An Interview with Tristan Murail

Abstract

11 Computer Music Journal, 24:1, pp. 11–19, Spring 2000 © 2000 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Tristan Murail was born in Le Havre, France in 1947. Following university studies in economics, Arabic, and political science, he entered the composition class of Olivier Messiaen at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris in 1967. Upon graduation in 1971, he was awarded the Prix de Rome. On his return to Paris, he founded the ensemble L’Itineraire with composers and former Conservatoire classmates Gerard Grisey and Michael Levinas. L’Itineraire soon became known as the starting point for an aesthetic movement known as spectral composition, its two main proponents being Tristan Murail and Gerard Grisey. In a nutshell, much of the material in a spectral composition is derived from the frequencies of spectra and their behavior. Tristan Murail has been involved with IRCAM since 1980 as a composer, researcher, and professor. In 1997 he moved to New York City, where he is a professor of composition at Columbia University. The following interview was conducted by telephone on 7 February 1999.