RIEN No.1
 * PRESQUE RIEN No. 2
 * PRESQUE RIEN AVEC FILLES
 * PRESQUE RIEN No. 4 – La remontée du Village
 * Recollectio GRM 2012 – REGRM 005 et éditions MEGO – INA GRM


 * L. FERRARI
 * UND SO WEITER for electric piano and tape
 * Gérard Frémy, Piano
 * MUSIC PROMENADE original mix
 * re-issue of the vinyl disc by WERGO from 1969 – WER 67752 – 2012

CD and DVD releases

 * Didascalies
 * Rencontres Fortuites (2003) pour alto, piano et SM.
 * Didascalies (2004) pour alto et piano
 * Tautologos 3 (1969)
 * by Vincent Royer, viola and Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven, piano
 * + DVD
 * Luc Ferrari face à sa tautologie – 2 jours avant la fin
 * Film by Guy-Marc Hinant and Dominique Lohlé
 * French version, with English sub-titles, recorded while the rehearsal of Tautologos III.
 * "that would be Luc’s last one in this beginning of July 2005.
 * Sub Rosa SR261 luc ferrari "didascalies" / cd+ dvd  / mai 2007


 * This Box was rewarded with the « Coup de Coeur Charles Cros – musique contemporaine printemps 2008 » and the Grand Prix from the festival "Filmer à tout prix", Brussels in 2008


 * Presque rien avec Luc Ferrari
 * Film by Jacqueline Caux and Olivier Pascal – with Elise Caron – eRikm – Christof 	Schläger .  2004.
 * ELICA VPO-4290
 * Robot Records 2008
 * Forced Exposure; Métamkine, Fr.; Die Schachtel, It.; Mimaroglu Music Sales; 	Die Stadt, Germ.; A-Musik, Cologne, Germ.; Empreintes Digitales, Montreal 	Can.; Disk Union, Tokyo, Jap.


 * Les Archives sauvées des Eaux
 * Luc Ferrari with Otomo Yoshihide.
 * « Slow Landing » Luc Ferrari with Otomo Yoshihide, Camera: Miyaoka Hideyuki and Nishihara Tazz Miyaoka
 * Disc Callithump CPCD-001

Recent book releases

 * Collective book, edited by Brunhild Ferrari : Luc Ferrari complete works, London May 2019, 457 p. (ISBN 9781787601536 ). Published par Ecstatic peace library (UK).
 * Presque Rien avec Luc Ferrari
 * book by Jacqueline Caux. Discussion with Luc Ferrari.
 * Editions Main d’œuvre, Nice – January 2001


 * translation into Japanese by Ryosuke Shiina (Tokyo, 2006)
 * Luc Ferrari to hotondo nanimo nai.
 * Editions Gendaishichô-shinsha (2006), Tokyo, Japan.


 * translation into English by Jérôme Hansen.
 * Almost Nothing with Luc Ferrari. Editions Errant Bodies (2013)


 * Sonopsys No. 4 Luc Ferrari
 * Cahiers Musique Concrète / Acousmatique, published by Licences (French – English) – 2007
 * by Alexandre Yterce and Florence Gonot


 * Luc Ferrari Portraits Polychromes
 * supplemented edition by GRM / INA – 2007 – grm@ina.fr


 * The Politics of Presque Rien by Eric Drott
 * in Sound Commitments (Oxford University Press, 2009).
 * P. 145-166. Pdf to download on the website on “bibliography” 2009 page 9


 * Luc Ferrari in: In the Blink of an Ear:
 * Toward a Non-Cochlear Sonic Art
 * by Seth Kim- Cohen. (Continuum, 2009). "Sound-Out-Of-Itself" p. 175-185.
 * Pdf to download on the website on “bibliography” 2009 page 9


 * Luc Ferrari in : Silence, les couleurs du prisme & la mécanique du temps qui passe. Les Presque Rien – Et Tournent les sons Dans la Garrique by Daniel Caux
 * Editions de l’Eclat, Paris. Pages 333–337 (2009)


 * Syntone News and Critique of the Radio-Art
 * the Radio of Luc (and his listeners)
 * Chantal Dumas – François Parra – Irvic Oliver – José Iges – Götz Naleppa – Lucien Bertolina.
 * Contributions collected and conducted by Etienne Noiseau. Edited by Etienne Noiseau


 * The Bells Angels No. 2 
 * Magazine TBA No 2 July 2010-07-03 containing the score of
 * Monologos (for solo voice and électroacoustic device) – 1970 – as well as
 * Concepts (3 excerpts of Jacqueline Caux’ book: Presque Rien avec Luc Ferrari
 * éditions nuitdencre galerie 64 rue jean-pierre timbaud – 75011 paris


 * The Bells Angels
 * Magazine TBA No 3 – 2011
 * 10 photoengraving-works by Luc Ferrari