About Gérard Grisey

Gérard Grisey (born 1946; died November 11, 1998) was a French composer of contemporary music. He studied with Olivier Messiaen at the Conservatoire of Paris, where he obtained the Prix de Rome. In 1972 he attended Darmstadt summer courses taught by Karlheinz Stockhausen, György Ligeti and Iannis Xenakis. His music is often considered to belong to the genre of spectral music, although he later disowned the label in interviews and writings. Nonetheless, he spent much of his career exploring the spectrum of tone colour between harmonic overtones and noise. In addition, he was fascinated by musical processes which unfold slowly, and he made musical time a major element of many of his pieces. Major works include Vortex Temporum, Derives, Talea, Les Espaces Acoustiques (a cycle of six pieces for various ensembles of which Modulations and Partiels are the most famous) and Quatre Chants Pour Franchir Le Seuil.