Éliane Radigue
Today we’re listening to and remembering Éliane Radigue, a French composer and electronic musician from Paris. She was born there in 1932 and took piano lessons as Germany occupied France. In the ‘50s she heard musique concrète on the radio, which thrilled her and led to her apprenticeship with its inventor Pierre Schaeffer.1 Radigue experimented with tape looping and editing, and then upon moving to New York in the ‘70s fell in love with the ARP 2500 modular synthesizer.2 Following a three-year break from music during which she studied Tibetan Buddhism, she embarked on the yearslong process of composing her magnum opus, Trilogie De La Mort. Released in 1998, its nearly three hours of sustained, overlapping notes allow listeners to find immense complexity and richness in subtle modulations and harmonic intervals. Radigue passed away last week at age 94.
Trilogie De La Mort - Éliane Radigue (168m, no vocals)
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We wish you a great start to your week.
Thanks for featuring an early electronic music composer/creator. Sitting with this one is interesting - an hour of deep listening would be a challenge. But as something to check in on while doing other things - that is feasible. It has surprisingly warm stretches.