Pascal Dusapin

Pascal Georges Dusapin (born 29 May 1955) is a French composer. His music is marked by its microtonality, tension, and energy.

A pupil of Iannis Xenakis and Franco Donatoni and an admirer of Varèse, Dusapin studied at the University of Paris I and Paris VIII during the 1970s. His music is full of "romantic constraint". Despite being a pianist, he refused to compose for the piano until 1997. His melodies have a vocal quality, even in purely instrumental works.

Dusapin has composed solo, chamber, orchestral, vocal, and choral works, as well as several operas, and has been honored with numerous prizes and awards.

Education and influences Dusapin, born in Nancy, studied musicology, plastic arts, and art sciences at the University of Paris I and Paris VIII in the early 1970s. He felt a certain "shock" upon hearing Edgard Varèse's Arcana (1927), and a similar shock when he attended Iannis Xenakis's multimedia performance Polytope de Cluny in 1972, yet he felt "une proximité plus grande" ("a greater closeness") to the latter composer. Because of his attraction to Xenakis's music, Dusapin studied with the composer at the Sorbonne in Paris, where he remained a student from 1974 to 1978. His classes with Xenakis included such subjects as aesthetics and science. Dusapin also studied with Italian composer Franco Donatoni, who was invited to the University of Vincennes (Paris VIII) in 1976.

While Dusapin's studies with these composers formed a foundation for his compositional studies—particularly for his understanding of sound masses—he developed his own musical language. According to I. Stoïnova, "Though attached to ... Varèse, Xenakis, Donatoni, Dusapin is nevertheless completely solitary because he is not only aware of his legacy, but also of the distance which separates him from his mentors: a creative distance of an aesthetic order and sensibility, a way of existing in sounds". He absorbed styles and ideas from these composers, then transformed them to fit his own musical needs.

Besides being influenced by composers such as Varèse and Xenakis who dealt with sound masses, Dusapin's music also shows the influence of other musical traditions, including jazz. In fact, he was once a jazz pianist, though up until 1997 he refused to include piano in his compositions. Beginning in the late 1980s with his piece Aks (1987) and continuing into the 1990s, Dusapin incorporated French folk music into his musical language. In Aks, commissioned by the Société des Amis du Musé des Arts et Traditions Populaires, Dusapin immediately quotes a folk-melody, but the rest of the piece is composed independently from the folk song. Dusapin's work from the 1990s further illustrates the influence of folk music through its frequent use of drones and use of restricted modes, though most often without obvious tonal centers. Other sources of inspiration include graphic arts and poetry.

Musical style

Instrumentation One way in which Dusapin stands out from other contemporary composers is through his selection of certain instruments and rejection of others. Unlike even Xenakis, he avoids the use of electronics and technology in his music. Likewise, he has removed the use of percussion other than timpani from his works. Until recently, Dusapin also rejected the use of keyboard instruments, despite the fact that he plays the organ As a possible reason for Dusapin's rejection of these instruments, Stoïnova suggests, "The scale and static timbre of the piano, as well as the noisy, uniform textures of percussion are incorporated with difficulty by Dusapin into his microtonal perspective which seems to define the very essence of his dynamic melodism." Stoïnova, however, wrote this article four years before Dusapin completed the Trio Rombach (1997), for piano, violin or clarinet, and cello. This piano trio was the first work in which Dusapin incorporated piano, Dusapin combines both micro-intervals and regular intervals into melodic lines so that the listener never knows what to expect next. Even so, Dusapin manages to make his use of microtonality feel completely natural. As Stoïnova explains, "The micro-intervals and the micro-glissandi ... in such instrumental works as Inside (1980) for viola, Incisa (1982) for cello, and many other pieces are, in effect, completely integrated as different by entirely 'natural' components in extremely supple melodic progressions". Instead of composing in this way, Dusapin seems to compose measure by measure, deciding what he wants to happen next when he gets there. This process slightly alludes to the chance-like aspect of aleatory music, but Dusapin's music is so precisely composed that it cannot truly be aleatoric. Stoïnova writes, "With regard to Dusapin's music we can observe a principle of auto-organization and complexity in the compositional system through the integration or assimilation of aleatory disturbances." In other words, Dusapin lets the music go where it will, often evoking aleatory idioms, while still notating everything and maintaining control of his music. He avoids repetition and rejects stability and redundancy in music, which is yet another distinguishing feature of his music.

