Paul Méfano

Paul Méfano (March 6, 1937 – September 15, 2020), was a French composer and conductor.

Paul Méfano, nov. 2009

Biography

Paul Méfano was born in Basra, Iraq. He pursued musical studies at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, and then later at the Paris Conservatory (CNSMP), where he was a student of Andrée Vaurabourg-Honegger, Darius Milhaud, and Georges Dandelot. He completed his studies in Basel at the courses taught by Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Henri Pousseur.

He regularly attended the concerts of the Domaine Musical, as well as the seminars at Darmstadt, and enrolled in Olivier Messiaen’s class at the CNSMP. Messiaen described Méfano as "restless, intense, and always in search of radical solutions" (Pugin 2000, 15).

In 1965 his music was performed publicly for the first time, at the Domaine Musical under the baton of Bruno Maderna. From 1966 to 1968 he lived in the United States, and then in 1969 he moved to Berlin at the invitation of the German Academy of Cultural Exchange (DAAD).

In 1970 he returned to France, signed a contract with Salabert, and devoted himself to composition, to conducting, and to musical life in general. In 1972 he founded the Ensemble 2e2m, a group which he regularly conducted, and with which he has premièred more than five hundred works by young composers and with which he has made more than forty recordings. Amongst those younger composers are Stéphane de Gérando, Laurent Mettraux, Thierry Blondeau, Marc André, Michael Finnissy, James Dillon, Bruce Mather, and Claude Lefèvre, but he has also championed older composers such as Jean Barraqué, Brian Ferneyhough, Franco Donatoni, Luigi Nono, Aldo Clementi, Philippe Boesmans, Morton Feldman, Edison Denisov, and John Cage, as well as participating in the rediscovery of Charles Valentin Alkan and the Czech composers who were interred at Terezienstadt in 1940. He is the founder of the Editions du Mordant for the publication of contemporary music, and of the Editions Musicales Européennes (dedicated primarily to young composers), and he has produced a number of notable radio series (Drake 2001).

In 1972 he was appointed director of the Conservatory of Champigny-sur-Marne, a duty which he performed until 1988. He also was professor of composition and orchestration at the Paris Conservatory until 2002. One of his conducting students was the Canadian composer Claude Vivier.

From 1996 until 2005 he directed the Conservatory of Versailles.

The most important works of Paul Méfano are published and accessible at Babelscores.

In 2007, Paul Méfano became the director of the CLSI ensemble (Circle for the Liberation of Sounds & Images) with various musicians and composers like Gerard Pape, Jacqueline Méfano, Olga Krashenko, Lissa Meridan, Michael Kinney, Martin Phelps, Rodolphe Bourotte, Stefan Tiedje, Jean-Baptiste Favory.

Musical style

Méfano’s compositional style has evolved considerably from his early serial work Incidences (1960) down to recent compositions which make extensive use of microtones, such as Speed (2000). His early serial style is clearly under the influence of Boulez, but the ardour of his employment of these traits “confounds the crystalline, the mirror-like and with it all suggestion of musical geometry” (Pugin 2000, 15). He has an essentially poetic conception of music, reflected in a lifelong interest in poets and poetry (Pugin 2000, 16). This is manifested especially in his treatment of instrumental color and in his vocal writing. He also has a special feeling for drama, as manifested in La cérémonie. At the beginning of the 1970s he experimented with electronics (La messe des voleurs), and with its real-time combination with instruments. Though he has shown interest in the music of the spectralist composers, his own compositions are not at all similar, and today he is regarded as a "post-spectralist" composer (Pugin 2001, 38). Many of his works explore and develop contemporary techniques for the flute, such as in Captive, Eventails, Gradiva, Traits suspendus, or Ensevelie. His earliest works (Trois chants crépusculaires) maintain links with tonality, to which he returned in Micromégas. Since this work he has remained faithful to serial technique (Drake 2001).

