Ensemble InterContemporain
Encyclopedia
The Ensemble InterContemporain (EIC) is a French chamber orchestra, based in Paris at the Cité de la musique
and IRCAM
, which specialises in contemporary classical music
.
Pierre Boulez
founded the EIC in 1976 in association with the French culture minister Michel Guy and the co-founder of the London Sinfonietta
, Nicholas Snowman, conceiving it as a group of virtuoso soloists who could play orchestral literature or literature for any combination of instruments. The idea was for the ensemble to be more flexible than an orchestra, allowing composers to write for a group of instruments of their own choice. Many works that might have been conceived for orchestra are now being written with this instrumentation in mind. For example, Tristan Murail
's Désintégrations, Helmut Lachenmann
's Zwei Gefühle: Musik mit Leonardo, and Pierre Boulez's Répons
, are all pieces that exist in the area between orchestral and chamber music.
The EIC differs from other contemporary musical ensembles in having a comparatively large group of permanent, salaried musicians (31), all of whom are nominally 'soloists'. This includes three full-time pianists, and three percussionists. (Smaller, unconducted, groups drawn from the EIC are billed as 'Les Solistes de l'Ensemble Intercontemporain'). The EIC, through its association with IRCAM
, is also unusual in having an annual open call for scores from composers of any age or nationality.
The EIC is particularly noted for its performances of music by composers of the European modernist tradition. Its core repertoire encompasses "classic" twentieth-century compositions such as those by composers of the Second Viennese School
, Karlheinz Stockhausen
, Boulez, and György Ligeti
, but has also collaborated with musicians from other disciplines, notably Frank Zappa
. The EIC also specialises in Spectralist music, frequently performing works by Gérard Grisey
, Tristan Murail
, Hugues Dufourt
and others. There is also a strong emphasis on commissioning new works; a large percentage of each season is given to world premieres.
The EIC was originally intended to be resident in IRCAM, but the need for a larger performance venue prompted a move to the Cité de la musique, a concert hall in the nineteenth arrondissement of Paris. The ensemble still performs and records at IRCAM, however. The EIC also has an extensive touring schedule, comparable to that of a symphony orchestra.
With the EIC, Boulez had the title of president. In 1979, Peter Eötvös
became the first conductor with the title of music director of the EIC, appointed by Boulez. Other music directors have included David Robertson
(1992–2000) and Jonathan Nott
(2000–2003). Nott is currently the EIC's principal guest conductor. Since 2006, Susanna Mälkki
has been the EIC's music director. Mälkki has added works by British, American and Finnish composers to the EIC's repertoire.
The EIC has recorded for a number of labels, including Deutsche Grammophon
(music of Ligeti, Alban Berg
, Arnold Schoenberg
, Boulez and Unsuk Chin
), and KAIROS
(music of Alberto Posadas
and Matthias Pintscher
), Luca Francesconi, Philippe Manoury
and Michael Jarrell
. Recordings by the EIC have received multiple awards, including the Gramophone Award
and the Diapason d'Or
.
Cité de la Musique
The Cité de la Musique is a group of institutions dedicated to music and situated in the La Villette quarter, 19th arrondissement, Paris, France. It was designed by the architect Christian de Portzamparc and opened in 1995...
and IRCAM
IRCAM
IRCAM is a European institute for science about music and sound and avant garde electro-acoustical art music. It is situated next to, and is organizationally linked with, the Centre Pompidou in Paris...
, which specialises in contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...
.
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
founded the EIC in 1976 in association with the French culture minister Michel Guy and the co-founder of the London Sinfonietta
London Sinfonietta
The London Sinfonietta is an English chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble specialises in contemporary music and works across a wide range of genres, performing modern classics alongside world premieres, and includes music by electronica artists as well as folk and...
, Nicholas Snowman, conceiving it as a group of virtuoso soloists who could play orchestral literature or literature for any combination of instruments. The idea was for the ensemble to be more flexible than an orchestra, allowing composers to write for a group of instruments of their own choice. Many works that might have been conceived for orchestra are now being written with this instrumentation in mind. For example, Tristan Murail
Tristan Murail
Tristan Murail is a French composer. 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, aka Moka, also write, and his younger sister Marie-Aude Murail is a French children's writer...
's Désintégrations, Helmut Lachenmann
Helmut Lachenmann
Helmut Lachenmann is a German composer associated with musique concrète instrumentale.-Life and works:...
's Zwei Gefühle: Musik mit Leonardo, and Pierre Boulez's Répons
Répons
Répons is a composition by French composer Pierre Boulez for a large chamber orchestra with 6 soloists and live electronics. It was premiered on the 18th of October in 1981 at the Donaueschingen Festival and subsequently expanded until its completion in 1984.Répons was the first significant work to...
, are all pieces that exist in the area between orchestral and chamber music.
The EIC differs from other contemporary musical ensembles in having a comparatively large group of permanent, salaried musicians (31), all of whom are nominally 'soloists'. This includes three full-time pianists, and three percussionists. (Smaller, unconducted, groups drawn from the EIC are billed as 'Les Solistes de l'Ensemble Intercontemporain'). The EIC, through its association with IRCAM
IRCAM
IRCAM is a European institute for science about music and sound and avant garde electro-acoustical art music. It is situated next to, and is organizationally linked with, the Centre Pompidou in Paris...
