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Alain Louvier |
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Born in 1945, Alain LOUVIER was a brilliant student at the CNSM and won 9 Premiers Prix among which : composition (T. Aubin), analysis (O. Messiaen), keyboard accompaniment (H. Puig-Roget), music history (N. Dufourcq), conducting (M. Rosenthal) and harpsichord (R. Veyron-Lacroix). Appointed director of the Ecole Nationale de Musique in Boulogne-Billancourt in 1972, he took interest in renewing the instrumental repertoire in music schools and commissionned numerous pedagogical works.
His knowledge of mathematics shows in his music which tranlates numerical series, algebraic curves and geometrical figures into sound. One of his special interest lies with keyboard technique which he has explored thoroughly - see Etudes pour Agresseurs or the Clavecin non tempéré, composed for spinet tuned in micro-intervals.
As a conductor, he has worked with various ensembles : Itinéraire, Ars Nova, 2e2m, Radio-France Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra of the Pays de la Loire, Paris CNSM Orchestra, Concerts Colonne and Concerts Lamoureux, and premiered numerous contemporary pieces.
Awards and distinctions: Premier Grand Prix in Rome (1968), composer in residence at the Villa Medici (1969-1972), Laureate of the Fondation de la Vocation (1966), Prix A. Honegger (1975), Prix P. Gilson (1981), Prix G. Enesco (SACEM) (1986). Appointed director of the Paris CNSM in 1986, he has also been teaching analysis since 1992.
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To me,"resonant" light is not just a theoretical expression... some intervals, certain keys seem to me to be bright with light. Small intervals - acting like acoustic prisms - break up that resonant light into a myriad vibrations of various speed. Whether sound- ot light-waves, very close wave-lengths generate similar phenomena : beats, interferences, diffraction rings ... the music of small intervals is a subtle rainbow with flickering facets...
As to the RING, it is a multiple symbol, a powerful tie that links together atoms of light, that connects ideas and themes by secret threads which musicians often - but improperly - call variations, cyclic forms, leitmotiv. The ring casts a spell. Like a rainbow, it draws a bridge between reality and the world of dreams to make them vibrate together.
Alain Louvier, about Anneaux de
Lumière (Editions Leduc)
(The Ring of Light theme is
the strating point of the Livre pour virginal -Virginal Book)
The idea came to me to write a concertante piece - rather than a concerto - with 24 flutes in the orchestra, divided in six quartets, each flute with its own part, using the 4 most common flutes. I did not want to use any of the rarest flutes, in order not to add yet another obstacle to the already problematic performance of such a specific ensemble. This being said, I have always been partial to somewhat unusual orchestras : instrumentally homogeneous orchestras, using one family or one kind of instruments only: some time ago, for instance, apart from the more traditional percussion ensembles, I wrote a flute quartet and a very short pedagogical piece for 17 cellos. Of all instruments which can add into homogeneous ensembles, I believe the cello is a wonderful example because of its tessitura and its possibilities, and so is the new family of flutes.
Alain Louvier, In Salabert-Actuel N°6, about Chant des Aires.
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Etudes pour Agresseurs for piano and harpsichord.- C. Ivaldi, A. Louvier, Disque Philips 6521.007
Çandrakâla, Shima - Percussions de Strasbourg, Disque Philips 6521.030
Canto di Natale, Et Dieu créa l'enfant - Maîtrise de Radio-France, Ensemble Itinéraire, Disque Erato / MFA STU 71514
Envols d'écailles for fl., va., and hp - P. Gallois, P.-H. Xuereb, F. Pierre, CD 3D Nº 3C88002
The complete harpsichord works (MFA) - L. Morabito, A. Louvier, Collection XXe siècle, derniers jours, Université de Rouen.
Quatre paysages - Trio Controverse, CD Triton TRI 331127
Chansons de France (arranged and orchestrated by Alain Louvier) - Maîtrise de Paris, Book/CD Gallimard Jeunesse 11435
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Etudes pour
Agresseurs, livres I-II : piano, III : harpsichord, IV : 2 pianos, V
: harpsichord and 11 strings, VI : organ (1964-1983)
Anneaux de lumière, 2 pno tuned 1/4 tone apart - 1 player.
(1983)
Canto di Natale, gregorian chant and 12 instr. (1976)
Trois atmosphères, cl. and orchestra (1974)
Envols d'Écailles, fl., va. and harp (1987)
Itinéraires d'Outre-Rêve, pno and ens. (1994)
Editions Combre : Concerto for viola and orchestra (1996).
Editions Salabert : Chant des Aires, solo flute and 24 flutes (1988).
