IRCAM
IRCAM is the abbreviation for Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique / Musique (German Research Institute for Acoustics / Music ). It is located in the Center Pompidou in Paris .
The composer Pierre Boulez , who played a key role in its founding, outlined the tasks of the IRCAM as follows: “You know by now that I am pursuing the plan to found a research institute in Paris, and not just for electroacoustics and electronics. but for research in all areas that concern the field of music and acoustics. "
history
The history of the institute is closely interwoven with that of the Center Pompidou , which, planned and realized as a comprehensive art and cultural center, opened on January 31, 1977. In 1978 the espace de projection , an experimental room with an area of 375 square meters and variable acoustic properties, was inaugurated. In 1992, Pierre Boulez became honorary chairman of IRCAM.
Statutes
The starting point of Boulez 'considerations was the criticism of the existing, his conviction that in electronic music up to now (especially under the pressure of commercial usability) only individual procedures ("tinkering") had been found more by chance than specifically researched:
“But these investigations remained isolated, as did the research of the broadcasters in general. In general, this research has always been carried out in institutions that were not designed for it. The broadcasters saw it as a matter of prestige to have electronic music studios whenever possible. But as soon as the television became voracious, these little studios were completely sidelined. In other studios, on the other hand, one is dependent on a university, a telephone company or another company in the electrical industry, i.e. on institutions that also do this for reasons of prestige and do not devote their energy fully to this research: they remain alibis, hobbies, pastimes. So it seemed to me necessary to no longer be dependent on institutions that have different points of view, different administrative principles and different commitments - also towards society. You need an institution that deals exclusively with this research and that is able to form the link between the other institutions, between the studios in universities, companies and broadcasters, and which concentrates all its resources on a well-defined goal . "
This results in the following statutes for the IRCAM:
- Theoretical reflection on the compositional possibilities of the electroacoustic material is in the foreground.
- The entirety of all procedures is to be researched systematically.
- Neighboring disciplines such as linguistics, information theory, communication science and musical analysis must be included in the considerations.
- Due to the scope of the research work, the research work can only be carried out by entire research teams (composed of composers, technicians and scientists) as a collective activity, while the composition of individual works or realizations remains an individual creative process.
- The new use of traditional means (for example in instrument making) must be encouraged and included in the deliberations.
- The research work should be carried out in financial and institutional independence.
- The IRCAM also takes on the task of coordinating research concerns from other institutes.
meaning
In addition to the Cologne studio for electronic music , the IRCAM is one of the world's leading institutions in the field of research into electronic music . The following composers have already worked at IRCAM: Hanspeter Kyburz , Barry Anderson , Klarenz Barlow , Francois Bayle , George Benjamin , Pierre Boulez , Marc-André Dalbavie , Jean-Pierre Derrien , Karlheinz Essl , Andrew Gerszo , Vinko Globokar , Georg Friedrich Haas , Arnulf Herrmann , York Höller , Werner Jauk , Tristan Murail , Thierry Lancino , Michaël Levinas , Tod Machover , Philippe Manoury , Isabel Mundry , Olga Neuwirth , Ichiro Nodaira , Michael Obst , Jean-Claude Risset , Kaija Saariaho , Émilie Simon , Morton Subotnick , Marco Stroppa , Karlheinz Stockhausen , Balz Trümpy , Alejandro Vinao , David Wessel and Trevor Wishart .
Technical developments
- 1978 4C digital sound processor
- 1981 Prototype of the 4X machine developed by Giuseppe di Giugno
- 1988 first version of Max
- 1993 FFT-1 by Xavier Roder and Philippe Depalle
- 1994 Development of AudioSculpt
See also
literature
- Pierre Boulez: The technology of Poésie pour pouvoir as a starting point for investigations in IRCAM. In: Pierre Boulez: Will and Chance. Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-7630-9024-X
- Jean-Noel von der Weid: The music of the 20th century. Frankfurt am Main & Leipzig 2001, pp. 258ff, ISBN 3-458-17068-5
Individual evidence
Web links
- IRCAM website (French)
- IRCAM media library (French)
- Overview of the works created at IRCAM
Coordinates: 48 ° 51 ′ 35.6 ″ N , 2 ° 21 ′ 5 ″ E