Awards

He has been awarded the following prizes and honors:

  • 1971 – Prix Enesco de SACEM.
  • 1980 – Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite.
  • 1982 – Grand prix national de la Musique.
  • 1985 – Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres.
  • 1989 – Prix SACEM de la musique symphonique.

Catalog of works

Catalog of Works by Paul Méfano
Year Title Type of work Duration
1956 Evocations à l'usage des jeunes filles, for pianosolo (piano)03:00
1957Croquis pour un adolescent. 6 pieces for pianosolo (piano)00:15
1958Involutive, for clarinetsolo (clarinet)06:00
1958Trois Chants crépusculaires (Text by Paul Méfano) [I. Rivages: jamais entamés par le jeu - II. Toi, qui rêveur observe les flammes - III. Perçois-tu, humain le futur], for dramatic soprano and pianovocal (with piano)15:00
1959Estampes japonaises, for soprano and 10 instruments [I. Sur les vagues (Hitomaro, 681-729) - II. La Vague (Ninamato No Sanetamo) - III. Pluie (anonymous, 8th century) - IV. Dans la bise glacée (Ki No Tsurayuki, 883–946) - V. Dans un jardin (anonymous 12th century poet). There are 3 versions: a) light or coloratura soprano and ensemble - b) light or coloratura soprano and piano reduction - c) Transcription for flute (pic, bass fl) and pianovocal10:00
1959Danse bulgare n° 1, after Bartók version 1 (1959) - version 2 (1980): for string orchestraorchestral music01:50
1959Variations libres, after Bartók (version 1 (1959) - version 2 (1980) : for orchestre à cordesorchestra01:40
1960Incidences, for piano and orchestraorchestra-
1959Orchestration of Die jagd, excerpt from Romances without Words by Mendelssohn (revision for orchestra)orchestra05:00
1962Captive (cadence extracted from Madrigal), for flutesolo (flute)05:00
1962Lignes, noble bass and 15 instrumentsvocal (with instruments)15:00
1962Madrigal (Text after Paul Eluard), for 3 female voices or 2 female voices and countertenor, with small instrumental ensemble: fl, pno, hp, & 4percvocal (with instruments)18:00
1962Que l’oiseau se déchire (poem by Yves Bonnefoy), for voice, clarinet in A and 1 percussionistvocal (with instruments)
1962Mélodies, for soprano, mezzo-soprano or countertenor or contralto, and various instrumental ensembles [1. Nous avons erré longtemps (Omar Kayam), for voice and clarinet in A - 2. La Vague (Ninamato No Sanetamo), for voice and piano - 3. Que l’oiseau se déchire (Yves Bonnefoy), for voice, clarinet in A, and percussion - 4. Et l’unique cordeau (Guillaume Apollinaire), for voice, cl in A, trb, perc, pno, cb - 5. L’Infirmité du feu (Yves Bonnefoy), for voice and 10 instrumentsvocal (with instruments)20:00
1964–65Paraboles, soprano and ensemble (Version A (movements 1 to 3), for dramatic soprano and ensemble - Version B (movements 1 to 4, symphony orchestra)vocal & instrumental-
1966Interférences, for piano and horn soli and 10 instrumentsvocal (with instruments)12:00
1970La Cérémonie, oratorio (text by the composer), for soprano, countertenor, baritone, speaking choir and 3 orchestral groupsoratorio25:00
1970Old Œdip, "plaisanterie sonore" for reciter, actor, tape, electronics, and ring modulator vocal13:30
1970Intersections, electronic musicelectronic10:10
1972As you like it? Aleatoric piece for small variable ensembleinstrumental10-20:00
1972L’Age de la vie (poem by Paul Eluard), for soprano, horn, and harpvocal (with instruments)06:00