Tension, energy, and movement Perhaps the most prominent and unique element of Dusapin's music is its built-in tension, energy, and sense of movement. Indeed, in his article on Dusapin, Julian Anderson cites the "enclosing tensions" and "explosive flight" as the two extremes of Dusapin's early music and claims that these idioms are what make the composer's music so highly individual. Stoïnova also emphasizes the energy that is present in Dusapin's earlier compositions, giving credit to Dusapin's use of extreme registers, flutter tongue, trills, micro-intervals, glissandi, multiphonics, rapid articulations, drastic dynamics, and continuous breathing. These unique features make Dusapin's music incredibly intense and demanding on its performers. In fact, the intensity is such that Dusapin consciously makes pieces like Musique captive (1980) have short durations (in this case, three minutes), for by their ends the musicians and listeners alike are completely exhausted. Paul Griffiths notes that Dusapin's works from the 1990s are more harmonically conceived than his previous music, and that they incorporate more folk traditions, including the use of drones and modes. He further suggests that Dusapin continued to simplify his music as he moved into the twenty-first century, and that while the composer still avoids diatonicism, he uses techniques like oscillating between two notes and constantly varying small patterns, which involve more repetition than his past music. a Strasbourg-based new music group founded by a singer and clarinetist. Ian Pace proposes that the influence of the group's clarinetist Armand Angster might be a reason for the prominence of the clarinet in much of Dusapin's music from this time period. Dusapin thus throws many musical ideas together, a concept that Pace relates to free jazz. The Arditti String Quartet recording of the piece can be heard on Spotify.

La Rivière (1979) and L'Aven (1980–81) La Rivière (1979) and L'Aven (1980–81) are two orchestral pieces based on ideas of nature that, according to Julian Anderson, show off the "more exuberant, violent side of Dusapin's style." Indeed, in this piece Dusapin aims to realize the "movement of changing speeds, of the strength of flow." Dusapin himself classifies the work as a "staged oratorio", rather than an opera or piece of musical theatre, and in it he once again avoids repetition and continuity and seeks to freely make textural connections. The solo soprano voice is pitted against the twelve voices of the mixed chorus, who serve a number of different purposes throughout the course of the work, sometimes extending the timbre of Niobé's voice, sometimes moving in relation to the text. Pugin views Dusapin's opera as a return to the "more fruitful" style of Niobé, and cites Dusapin's vocal pieces Mimi (1986–87), Il-Li-Ko (1987), and Anacoluthe (1987) as study pieces for the creation of his first opera, particularly for the setting of the French language.

In the composer's own words:

In the early 1990s I wanted to get away from the running times of between ten and twenty minutes that are invariably associated with commissions for orchestra. Since no one was offering me commissions to produce longer symphonic forms I decided to bide my time. I dreamt of an extended, complex form comprising seven autonomous episodes regenerating themselves from within, fertilising other possibilities, and proliferating on the interstices left open ..." and is the closest Dusapin has come to traditional symphonic thinking. The same year Dusapin was invited to Geneva in the framework of the Arts at CERN programme.

His most recent opera, Macbeth Underworld, premièred at La Monnaie in Brussels in September 2019.

Complete list of works

Solo instrumental Inside, for viola (1980) Incisa, for cello (1982) If, for clarinet (1984) Item, for cello (1985) Itou, for bass clarinet (1985) Ici, for flute (1986) Iti, for violin (1987) Indeed, for trombone (1987) I Pesci, for flute (1989) In et Out, for double bass (1989) Invece, for cello (1991) Ipso, for clarinet (1994) Immer, for cello (1996) In nomine, for viola (2000) Sept études, for piano (1999–2001) Imago, for cello (2001) Memory, hommage crypté et monomodal à Ray Manzarek for organ (2008) Ictus, for bass clarinet (2008–2009) In Vivo, for solo violin (2015)

Chamber Musique fugitive, for string trio (1980) Trois Instantanés, for 2 clarinets and 3 cellos (1980) String quartet n°1 (1982–1996) Poco a poco (1986) Sly, for trombone quartet (1987) Laps, for clarinet and double bass (1988) Neuf Musiques pour «Le Fusil de chasse», for clarinet, trombone and cello (1989) String quartet n°2 Time Zones (1989) Attacca, pour 2 trumpets and timpani (1991) Stanze, for brass quintet (1991) Ohimé, for violin and viola, hommage for Besty Jolas (1992) String quartet n°3 (1993) Ohé, for clarinet and cello (1996) String quartet n°4 (1997) Trio Rombach, for piano, violin or clarinet and cello (1997) String quartet n°5 (2004–2005) String quartet n°6 (2009), with orchestra String quartet n°7 (2009) Microgrammes, 7 pieces for string trio (2011) By the way, for clarinet and piano (2014) Slackline, for cello and piano (2015) Forma fluens, for violin and piano (2018)

