L'Itinéraire

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

L'Itinéraire · Ensemble l'Itinéraire is a French contemporary music ensemble based in Paris and one of the most important in Europe. It was founded in January 1973 by the composers Michaël Lévinas, Tristan Murail, Hugues Dufourt, Gérard Grisey and Roger Tessier. Lévinas is the son of the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. Many of the composers had studied at IRCAM.

Music and breakthrough

The ensemble is best known for performing spectral music. Spectral music changes tone colour by composing orchestral masses: the composer builds the sound from the properties of sound itself, rather than from melodies and chords. Since its foundation l'Itinéraire has worked with many composers and has brought hundreds of new works into being.

Influence

This search can be heard on the recordings. Saturne from 1980 is one of the early recordings, La conférence des oiseaux appeared in 1999, and there are records with work by Marc-André Dalbavie and Charleston from 2008. The ensemble showed how a small group of musicians could open up new sound worlds. Anyone who wants to follow the development of contemporary music since the 1970s will come across l'Itinéraire as one of the first groups to give spectral music a permanent place in concert life.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1980Saturne
• 1999La conférence des oiseaux
• 2000Ouverture pour une fête étrange / Les rires du Gilles / Concerto pour un piano-espace N°2
• 2008Charleston
• ?Marc-André Dalbavie

Mentioned in other articles

• Spectralism GenreIn Paris in 1973, Gérard Grisey and Tristan Murail founded the ensemble L'Itinéraire and began to investigate sound itself.

See also

• Spectralism