Marc-André Dalbavie

[Sylph]

Marc-André Dalbavie (born February 10, 1961 at Neuilly-sur-Seine) is a French composer. He had his first music lessons at age 6 and later studied at the Conservatoire de Paris. In 1985 he joined the research department of IRCAM where he studied digital synthesis, computer assisted composition and spectral analysis. In the early 1990s he moved to Berlin. Currently he lives in the town of St. Cyprien and teaches orchestration at Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris.

In 1994 he was awarded the Rome Prize. The same year he was one of three composers who won the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize. In 1998, the Cleveland Orchestra appointed him the composer-in-residence (a Daniel Lewis Fellow) for two years. In 2004, he was made a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.

Source: Wikipedia

Publisher page: Gerard Billaudot Editeur

[petrarch]

His Diadèmes and Seuils are works that I've liked a lot for more than a decade now. Typical writing in the french tradition with the twist of spectralism thrown in. Very enjoyable.

[CRCulver]

Dalbavie's music is full of fine hooks and is competently orchestrated. I've yet to hear a Dalbavie piece I didn't like. Still, his music just doesn't seem that deep to me. I think he's a lightweight composer. Nothing wrong with that, and there's always a place for that kind of music on concert programmes, but I do wonder how much staying power his music has.

Incidentally, for anyone who likes the Piano Concerto on EMI performed by Andsnes, check out the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center disc in Deutsche Grammophon's concert series. It features his piece Axiom which shares material with the concerto and is a lot of fun.

[Sylph]

Dalbavie says that what he always wanted to compose was opera. Now he is searching for a librettist and if the right one comes along, an opera will be born. That could be interesting.

Until then, I'd love to hear more of his purely orchestral works.

[Sylph]

I spoke too soon!

His opera Gesualdo, with a libretto by R. Millet, will be premiered in Opernhaus Zürich on October 9th, 2010.

[Sylph]

And Gesualdo was in Zürich:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/arts/20iht-loomis20.html

[bhodges]

Thanks, Sylph, for posting this, which I somehow missed when it was originally published. (As well as somehow missing this entire thread!)

I'm a big fan of Dalbavie, ever since hearing Boulez and Cleveland do the U.S. premiere of Concertate il suono at Carnegie in 2004. Fascinating piece, that I haven't heard since. (And I don't seem to have many Dalbavie recordings--have to fix that.)

I did hear the Eschenbach recording of Colors and the Violin Concerto--liked both a lot.

--Bruce

[snyprrr]

His Diadèmes and Seuils are works that I've liked a lot for more than a decade now. Typical writing in the french tradition with the twist of spectralism thrown in. Very enjoyable.

I've had other cds in that outrageous series,... I remember agonizing over whether to get the Dalbavie. That series really just has a lot of interesting stuff, no?

[petrarch]

Dalbavie's music is full of fine hooks and is competently orchestrated. I've yet to hear a Dalbavie piece I didn't like. Still, his music just doesn't seem that deep to me. I think he's a lightweight composer.

I agree with this; his music is pleasant and doesn't feel demanding at all. A kind of ear-candy, if you will. That sort of effortlessness reminds me superficially of Mozart.

[petrarch]

I've had other cds in that outrageous series,... I remember agonizing over whether to get the Dalbavie. That series really just has a lot of interesting stuff, no?

Indeed, I have half a dozen or so titles, all have an aura of having been carefully put together, all the way from performance, to recording, to liner notes.

[snyprrr]

Indeed, I have half a dozen or so titles, all have an aura of having been carefully put together, all the way from performance, to recording, to liner notes.

Do you where one can see them all together?

[petrarch]

Do you where one can see them all together?

There is a catalogue page on the IRCAM site, but it is incomplete, unfortunately. I guess the older titles are no longer available.

[Sylph]

Are you talking about a works catalogue or a discography catalogue?

Boulez will conduct Concertate il suono in September in Lucerne.

[petrarch]

Are you talking about a works catalogue or a discography catalogue?

I was talking about the discography catalogue, specifically the Compositeurs d'aujourd'hui series.

[BALCONY]

A previous commentator was searching for a masterpiece and I think I've found two.  I highly recommend the recording containing three fantastic "spacialized" orchestral works:  Concertate il suono, Antiphonie, and The Dream of the Unified Space.  (Available as a download on Amazon).  All are wonderful, but for several reasons the Concertate il Suono stands out, and it shouldn't be missed. Dalbavie has a way of propelling you on quite a journey.  The final five minutes of the Concertate will astound you with its accelerating, swirling momentum and percolating textures. In the work's final section, part of the orchestra repeatedly tosses out an insistent chattering pattern, which is answered each time by the four horns (located BEHIND the audience), playing a repeated chord in diminishing volume. The result is an extraordinary sort of doppler effect which is truly ravishing. Having examined the score, I am in awe of Dalbavie of as an orchestrator. That use of horns, and more, helps to qualify this work as a masterpiece.  I've been kicking myself that I missed this piece at Carnegie Hall a few years ago.  Please also check out the CD containing "Color" and the Violin Concerto.  The fast central section of "Color" is superb.  And I nominate the Violin Concerto as the second masterpiece.

[jlaurson]

Notes from the 2014 Salzburg Festival ( 15 )
Charlotte Salomon • Marc-André Dalbavie



http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2014/08/notes-from-2014-salzburg-festival-14.html

[San Antone]

Quartet for Piano and Strings (2012)

https://www.youtube.com/v/6UhEPPq1Jrs

Music starts at 2:00 in, after an intro by Jimmy Lin, director of the La Jolla Music Society.