1972La Messe des voleurs, for vocal quartet, chamber ensemble, electronics, and magnetic tapevocal (with instruments)75:00
1972Signes/oubli, for 22 instruments divided into 2 groupesvocal07:00
1972N, for one flutist playing piccolo, flute, alto flute, and bass flute, with electronics, modulator, and magnetic tapesolo (flute)23:00
1974They (text: phonemes), for one singervocal (a cappella)03:00
1975Ondes (espaces mouvants), for 10 instrumentschamber music08:00
1976Placebo Domino in regione vivorum, motet for 6 mixed voices (S,MzS,A,T,Bar,B) on a text by the composervocal12:00
1976Eventails, for amplified bass flutesolo (flute)10:00
1976Mouvement calme, for string quartet or string ensemble (12 strings)chamber music07:20
1978Gradiva, for contrabass flutesolo (flute)24:00
1978Périple, for saxophone and electronicssolo (saxophone)06-10:00
1979Micromégas I, "action musicale" (after Voltaire) [rev. 1983–87 as Micromégas]opera
1980Traits suspendus, contrabass flute or bass flutesolo (flute)06:00
1980A Bruno Maderna, for solo cello, 11 strings, and magnetic tapechamber music20:00
1983-87Micromégas, "action lyrique" in 7 tableaux (after Voltaire)opera80:00
1984Scène 3, extract from the opera Micromégas (government commission, 1983) (Grand-théâtre, Metz)opera15:00
1984Douce saveur (poem by Nathalie Méfano), for bass, cor anglais, and tubavocal (with instruments)05:00
1986Tige, for saxophonesolo (saxophone)04:00
1986Ensevelie, for flute and synthesizer-controlled samplersolo (flute)10:00
1989Voyager, interlude for the opera Micromégas, for instrumental ensemble (17 instruments)chamber music15:00
1990Scintillante, for basson and electronics (MIDI-keyboard)chamber music07:00
1990Orchestration of Erwartung, orchestration by Paul Méfano and Michel Decoust, for soprano and 15 instrumentsorchestra30:00
1991Mémoire de la Porte Blanche, for pianosolo (piano)06:00
1992Asahi, for oboe and electronicssolo (oboe)06:00
1992Matrice des vents, for sho and electronicssolo (sho)35:00
1993Dragonbass, for bass, 2 saxophones, synthesizer and tapevocal (with instruments)15:00
1995-96Mon ami Emile, une interprétation des Valses de Waldteufel [1er cahier: Amour et printemps - Les patineurs - Violettes], for flute, clarinet, piano, and string quartetchamber music25:00
1995Deux mélodies, for sop., mezzo-sop., sax., bass cl., violavocal (with instruments)08:00
1997Trois chants 1958, for sop., 3 sax., 3 perc., and 3 cellosvocal (with instruments)10:00
1998Cinq pièces for 2 violinschamber music12:00
1998Mon ami Emile, une interprétation des Valses de Waldteufel [2nd collection: Roses et Marguerites - Valse de la poupée - Sirènes - Madeleine], for fl., cl., piano, harmonium, and string quartetchamber music35:00
1998Hélios, for alto flute and string triochamber music20:00
1999Alone, for violonsolo (violin)12:00
2001Tronoën, for cello alonesolo (violoncello)12:00
2003Jades, for flute, clarinet, guitar and 2 celloschamber music10:00
(n.d.)Etrange/arrêtée/seule froissée, for 2 fl., vl., vlc., & perc.chamber music09:00
(n.d.)...s'égrainent comme le vent, for voice, 2 fl., vl., vlc., & perc. (text by Paul Méfano)vocal (with instruments)09:00
(n.d.)Périple à 2, for 2 saxophoneschamber music05:00
(n.d.)Périple à 4 for 4 saxophoneschamber music06:00
(n.d.)Chanson pour les petits de 6 à 9 ansvocal03:00
(n.d.)Batro, for violin and cellochamber music08:00
(n.d.)Petit Batro for violin and cellochamber music16:00

Discography

Discography
WorkInterpretationCatalog number
Ondes (espaces mouvants)Paul MÉFANO vol. 1 (oeuvres 1974–1989)2e2m collection 1006
Placebo Domino in regione vivorumPaul MÉFANO vol. 1 (oeuvres 1974–1989)2e2m collection 1006
Mouvement calmePaul MÉFANO vol. 1 (oeuvres 1974–1989)2e2m collection 1006
A Bruno MadernaPaul MÉFANO vol. 1 (oeuvres 1974–1989)2e2m collection 1006
EnseveliePaul MÉFANO vol. 1 (oeuvres 1974–1989)2e2m collection 1006
VoyagerPaul MÉFANO vol. 1 (oeuvres 1974–1989)2e2m collection 1006
InvolutivePaul MÉFANO vol. 2 (oeuvres 1958–1972)2e2m collection 1007
Estampes japonaisesPaul MÉFANO vol. 2 (oeuvres 1958–1972)2e2m collection 1007
ParabolesPaul MÉFANO vol. 2 (oeuvres 1958–1972)2e2m collection 1007
InterférencesPaul MÉFANO vol. 2 (oeuvres 1958–1972)2e2m collection 1007
LignesPaul MÉFANO vol. 2 (oeuvres 1958–1972)2e2m collection 1007
Signes/oubliPaul MÉFANO vol. 2 (oeuvres 1958–1972)2e2m collection 1007
ScintillantePaul MÉFANO vol. 3 (oeuvres 1978–1993)2e2m collection 1012
AsahiPaul MÉFANO vol. 3 (oeuvres 1978–1993)2e2m collection 1012
Mémoire de la Porte BlanchePaul MÉFANO vol. 3 (oeuvres 1978–1993)2e2m collection 1012
DragonbassPaul MÉFANO vol. 3 (oeuvres 1978–1993)2e2m collection 1012
La Matrice des VentsPaul MÉFANO vol. 3 (oeuvres 1978–1993)2e2m collection 1012
Périple à deuxPaul MÉFANO vol. 3 (oeuvres 1978–1993)2e2m collection 1012
MadrigalM. Mesplé et I. Jarsky (soprano), A. Bartelloni (mezzo), Ensemble 2e2m (Paul Méfano) (Prix Charles Cros)CBS 76783
EventailsJ. Letroquer (bass flute) (Prix Charles Cros)CBS 76783
Ondes (Espaces mouvants)Ensemble 2e2m (Paul Méfano) (Prix Charles Cros)CBS 76783
GradivaPierre-Yves Artaud (flutes)Chant du Monde 480 LDX 78700
Traits suspendusPierre-Yves Artaud (flutes)Chant du Monde 480 LDX 78700
TheyVincentMunro CBS
PéripleDaniel Kientzy (saxophones)K7 Salabert SC003
PéripleDaniel Kientzy (saxophones)PAR5303
CaptivePierre-Yves Artaud (flute)STIL 0203 S84
Cinq estampes japonaisesPierre-Yves Artaud (flute), Jacqueline Méfano (piano)STIL 0203 S84
EventailsPierre-Yves Artaud (flute), Zanesi (electronics)STIL 0203 S84
NPierre-Yves Artaud (flute), Zanesi (electronics)STIL 0203 S84
MélodiesDorothy Dorow (S), Ensemble 2e2m, Paul Méfano (dir)Chant du Monde 480 LDX 78686

This article draws on material from the Spanish and French Wikipedias

Sources

  • Drake, Jeremy. 2001. "Méfano, Paul". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
  • Hirsbrunner, Théo. 2001. "L'intelligibilité du texte poétique dans la composition musicale", in Littérature et musique dans la France contemporaine: actes du colloque des 20–22 mars 1999 en Sorbonne, edited by Jean-Louis Backès, Claude Coste, and Danièle Pistone, 101–107. Strasbourg: Presses Universitaires de Strasbourg, 2001. ISBN 2868201768.
  • Pugin, Tristram. 2000. "Through the Spectrum: The New Intimacy in French Music (I)". Tempo 212 (April: French Music Issue): 12–20.
  • Pugin, Tristram. 2001. "Through the Spectrum: The New Intimacy in French Music (II)". Tempo 217 (July): 38–44, 47.
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