Michel Redolfi - Composer, creator of “Underwater Music”

edited April 2012 in Classical
Michel Redolfi is one of those "Where have this artist been all my life ?" artists (Barry Schrader is another) and this album will with no doubt enter my best of 2012 list.

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- INA GRM - 2012 - Previews @ Electrocd.com

- No reviews available atm.

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- "Born in Marseille in 1951, Michel Redolfi developed his sound creations in the United States where, at
of the age of 21, he was a guest resident of major studios : From Bregman Electronic Music Studio at
Dartmouth College (dir. Jon Appleton) to the University of Wisconsin studios, headed then by Daniel
Harris who became his musical partner to date.
In the mid 70’s Redolfi settled in San Diego, where the Center for Music Experiment (CME) at the
University of California funded his research in the field of broadcasting music in a liquid environment, a
field he would entitle, “Underwater Music”.
In 1981, he presented Sonic Waters in the Pacific, the first concert in history where music was
broadcast underwater for a large audience floating or submerged in diving suits.
The immediate recognition of this new form of listening led to other projects in the US, Europe and
Australia. Depending on the sites, Olympic pools, bays or lakes were chosen for their acoustic and
environmental qualities.
Beyond this aquatic theme, and using other media, Michel Redolfi explores situations in which sound
introduces a playful relationship with the listener. He has conceived permanent sound design for
French parks and museums (Parc de La Villette, Nausicaa Sealife Center, the Maeght Foundation,
Marineland, and Disneyland, Paris).
He also composed numerous electro-acoustic works for “speakers-orchestra” (Radio France
auditorium, Amsterdam planetarium, World Expo in Sevilla, etc.). Among several American musicians
who inspired him and joined him in concert and in the studio : Terry Riley, Jon Hassell, Steve Shehan,
Dan Harris, John Cage.
Michel Redolfi was the director of the International Music Research Center (CIRM) in Nice from 1987 to
1998, as well as the head of the MANCA Contemporary Music Festival in the same city.
In 2003, he founded Audionaute an independent production studio and a publishing label focused on
underwater music and related innovative systems. Audionaute was commissioned in 2007 to create the
sound design of the Nice tramway system that immerses the passengers aboard in a futuristic
smoothing musical environment.
His main works have been released on CD’s : In France (GRM, Radio France, Cezame) and on the
swiss collection Hat-Hut Records. In the US, alternative labels such as Asphodel and Silent Records
released selected tracks in ambient compilations. The iTunes Store will be carrying his “musique
concrete” titles for the fall 2009.
Michel Redolfi was awarded the prestigious Ars Electronica Prize in 1996. In 2006, he was nominated
for the Music Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale, where he performed one of his major underwater
concerts « La Citta Liquida».
In 2008, Walt Disney Pictures commissioned him for two underwater music concerts in Monte Carlo
(sea and pool) to launch the European press premiere of “The Little Mermaid 3”.

- http://www.redolfi-music.com/index_e.htm

Comments

  • edited January 2015
    - and on this stunning brand new album, Redolfi goes from Underwater, straight to Mars:
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    A Google translate from French:
    - "Music on Mars throws the listener in thirty years , the legendary red planet with compositions imagined to be experienced on site by future listeners who have traveled 50 million kilometers. A work of his fiction led by composer Michel Redolfi with the complicity of six adventurous soloists including instrumental and vocal range is already bordering unheard territories: Terry Riley,
    Thomas Bloch, Didier Malherbe, Pierre Chaze , Nelly Lacoste and Christoph Harbonnier ( Lightwave ) .

    A new space, new ways of listening and probably new music :
    The project aims Music on Mars today is to compose the music playlist to listen there tomorrow , in a Martian station or under a helmet on rides of discovery. The six soloists, including veteran of the current American music Terry Riley team up to imagine Michel Redolfi music possible group advancing to new artistic boundaries .

    Electroacoustic compositions early album evoke the journey to the Red Planet in a cinematic style (including a tribute to M
  • edited November 2016
    This one was previously released by INA_GRM in 1988.
    - Released in 2016 in the Sub Rosa Early Electronic Series:

    In 1987, Michel Redolfi hit the California Desert road during the Fall, to catch those hypothetical poly-sensorial desert tones. He visited the Mojave Desert, Death Valley, Palm Canyon and came back with an extraordinary album of early electronic music, sparse and bright to express the crude light and the divine silences.

    During the '80s and '90s he composed collaborative works with Luc Ferrari, Bernard Parmegiani, Pierre Henry and Jean-Claude Risset.

    As a resident of the United States from 1973 to 1984, he carried out his research with several new music centers, including the CME at the University of California in San Diego and the California Institute of the Arts. Also during this period he developed several collaborations with American composers.

    The natural elements highlighted by technology are a constant in Redolfi's catalog: many of his electroacoustic pieces stylize and orchestrate sound matter, and are recorded in remote locations as on Pacific Tubular Waves, originally released with Immersion in 1980 (REGRM 014LP, 2015) and Jungles (1997). He currently heads a major studio in sound design, Audionaute, based in Nice, France.

    He currently heads a major studio in sound design, Audionaute, based in Nice, France.




    - Very much recommended !
  • edited August 2019
    Time for a new chapter:

  • MICHEL REDOLFI: THE GHOST OF VICTORINE
    Commission from the City of Nice to mark the centenary of the Victorine studios, 2019
    Sound design and mixing Michel Redolfi - Orchestrations Samuel Brunel

    This mix is conceived as a sound tracking through the musical universes of emblematic films shot in the famous studios of Nice.
    During the open house in the fall of 2019, the book was permanently broadcast in the large Studio 1. A cinema for the ear, acousmatic and therefore invisible, giving a spooky life to films whose soundtracks are signed: Paul Misraki, Michel Legrand, Franck Barcellini, Georges Delerue, Narciso Yepes, Henry Mancini, Joseph Kosma.

    -Chant Nelly Lacoste - Jean-Christophe Laporte Saxophone - Samuel Brunel Digital Keyboards
    -Extracts from the original soundtracks: Children of Paradise, Lunch on the grass, And God created the woman. With the voice of François Truffaut.
    - Translation by Google.
  • edited November 2020
    michel redolfi - Le compositeur Michel Redolfi mne une dmarche  exprimentale  la fois dans le champ de la musique contemporaine et dans  celui du design sonore

    "Pooling with Matisse"  2019-20
    Audio installation for "La Piscine" by Henri Matisse

    Redolfi fills the space "La Piscine" de Matisse with fluid sounds, offering visitors an acoustic levitation within the exuberant figures that surround them. Music liberates and virtually animates the cut-outs to make them float among the visitors.

    The 360° sound merges with the brightness and depth of the space. Music undulates in slow and distant cycles, making the walls "move backwards" according to the theme of the 2020 exhibition.

    Michel Redolfi (1951) is the designer of underwater concerts for swimming pools. His immersive experiences allows him to share, « pooling », the Matisse theme.

    A permanent musical installation, commissioned by the Matisse Museum and the City of Nice.




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