Philippe Manoury
*1952, Tulle (France)
Work
Soubresauts for Solo Flute
- 00:00 Start Pierre Boulez as a source of inspiration
- 01:18 The continuing influence of Boulez’s musical thought
- 02:15 Proliferating musical ideas: the genesis of Soubresauts
- 03:29 Emmanuel Pahud performing in the Pierre Boulez Saal
Born in Tulle, France, in 1952, Philippe Manoury took his first self-taught steps in composing while training as a pianist during his childhood. He later studied composition with Max Deutsch, Gérard Condé, Michel Philippot, and Ivo Malec, while the works of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Iannis Xenakis, and Pierre Boulez were a major influence during his early years. His works have been performed at major festivals for contemporary music since he was 19 years old; his international breakthrough came with the piano piece Cryptophonos, premiered by Claude Helffer in 1974. Following a brief period teaching at several universities in Brazil, an interest in the possibilities of electronic music led him to IRCAM in Paris, where he collaborated with the mathematician Miller Puckette on the development of MAX-MSP, a coding language that allows for the integration and interaction of acoustically and electronically produced sound in real time and is still used widely today. This research led to the creation of works such as Zeitlauf for choir, ensemble, synthesizer, and tape (1982) and the groundbreaking cycle Sonus ex machina (1987–91). Philippe Manoury’s oeuvre includes large-format orchestral works such as Sound and Fury, premiered by Pierre Boulez and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1999, Abgrund (2007–09), and the “Cologne Trilogy” (In situ, Ring, and Lab.Oratorium), written for the Gürzenich Orchestra and its music director François-Xavier Roth between 2013 and 2019; solo and chamber works; pieces for solo instrument and ensemble such as the flute concerto Saccades, written for Emmanuel Pahud; and music theater works, including Kein Licht on a text by Elfriede Jelinek, premiered in a production by Nicolas Stemann at the 2007 Ruhrtriennale festival. Philippe Manoury has held artistic and educational positions with several leading musical institutions, among them the Ensemble intercontemporain, Orchestre de Paris, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, University of California San Diego, and the Collège de France. Since 2015 he has been leading an academy for young composers at the Musica Festival in Strasbourg. At the Pierre Boulez Saal, his string quartet Fragmenti and his completion of Pierre Boulez’s Livre pour quatuor have been heard in previous seasons.