Horatiu Radulescu
Encyclopedia
Horaţiu Rădulescu was a Romanian-French composer, best known for the spectral technique
of composition.
, where he studied the violin privately with Nina Alexandrescu, a pupil of Enescu, and later studied composition at the Bucharest Academy of Music (MA 1969), where his teachers included Stefan Niculescu, Tiberiu Olah and Aurel Stroë, some of the leading figures of the newly emerging avant garde (Toop 2001). Upon graduation in 1969 Rădulescu left Romania for the west, and settled in Paris
, becoming a French citizen in 1974. He returned to Romania thereafter several times for visits, beginning in 1991 when he directed a performance of his Iubiri, the first public performance of any of his mature works in his native country. (Rădulescu nonetheless commented that in the interim he had dedicated many of his works to a "virtual and sublimated" Romania) (Rădulescu, cited in Krafft 2001, 47).
One of the first works to be completed in Paris (though the concept had come to him in Romania) was Credo for nine cellos, the first work to employ his spectral techniques. This technique "comprises variable distribution of the spectral energy, synthesis of the global sound sources, micro- and macro-form as sound-process, four simultaneous layers of perception and of speed, and spectral scordaturae, i.e. rows of unequal intervals corresponding to harmonic scales" (Rădulescu 1993). These techniques were developed considerably in his music of subsequent decades. In the early 1970s he attended classes given by Cage
, Ligeti
, Stockhausen
, and Xenakis
at the Darmstadt Summer Courses, and by Ferrari
and Kagel
in Cologne
. He presented his own music in Messiaen's classes at the Paris Conservatoire in 1972-73; Rădulescu recalled that while Messiaen himself was sympathetic, later calling him "one of the most original young musicians of our time" (Rădulescu 199), some of the students were more reticent, not understanding his music's "colourful, dreamy, mystical" inclinations (Rădulescu cited in Krafft 2001, 48).
Beginning in the early 1970s Rădulescu's works began to be performed at the leading contemporary music festivals, including Gaudeamus (Taaroa, 1971; in ko 'tro - mioritic space, 1972), Darmstadt (Flood for the Eternal's Origins, 1972), Royan (fountains of my sky, 1973; Lamento di Gesù, 1975), Metz (Wild Incantesimo for nine orchestras, 1978; Byzantine Prayer, 1988) and Donaueschingen. From 1979 to 1981 he studied computer-assisted composition and psycho-acoustics at IRCAM
, although his work makes relatively little use of electronic means of sound production. In 1983 he founded the ensemble European Lucero in Paris to perform own his works, a variable ensemble consisting of soloists specialising in the techniques required for his music. In 1991 he founded the Lucero Festival.
In the mid-1980s Rădulescu was based in Freiburg
, Germany
, though for many years he retained an address in Versailles
. In 1988 he lived in Berlin on a DAAD fellowship, and in 1989-90 he was a resident in San Francisco and Venice as a laureate of the Villa Médici hors les murs scholarship. In the mid-1990s he moved to Switzerland, living first in Clarens and later in Vevey. He died in Paris on September 25, 2008.
supported him.
Rădulescu's spectral techniques, as they evolved through the 1970s and beyond, are quite distinct from those of his French contemporaries Gérard Grisey
and Tristan Murail
. His compositional aim, as outlined in his book Sound Plasma (1975; see Sources) was to bypass the historical categories of monody
, polyphony
and heterophony
and to create musical textures
with all elements in a constant flux. Central to this was an exploration of the harmonic spectrum
, and by the invention of new playing techniques to bring out, and sometimes to isolate, the upper partials of complex sounds, on which new spectra could be built.
The harmonic relationships in his music are based on these spectra and on the phenomena of sum and difference tones
. The opening sonority of his fourth string quartet (1976–87), for example, is based on partials 21, 22 and 43 of a low C fundamental; this is an example of what Rădulescu referred to as "self-generating functions" in his music, as partials 21 and 22 give in sum 43 and in difference 1, the fundamental. (On a C fundamental, partials 21, 22 and 43 are all different, microtonally distinct kinds of F, the 21st partial being 29 cents lower than tempered F, partial 22 being 51 cents higher and partial 43 12 cents higher.) Much of his music for strings makes use of a "spectral scordatura
", where the open strings are retuned, often to simulations of the partials of a single harmonic spectrum. For example, in Lux Animae (1996/2000) for solo cello or viola, the open strings are retuned to the 3rd, 4th, 7th and 11th partials of a low E.
