Jean-Claude Risset

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Jean-Claude Risset (March 18, 1938 in Le Puy, France) is a French composer of electronic music. He is a former student of André Jolivet and former coworker of Max Mathews at Bell Labs.

Arriving at Bell Labs, New Jersey in 1964, he used Mathew's MUSIC IV software to digitally recreate the sounds of brass instruments. He made digital recordings of trumpets and then studied their timbral composition using "pitch-synchronous" spectrum analysis tools, revealing that the harmonics of these instruments would differ greatly depending on pitch, duration and loudness. He is also credited with performing the first experiments on a range of synthesis techniques including FM Synthesis and waveshaping.

After the discrete Shepard scale Risset created a version of the scale where the steps between each tone are continuous, and it is appropriately called the continuous Risset scale or Shepard-Risset glissando.

He has also created a similar effect with rhythm in which tempo seems to increase or decrease endlessly.

[edit] Works by Jean-Claude Risset

Vocal music

  • Dérives, for choir and magnetic tape (1985) 15'
  • Inharmonique, for soprano and tape (1977) 15'

Orchestral music

  • Mirages, for 16 musicians and tape (1978) 24'

Chamber music

  • Profils, for 7 instruments and tape (1983) 18'

Solo music

  • Huit esquisses en duo, for piano (1989) 17'
  • Trois Études en duo, for piano (1991) 10'
  • Voilements, for saxophone and tape (1987) 14'

Music for solo tape

  • Songes (1979) 10'
  • Trois Mouvements newtoniens, for tape (1978) 13'

[edit] Bibliography

Portrait polychrome n°2 : Jean-Claude Risset, INA/CDMC Publisher, 2001 (ISBN : 2-86938-177-8)

[edit] External links

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