, is also unusual in having an annual open call for scores from composers of any age or nationality.
The EIC is particularly noted for its performances of music by composers of the European modernist tradition. Its core repertoire encompasses "classic" twentieth-century compositions such as those by composers of the Second Viennese School
Second Viennese School
The Second Viennese School is the group of composers that comprised Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils and close associates in early 20th century Vienna, where he lived and taught, sporadically, between 1903 and 1925...
, Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
, Boulez, and György Ligeti
György Ligeti
György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...
, but has also collaborated with musicians from other disciplines, notably Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
. The EIC also specialises in Spectralist music, frequently performing works by Gérard Grisey
Gérard Grisey
Gérard Grisey was a French composer of contemporary music.-Biography:Gérard Grisey was born in Belfort, France on 17 June 1946. He studied at the Trossingen Conservatory in Germany from 1963 to 1965 before entering the Conservatoire de Paris...
, Tristan Murail
Tristan Murail
Tristan Murail is a French composer. 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, aka Moka, also write, and his younger sister Marie-Aude Murail is a French children's writer...
, Hugues Dufourt
Hugues Dufourt
Hugues Dufourt is a French composer and philosopher associated with the Spectral school of composition. Born in Lyon on September 28 1943, Dufourt studied piano and composition at the Geneva Conservatory....
and others. There is also a strong emphasis on commissioning new works; a large percentage of each season is given to world premieres.
The EIC was originally intended to be resident in IRCAM, but the need for a larger performance venue prompted a move to the Cité de la musique, a concert hall in the nineteenth arrondissement of Paris. The ensemble still performs and records at IRCAM, however. The EIC also has an extensive touring schedule, comparable to that of a symphony orchestra.
With the EIC, Boulez had the title of president. In 1979, Peter Eötvös
Peter Eötvös
Péter Eötvös is a Hungarian composer and conductor.Eötvös was born in Odorheiu Secuiesc/Székelyudvarhely, Szeklerland, Transylvania . He studied composition in Budapest and Cologne. From 1962, he composed for film in Hungary. Eötvös played regularly with the Stockhausen Ensemble between 1968 and...
became the first conductor with the title of music director of the EIC, appointed by Boulez. Other music directors have included David Robertson
David Robertson (conductor)
David Eric Robertson is an American conductor. He is currently the music director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, and Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.-Early life:...
(1992–2000) and Jonathan Nott
Jonathan Nott
Jonathan Nott is an English conductor, the son of a priest at Worcester Cathedral. He was a music student and choral scholar at the University of Cambridge, and also studied singing and flute in Manchester at the Royal Northern College of Music. Nott was also a conducting student in London...
(2000–2003). Nott is currently the EIC's principal guest conductor. Since 2006, Susanna Mälkki
Susanna Mälkki
Susanna Mälkki is a Finnish conductor. Trained as a cellist as a pupil of Hannu Kiiski, she later studied conducting with Jorma Panula, as well as Eri Klas and Leif Segerstam, at the Sibelius Academy. She has also studied at London's Royal Academy of Music...
has been the EIC's music director. Mälkki has added works by British, American and Finnish composers to the EIC's repertoire.
The EIC has recorded for a number of labels, including Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
(music of Ligeti, Alban Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
, Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
, Boulez and Unsuk Chin
Unsuk Chin
Unsuk Chin , is a South Korean composer of classical music, based in Berlin, Germany. She was awarded the Grawemeyer Award in 2004 and the Arnold Schönberg Prize in 2005.- Biography :...
), and KAIROS
KAIROS (record label)
KAIROS is an Austrian record label which specialises in contemporary music. Its recordings have received multiple awards including the Diapason d'Or.-Artists:Ensembles and orchestras who have recorded for KAIROS include:* Arditti Quartet* ASKO ensemble...
(music of Alberto Posadas
Alberto Posadas
-Biography:Alberto Posadas was born in 1967 in Valladolid where he underwent his first musical education which he then continued in Madrid at the Madrid Royal Conservatory....
and Matthias Pintscher
Matthias Pintscher
Matthias Pintscher is a German composer and conductor. As a youth, he studied the violin and conducting....
), Luca Francesconi, Philippe Manoury
Philippe Manoury
Philippe Manoury 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...
and Michael Jarrell
Michael Jarrell
Michael Jarrell is a Swiss composer. Born in Geneva, he studied at the Conservatoire there, and later with Klaus Huber in Freiburg.His works span many genres...
. Recordings by the EIC have received multiple awards, including the Gramophone Award
Gramophone Award
The Gramophone Awards are one of the most significant honours bestowed on recordings in the classical record industry, often referred to as the Oscars for classical music. The winners are selected annually by critics for the Gramophone magazine and various members of the industry, including...
and the Diapason d'Or
Diapason d'Or
The Diapason d'Or is a recommendation of outstanding classical music recordings given by reviewers of Diapason magazine in France, broadly equivalent to "Editor's Choice", "Disc of the Month" in the British Gramophone magazine....
.