Many of Rădulescu's later works derive their poetic inspiration from the Tao Te Ching
of Lao-tzu, especially in the 1988 English version by Stephen Mitchell: the titles of his second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth piano sonatas, and of the fifth and sixth string quartets, are taken from this source. The piano sonatas, as well as his Piano Concerto The Quest (1996) and other later works, make use of folk melodies from his native Romania, integrating these with his spectral techniques.
Spectral music
Spectral music is a musical composition practice where compositional decisions are often informed by the analysis of sound spectra. Computer-based sound spectrum analysis using tools like DFT, FFT, and spectrograms...
of composition.
Biography
Rădulescu was born in BucharestBucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, where he studied the violin privately with Nina Alexandrescu, a pupil of Enescu, and later studied composition at the Bucharest Academy of Music (MA 1969), where his teachers included Stefan Niculescu, Tiberiu Olah and Aurel Stroë, some of the leading figures of the newly emerging avant garde (Toop 2001). Upon graduation in 1969 Rădulescu left Romania for the west, and settled in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, becoming a French citizen in 1974. He returned to Romania thereafter several times for visits, beginning in 1991 when he directed a performance of his Iubiri, the first public performance of any of his mature works in his native country. (Rădulescu nonetheless commented that in the interim he had dedicated many of his works to a "virtual and sublimated" Romania) (Rădulescu, cited in Krafft 2001, 47).
One of the first works to be completed in Paris (though the concept had come to him in Romania) was Credo for nine cellos, the first work to employ his spectral techniques. This technique "comprises variable distribution of the spectral energy, synthesis of the global sound sources, micro- and macro-form as sound-process, four simultaneous layers of perception and of speed, and spectral scordaturae, i.e. rows of unequal intervals corresponding to harmonic scales" (Rădulescu 1993). These techniques were developed considerably in his music of subsequent decades. In the early 1970s he attended classes given by Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, 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:...
, 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"...
, and Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis was a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...
at the Darmstadt Summer Courses, and by Ferrari
Luc Ferrari
Luc Ferrari was of an Italian heritage but French born composer, particularly noted for his tape music.-Biography:...
and Kagel
Mauricio Kagel
Mauricio Kagel was a German-Argentine composer. He was notable for his interest in developing the theatrical side of musical performance .-Biography:...
in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
. He presented his own music in Messiaen's classes at the Paris Conservatoire in 1972-73; Rădulescu recalled that while Messiaen himself was sympathetic, later calling him "one of the most original young musicians of our time" (Rădulescu 199), some of the students were more reticent, not understanding his music's "colourful, dreamy, mystical" inclinations (Rădulescu cited in Krafft 2001, 48).
Beginning in the early 1970s Rădulescu's works began to be performed at the leading contemporary music festivals, including Gaudeamus (Taaroa, 1971; in ko 'tro - mioritic space, 1972), Darmstadt (Flood for the Eternal's Origins, 1972), Royan (fountains of my sky, 1973; Lamento di Gesù, 1975), Metz (Wild Incantesimo for nine orchestras, 1978; Byzantine Prayer, 1988) and Donaueschingen. From 1979 to 1981 he studied computer-assisted composition and psycho-acoustics at 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...
, although his work makes relatively little use of electronic means of sound production. In 1983 he founded the ensemble European Lucero in Paris to perform own his works, a variable ensemble consisting of soloists specialising in the techniques required for his music. In 1991 he founded the Lucero Festival.
In the mid-1980s Rădulescu was based in Freiburg
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In the extreme south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the Upper Rhine Plain...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, though for many years he retained an address in Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
. In 1988 he lived in Berlin on a DAAD fellowship, and in 1989-90 he was a resident in San Francisco and Venice as a laureate of the Villa Médici hors les murs scholarship. In the mid-1990s he moved to Switzerland, living first in Clarens and later in Vevey. He died in Paris on September 25, 2008.
Musical style and technique
From his earliest works Rădulescu's musical concepts, and the techniques he invented to realise them, were unconventional. For his final exams in Bucharest he composed the orchestral work Taaroa, named after the Polynesian god; this displeased his teachers, who found the idea mystical and even imperialist; only the composer Anatol VieruAnatol Vieru
Anatol Vieru was a music theoretician, influential pedagogue, and a leading Romanian-Jewish composer of the 20th century. A pupil of Aram Khachaturian, he composed seven symphonies, eight string quartets, numerous concertos, and much chamber music. He also wrote three operas: Iona , Praznicul...
supported him.
Rădulescu's spectral techniques, as they evolved through the 1970s and beyond, are quite distinct from those of his French contemporaries 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...
and 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...
