Samstag, 23. November 2013, 11.00
Éliane Radigue
Trilogie de la Mort / Kyema - Klangprojektion
Danach: Brunch
Trilogie de la Mort - Teil 1: Kyema - Klangprojektion
This profound work of electronic music on three CDs is based on the composer's complete
immersion in Tibetan Buddhist teaching, and takes its title from Thomas Merton's Trilogy on
Death: "Going beyond death in this life, beyond the dichotomy of life and death, and so to
become a witness to life itself." The first "chapter" is "Kyema," composed during the years
1985-1988. It was inspired by texts of the Bardo-Thödol (a book of the dead) and "evokes the
six intermediate states which constitute the 'existential continuity' of being: Kyene (birth),
Milam (dream), Samtem (contemplation and meditation), Chikai (death), Chönye (clear light),
and Sippai (crossing and return)." The slowly changing timbres create quite physical resonances
and density modulations, suggesting encounters with traveling personalities, some comforting,
some evoking deep and strange spirits. "Kyema" is dedicated to the composer's son Yves Arman,
who passed away in a car accident shortly before its completion. The second chapter,
"Kailasha" (1988-1991), is "an imaginary journey around the most sacred of the Himalayan
mountains, Mount Kailash," but since the mountain is considered a "natural mandala," the work
also attempts to recreate the illusion found in works of visual artists Albers and Escher, where
one perspective overlaps and flips over into another, involuntarily. The composer considers
"Kailasha" to be "the most chaotic part of the trilogy" and deeply unnerving. "Koumé," the third
chapter, emphasizes the transcendence of death. The title of "Koumé"'s fourth subsection
quotes the Bible in Corinthians XV ("O Death, where is thy victory?"): "Ashes of illusion
becoming light. Descent to the deepest, where the spark of life is. There, Death is born. Death
becomes birth. Actively re-beginning. Eternity -- a perpetual becoming."
["Blue" Gene Tyranny, All Music Guide, USA]
Eliane Radigue
Éliane Radigue was born in Paris, France. She studied electroacoustic music techniques at the
Studio d'essai at the RTF, under the direction of Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry (1957-58).
She was married to the artist, Arman, and devoted ten years to the education of three
children, deepening classical music studies and instrumental practice on the harp and piano at
the same time. In 1967-68 she worked again with Pierre Henry, as his assistant at the Studio
Apsome. Radigue worked for a year at the New York University School of the Arts in 1970-71.
Her music, its source an Arp synthesizer and medium recording tape, attracted considerable
attention for its sensitive, dappled purity. She was in residence at the electronic music studios
of the University of Iowa and California Institute of the Arts in 1973. Becoming a Tibetan
Buddhist in 1975, Radigue went into retreat, and stopped composing for a time. When she took
up her career again in 1979, she continued to work with the Arp synthesizer which has become
her signature. She composed Triptych for the Ballet Théâtre de Nancy (choreography by
Douglas Dunn), Adnos II & Adnos III, and began the large-scale cycle of works based on the life
of the Tibetan master, Milarepa. [...] recently, in response to the demands of musicians
worldwide, she has begun creating works for specific performers and instruments together
with electronics.
[Lovely Music, USA]
immersion in Tibetan Buddhist teaching, and takes its title from Thomas Merton's Trilogy on
Death: "Going beyond death in this life, beyond the dichotomy of life and death, and so to
become a witness to life itself." The first "chapter" is "Kyema," composed during the years
1985-1988. It was inspired by texts of the Bardo-Thödol (a book of the dead) and "evokes the
six intermediate states which constitute the 'existential continuity' of being: Kyene (birth),
Milam (dream), Samtem (contemplation and meditation), Chikai (death), Chönye (clear light),
and Sippai (crossing and return)." The slowly changing timbres create quite physical resonances
and density modulations, suggesting encounters with traveling personalities, some comforting,
some evoking deep and strange spirits. "Kyema" is dedicated to the composer's son Yves Arman,
who passed away in a car accident shortly before its completion. The second chapter,
"Kailasha" (1988-1991), is "an imaginary journey around the most sacred of the Himalayan
mountains, Mount Kailash," but since the mountain is considered a "natural mandala," the work
also attempts to recreate the illusion found in works of visual artists Albers and Escher, where
one perspective overlaps and flips over into another, involuntarily. The composer considers
"Kailasha" to be "the most chaotic part of the trilogy" and deeply unnerving. "Koumé," the third
chapter, emphasizes the transcendence of death. The title of "Koumé"'s fourth subsection
quotes the Bible in Corinthians XV ("O Death, where is thy victory?"): "Ashes of illusion
becoming light. Descent to the deepest, where the spark of life is. There, Death is born. Death
becomes birth. Actively re-beginning. Eternity -- a perpetual becoming."
["Blue" Gene Tyranny, All Music Guide, USA]
Eliane Radigue
Éliane Radigue was born in Paris, France. She studied electroacoustic music techniques at the
Studio d'essai at the RTF, under the direction of Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry (1957-58).
She was married to the artist, Arman, and devoted ten years to the education of three
children, deepening classical music studies and instrumental practice on the harp and piano at
the same time. In 1967-68 she worked again with Pierre Henry, as his assistant at the Studio
Apsome. Radigue worked for a year at the New York University School of the Arts in 1970-71.
Her music, its source an Arp synthesizer and medium recording tape, attracted considerable
attention for its sensitive, dappled purity. She was in residence at the electronic music studios
of the University of Iowa and California Institute of the Arts in 1973. Becoming a Tibetan
Buddhist in 1975, Radigue went into retreat, and stopped composing for a time. When she took
up her career again in 1979, she continued to work with the Arp synthesizer which has become
her signature. She composed Triptych for the Ballet Théâtre de Nancy (choreography by
Douglas Dunn), Adnos II & Adnos III, and began the large-scale cycle of works based on the life
of the Tibetan master, Milarepa. [...] recently, in response to the demands of musicians
worldwide, she has begun creating works for specific performers and instruments together
with electronics.
[Lovely Music, USA]
