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> Philippe Leroux's biography - Works - Discography

Born on the 24th September 1959 in Boulogne sur Seine (France), Philippe Leroux graduated from Paris Conservatoire Supérieur where he studied with Iva Malec, Claude Ballif, Pierre Schaeffer and Guy Reibel. In parallel, he also studied with Olivier Messiaen, Franco Donatoni, Betsy Jolas, Jean-Claude Eloy and Iannis Xenakis.

Composer-in-residence at the Villa Medicis (1993-1995), he has written some 40 pieces which encompass several genres : symphonic, electro-acoustic, electronic and chamber music.

A regular guest at various festivals in France and abroad: Donaueschingen, Présences de Radio France, Bath, Agora, Roma-Europa, Nuove Synchronie (Milan), Musica, Stockholm ISCM, Barcelona, Musiques en Scènes (Lyon, France), Manca, Bergen, Tempo (Berkeley), BBC Symphony Orchestra, among others... He has also been commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture, Radio France Symphonic orchestra, Südwestfunk Baden-Baden, INA-GRM, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, Ensemble Intercontemporain, IRACM, Ensemble Icare, Festival Musica, BIT 20 and several other French and foreign institutions.

In 1994, was awarded the Hervé Dugardin Prize. In 1996, his piece (d’)Aller was nominated “best contemporary composition of the year”. In 2003, he received the SACEM award.

He has written numerous articles on contemporary music, given lectures and taught composition courses at Bergen Grieg Academy, Columbia University (New-york), Berkeley Université (California), Fondation Royaumont, IRCAM, the American Conservatoire in Fontainebleau, the Paris and Lyon Conservatoires Supérieurs, among others.

Continuo(ns) was the subject of a study published by l’Harmattan.

Philippe Leroux teaches composition (music electronic) at IRCAM.

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Wether written for chamber music groups or larger instrumental ensembles, Philippe Leroux’s pieces - ever since Air-Ré (1992) - display common characteristics which, were one to spot them all out, would add up to form an unmistakable and instantly identifiable style. Apparently indifferent to the concept of silence as the expression of vacuity, Leroux’s music makes sound itself its very essence - not in a contemplative or dramatic manner, but always in movement. This perpetual flux (give Heraclitus his due) speaks of the appearing and disappearing of sound, but mostly of the necessary nurturing process that allows it to evolve (1). This music may go for velocity over virtuosity - yet it is not without risk. More interested in intervals than in pitches or particular notes, it surrenders to the playful, almost mischievous, interplay of combinaisons - music morphing ad infinitum - but never at the expense of its performers, whom it intend to glorify. Music that is persistent, persevering (2).

Philippe Leroux has tackled almost every musical genre. The pieces he dedicated to the training of instrumentalists are little stories - myths, miniature legends telling the origin of sounds. His electro-acoustic composition betray an appetite for sonic matter. That would most likely explain where the urge to explore sound came from (3). Few of his contemporary fellow-composers have worked with the voice as he has - we will come back to that later.

Three of his latest compositions will help understand his most recent evolution. First of all : M, a festive ouverture, in which the imminence of joy is almost palpable, in which retoric flirts with gallantry, harmonious and invigorative in any case. The play on the process is so naturally interwoven in the whole thing that it is almost forgotten.

Then comes Plus loin whose instrumentation allows for expansion of the musical substance and an increased thickening of the layering process: a new way of expressing time. Contemplation affirms itself, although in a hurry, accompanied by sudden - and often violent - starts, hitherto unexpected.

Third and last : Voi(rex). Voice is here pure material - indeed, the piece never ceases to introduce new ways of singing - but never at the expense of the meaning of the poem. A rare achievement: creating space, setting up the stage, calling drama into existence by the sole use of tools which could have been considered neutral, Philippe Leroux gives life to compositional models, strategies and process.

Dominique DRUHEN

1. Always expressed clearly, since they are deducted from the very characteristics of the substance itself.
2. The composer’s utterance at the end of Voi(rex) : “Yet work goes on towards the unfinished” is reminiscent of the titles of the trilogy pieces, which together from the motto: “Continuons d’aller plus loin” (Let’s keep going further).
3. Philippe Leroux is somewhat of an oddity among his contemporary fellow composers - the improbable offspring of Schaeffer’s roughness ans Boulez’ scintillation, as it were.