. His compositional aim, as outlined in his book Sound Plasma (1975; see Sources) was to bypass the historical categories of monody
Monody
In poetry, the term monody has become specialized to refer to a poem in which one person laments another's death....
, polyphony
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
and heterophony
Heterophony
In music, heterophony is a type of texture characterized by the simultaneous variation of a single melodic line. Such a texture can be regarded as a kind of complex monophony in which there is only one basic melody, but realized at the same time in multiple voices, each of which plays the melody...
and to create musical textures
Texture (music)
In music, texture is the way the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition , thus determining the overall quality of sound of a piece...
with all elements in a constant flux. Central to this was an exploration of the harmonic spectrum
Harmonic spectrum
A harmonic spectrum is a spectrum containing only frequency components whose frequencies are whole number multiples of the fundamental frequency; such frequencies are known as harmonics....
, and by the invention of new playing techniques to bring out, and sometimes to isolate, the upper partials of complex sounds, on which new spectra could be built.
The harmonic relationships in his music are based on these spectra and on the phenomena of sum and difference tones
Combination tone
A combination tone, also called a sum tone or a difference tone , can be any of at least three similar psychoacoustic phenomena. When two tones are played simultaneously, a listener can sometimes perceive an additional tone whose frequency is a sum or difference of the two frequencies...
. The opening sonority of his fourth string quartet (1976–87), for example, is based on partials 21, 22 and 43 of a low C fundamental; this is an example of what Rădulescu referred to as "self-generating functions" in his music, as partials 21 and 22 give in sum 43 and in difference 1, the fundamental. (On a C fundamental, partials 21, 22 and 43 are all different, microtonally distinct kinds of F, the 21st partial being 29 cents lower than tempered F, partial 22 being 51 cents higher and partial 43 12 cents higher.) Much of his music for strings makes use of a "spectral scordatura
Scordatura
A scordatura , also called cross-tuning, is an alternative tuning used for the open strings of a string instrument, in which the notes indicated in the score would represent the finger position as if played in regular tuning, while the actual pitch is altered...
", where the open strings are retuned, often to simulations of the partials of a single harmonic spectrum. For example, in Lux Animae (1996/2000) for solo cello or viola, the open strings are retuned to the 3rd, 4th, 7th and 11th partials of a low E.
Many of Rădulescu's later works derive their poetic inspiration from the Tao Te Ching
Tao Te Ching
The Tao Te Ching, Dao De Jing, or Daodejing , also simply referred to as the Laozi, whose authorship has been attributed to Laozi, is a Chinese classic text...
of Lao-tzu, especially in the 1988 English version by Stephen Mitchell: the titles of his second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth piano sonatas, and of the fifth and sixth string quartets, are taken from this source. The piano sonatas, as well as his Piano Concerto The Quest (1996) and other later works, make use of folk melodies from his native Romania, integrating these with his spectral techniques.
Selected works
- Taaroa (1969) for orchestra
- Credo for 9 celli (1969)
- Flood for the Eternal's Origins (1970) for global sound sources
- Everlasting Longings (1972) for 24 strings
- in ko 'tro - Mioritic Space (1973) for 11 recitors, string orchestra, electronic and nature sound
- Capricorn's nostalgic crickets (1972/1980) for seven identical woodwinds
- Hierophany (1973) recitation in 42 languages with 42 children
- Wild Incantesimo (1978) for 9 orchestras, 162 players
- Lamento di Gesù (1973–75) for large orchestra and 7 psalteries
- A Doini (1974) for 17 players with sound icons (bowed vertical concert grand pianos spectrally retuned)
- Thirteen Dreams Ago (1978) for 11x3 strings –11 live with two pre-recordings (or 33 strings live)
- Doruind (1976) for 48 voices in 7 groups
- Do Emerge Ultimate Silence (1974/84) for 34 children's voices in groups with 34 spectrally tuned monochords
- Fourth String Quartet – "infinite to be cannot be infinite, infinite anti-be could be infinite" (1976–87) for 9 string quartets, i.e. 8 (spectral scordatura of 128 strings) around the audience and one in the center
