Gérard Grisey

Listening Guide.

Grisey was student of Messiaen, Dutilleux, Xenakis, Ligeti, and Stockhausen, and he trained at IRCAM. Along with Tristan Murail, he’s considered to be the founder of spectralism. In the second movement song from Les chants de l’amour, the beginning two-thirds of the music comprises an ostinato—a descending scalic figure sung by the 12-voice ensemble—over amplified overtone singing recorded on electronic tape. After a pause, the previous texture breaks down into sung vocal leaps over recorded breathing sounds with overtones amplified, ending with a flurry of vocal noises.