Contemporary Compositional Techniques and Open Music

Edited by Rozalie Hirs and Bob Gilmore

Contemporary compositional techniques and OpenMusic is co-published by Delatour and IRCAM as part of IRCAM’s Musique/Sciences series, in collaboration with Research Group Art Practice and Development of the Amsterdam University of the Arts.

The first part of this book contains an interview with Tirstan Murail and three essays on musical works of Claude Vivier, Tristan Murail, Jean-Luc Hervé, and Rozalie Hirs. The authors provide detailed analyses of these works, focusing on the frequency-based techniques and compositional processes employed by the composers.

The second part of the book contains a series of lectures and workshops given by Rozalie Hirs and guest professors Tristan Murail, Mikhail Malt, Benjamin Thigpen, Marco Stroppa, and Niels Bogaards at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam during the 2005/06 academic year.

The series was initiated by the Nieuw Ensemble and its artistic director, Joël Bons, as part of the annual Componistenpracticum. The Nieuw Ensemble and conductor Lucas Vis rehearsed and performed new pieces written by an international group of composition students from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Royal Conservatoire in the Netherlands. In turn, the students documented their creative process in the seven essays included in this volume. An extensive essay on Tristan Murail’s compositional ideas and frequency-based techniques originated in the lecture series given by Rozalie Hirs. It provides the most detailed discussion of Murail’s work available in English today.

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