- Outer Time (1980) for 23 flutes or 42 gongs or trio basso or two spectrally retuned grand pianos or 8 brass - 4 trumpets and 4 trombones
- Inner Time (1983) for solo clarinet; Inner Time II (1993) for 7 clarinets
- Iubiri (Amours) (1980/1) for 16 players & sound icons (if live, another 3 players)
- Clepsydra (1983) for 16 players with sound icons
- Das Andere (1983) for viola sola or cello solo or violin solo or double bass solo tuned in perfect fifths
- Astray (1983/84) for two duos: each of one player with 6 saxes & of one player with a sound icon - score on color slides
- Awakening infinity (1983) for large ensemble of 25 players
- Frenetico il longing di amare (1984) for bass voice, octobass flute, sound icon
- Dizzy Divinity I (1985) for (bass, alto or grand) flute
- Sensual Sky (1985) for ensemble: fl in G, cl., alto sax, trombone, sound icon, violin, viola, cello, double bass
- Intimate Rituals (1985) for 4 sound icons with or without other soloists
- "forefeeling" remembrances (1985) for 14 identical voices
- Christe Eleison (1986) for organ
- Mirabilia Mundi - music for the Speyer Basilica (1986) for 7 large groups - up to 88 players
- Byzantine Prayer (1988) for 40 flautists with 72 flutes
- Dr. Kai Hong's Diamond Mountain (1991) for 61 spectral gongs and soloists
- Second Piano Sonata - "being and non-being create each other" (1991)
- Animae morte carent (1992/95) for oboe d'amore and spectral piano
- Third Piano Sonata - "you will endure forever" (1992/99)
- Angolo Divino (1993/94) for large orchestra
- Amen (1993/94) for organ
- Fifth String Quartet - "before the universe was born" (1990/95)
- Piano Concerto "The Quest" (1996)
- Sixth String Quartet "practicing eternity" (1992)
- Fourth Piano Sonata "like a well ... older than God"" (1993)
- Amor medicabilis nullis herbis (1996) for soprano, clarinet and violoncello
- lux animae for violoncello (1996) or viola (2000)
- l'exil interieur (1997) sonata for cello and piano
- Fifth Piano Sonata "settle your dust, this is the primal identity" (2003)
- Cinerum (2005) for four voices and ensemble with period instruments
- Sixth Piano Sonata "return to the source of light" (2007)
Discography
- Intimate Rituals. Sub Rosa, 2006. Contains Das Andere, Agnus Dei, Lux Animae II, Intimate Rituals XI. Vincent Royer, viola, with Gérard Caussé, Petra Junken and Horaţiu Rădulescu.
- Lao tzu Sonatas. cpo, 2004. Contains Piano Sonatas nos. 2 (being and non-being create each other), 3 (you will endure forever), and 4 (like a well... older than God). Ortwin Stürmer, piano.
- Streichquartett nr.4 (infinite to be cannot be infinite, infinite anti-be could be infinite) opus 33. Edition RZ, 2001. Arditti Quartet.
- The Quest: Piano Concerto op.90. cpo, 1998. Ortwin Stürmer, piano, Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt conducted by Lothar Zagrosek.
- Sensual Sky op.62; Iubiri op.43. Adès, 1996. Ensemble Polychromie conducted by Nvart Andreassian.
- Inner Time II op.42. Auvidis, 1994. Armand Angster Clarinet System.
- Horaţiu Rădulescu. Adda, 1993. Contains Dizzy Divinity I, Byzantine Prayer, Frenetico Il Longing di Amare, Capricorn's Nostalgic Crickets II. Pierre-Yves Artaud, flute, Orchestre Français de Flûtes conducted by Horaţiu Rădulescu assisted by Pierre-Alain Biget.
External links
- Rădulescu official website
- 46th International Festival of Contemporary Music page on Horaţiu Rădulescu
- Last.fm Page for Horaţiu Rădulescu
- Interview by Guy Livingston at Paris Transatlantic
- Article by Mena Mark Hanna at The Oxonian Review
Sources
- Gilmore, Bob. 2003. "'Wild Ocean': An Interview with Horatiu Radulescu". Contemporary Music Review 22, nos. 1-2 (March–June): 105–22.
- K[rafft], N[athalie]. 2001. "Horatiu Radulescu: la composition des nuages". Le Monde de la Musique 255 (June): 46–49.
- Möller, Hartmut. 2001. "Trying to Understand Horatiu Radulescu's String Quartet op. 33: 'Infinite to Be Cannot Be Infinite; Infinite Anti-Be Could Be Infinite'". In The Ratio Book: A Documentation of The Ratio Symposium, Royal Conservatory, The Hague, 14–16 December 1992, edited by Klarenz Barlow. Cologne: Feedback Studio.
- Radulescu, Horatiu. 1975. Sound Plasma - Music of the Future Sign. Munich: Edition Modern.
- Radulescu, Horatiu. 1985. "Musique de mes univers". Silences 1:51–56.
- Radulescu, Horatiu. 1993. Liner notes for Horatiu Radulescu (Adda, 1993: see Discography).
- Toop, Richard. 2001. "Radulescu, Horatiu". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan.