Pioneering French music technology centre Ircam is finally arriving in Britain

Pioneering French music technology centre Ircam is finally arriving in Britain. Andrew Clements & composer Jonathan Harvey praise its radical spirit. Several digital techniques, which are taken for granted these days in electro-acoustic music, emerged from the Ircam lab in the first decade of its existence. It continues to come up with new techniques for extending the boundaries of a composer’s creativity. Several pieces heard regularly in the UK - rock and pop music and contemporary classical - use those innovations.

It has been over 20 years since Ircam showcased its activities in the UK. There was a series of concerts in the early 1980s devoted to its early achievements in London, conducted by Boulez. But it has greatly influenced the UK’s musical life far more than most music lovers realise. Jonathan Harvey was among the first British composers to conceive a piece using their hardware & software. He had mentioned: “I had conceived a desire for making an orchestra “speak”. The questions of why we’re the only species on the planet who speak, of how speech arose, of what role proto-speech plays - all these aspects informed my Ircam work. At Ircam, they’ve synthesised voices singing and, more importantly for me, speaking.”

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