Orchestra and ensemble Souvenir du silence (1976) Le Bal (1978) Timée (1978) La Rivière, for orchestra (1979) Musique captive, for 9 wind instruments (1980) Tre Scalini, for orchestra (1981–1982) Fist (1982) Hop' (1983–1984) La Conversation (1984) Treize Pièces pour Flaubert (1985) Assaï, for orchestra (1985) Haro (1987) Coda (1992) Seven Solos for Orchestra (1992–2009) Go, solo n°1 for orchestra (1992) Extenso, solo n°2 for orchestra (1993–1994) Apex, solo n° 3 for orchestra (1995) Clam, solo n° 4 for orchestra (1997–1998) Exeo, solo n° 5 for orchestra (2002) Reverso, solo n°6 for orchestra (2005–2006) Uncut, solo n°7 for orchestre (2009) Khôra, for string orchestra (1993) Loop, for 2 cello quartets (1996) Cascando (1997) Perelà Suite, for orchestra (2004) Morning in Long Island (2010)

Concertante Flute L'Aven, flute concerto (1980–1981) Galim, 'Requies plena oblectationis', for flute and string orchestra (1998) Cello Celo, cello concerto (1996) Outscape, cello concerto (2016) Violin Quad, 'In memoriam Gilles Deleuze', for violin and 15 musicians (1996) Aufgang, violin concerto (2011–2012) Piano A Quia, piano concerto (2002) Jetzt Genau! concertino for piano and 6 instruments (2012) Other Aria, clarinet concerto (1991) Watt, trombone concerto (1994) At Swim-Two-Birds, double concerto for violin and cello (2017) Waves, for organ and orchestra (2019)

Vocal Igitur (1977) Lumen (1977) L'Homme aux liens, for 2 sopranos and 3 violins (1978) Shin'gyo, for soprano and piccolo flute (1981) Niobé ou le rocher de Sypile (1982) To God, for soprano and clarinet (or saxophone soprano) (1985) Mimi for 2 women's voices and ensemble (1986–1987) Aks (1987) Red Rock, from «Roméo et Juliette» (1987) Anacoluthe (1987) For O., for 2 women's voices and 2 clarinets (1988) So Full of Shapes is Fancy, for soprano and bass clarinet (1990) Comoedia (1993) Canto, for soprano, clarinet and cello (1994) Two Walking, five pieces for two women's voices (1994) Dona Eis (1998) Momo (2002) Ô Berio, for soprano and 13 instruments (2006) O Mensch! (Inventaire raisonné de quelques passions Nietzschéennes), for baritone and piano (2008–2009) Beckett's Bones for soprano, clarinet and piano (2013) Wenn du dem Wind... (3 scènes de l'opéra Penthesilea) for mezzo-soprano and orchestra (2014) Wolken, for female voice and piano (2014)

Operas Roméo et Juliette (1985–1988) Medeamaterial (1990–1991) La Melancholia (1991) To Be Sung (1992–1993) Perelà, uomo di fumo (2001) Faustus, the Last Night (2003–2004) Passion (2009) Penthesilea (2015) Macbeth Underworld (2019) Il Viaggio (2022)

Choral Semino (1985) Il-Li-Ko (1987) Granum sinapis (1992–1997) Umbrae mortis, for mixed choir (1997) Disputatio, for children's chorus, mixed choir, string orchestra, percussion and glass harmonica (2014)

Recognition Dusapin has won the following prizes and awards: 1979 – Hervé Dugardin Prize (SACEM) 1981–83 – Scholarship holder at the Villa Medici in Rome 1993–94 – Composer-in-residence with the Orchestre National de Lyon 1993 – Prize of the Académie des Beaux-Arts 1993 – Prix du Syndicat de la Critique (Critics' Circle Award) 1994 – SACEM Prize for Symphonic Music 1995 – French Ministry of Culture awarded him the Grand Prix National de Musique 1998 – Victoire de la Musique in 1998 for a CD recorded by the Orchestre National de Lyon, and 'Composer of the Year' in 2002. 2007 – Dan David Prize (shared with Zubin Mehta)

In 2019, writers of The Guardian ranked Passion (2008) the 14th greatest work of art music since 2000, with Tim Ashley writing, "The score subtly alludes to Monteverdi and French baroque, but the sound world it creates is uniquely Dusapin's own: tense, quietly mesmerising and austerely beautiful."