Born in Paris in 1932, the great experimental composer Éliane Radigue was once primarily known for her work with electronics and tape. However, shortly after the turn of the century, she focused her attention on acoustic instruments and hasn’t looked back. Her latest is a 44-minute composition for organ played by Frédéric Blondy in London’s Union Chapel on an organ built in 1877 by “Father” Henry Willis. It is the first release from Organ Reframed in connection with the festival of the same name curated by Claire M Singer that’s dedicated to pushing the boundaries of new music and cross-collaboration for organ. Released on CD and digital, Occam XXV is available now.
Releasing her first work for organ at 90 years of age, Éliane Radigue is aptly described as creatively indefatigable. Those who’ve watched the recent woman-focused electronic music documentary Sisters With Transistors will likely recall her importance in the experimental scheme of things, but for folks unfamiliar with that film and Radigue, a little background is in order.
Studying electroacoustic music techniques (aka musique concrète) at the Studio d’essai at the RTF in Paris in 1957-’58, Radigue’s instructors were the pioneering composers Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry; jump forward a decade, and Radigue worked for roughly two years as Henry’s assistant at Studio Apsome.
In the 1970s she began experimenting with synthesizers, eventually focusing almost exclusively on the ARP 2500, at least until she shifted attention to acoustic instruments, composing Elemental II for electric bass in 2001 at the request of bassist-composer Kasper T. Toeplitz. Additional works followed, and in 2011, Radigue debuted the Occam series, which is named after philosopher and theologian William of Ockham, he of the problem-solving concept Occam’s razor.
In short, Occam’s razor posits that simple is better-less is more, and the relationship to Radigue’s music is clear as crystal. Occam XXV can be considered abstract, but it’s never chaotic. Instead, its sustained tones hover between tenseness and calm, the work sharing the same basic principles of Drone music while simultaneously dashing expectations as a piece for organ. Indeed, for much of its duration, Occam XXV’s resonances are more evocative of electronic instrumentation. That there is no manipulation involved is all the more impressive. Radigue is the composer, Frédéric Blondy is the player, and that’s it.
This is Blondy’s second collaboration with Radigue, the first being his role as conductor for Occam Océan I for large ensemble on September 5, 2015. Occam XXV was performed, exactly once, on October 13, 2018 at the Organ Reframed Festival in London. The subsequent recording heard on this CD took place on January 8, 2020.
Prior to attending Bordeaux National Conservatory, where he studied piano, harmony, analysis, and composition, Blondy began as a jazz pianist (and before that studied mathematics and physics at Bordeaux University). He’s played with variety of contemporary avant-gardists, is the artistic director of the Orchestra of New Musical Creation, Experimentation and Improvisation (ONCEIM), and has composed for film, video and dance.
Blondy’s level of experience shines through in this recording of a piece where discipline is an absolute must, his attentiveness to Radigue’s creative vision elevating Occam XXV to the level of the sublime.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A
