Biography
Composer Jean-Claude Risset established himself early as an innovator in computer music while earning widespread recognition for both his creative output and his investigations into sound synthesis. Following studies in the sciences alongside lessons in composition and piano from figures such as André Jolivet, co-founder of Le Jeune France, he spent several years at Bell Labs in the late 1960s alongside Max Matthews, developing programs capable of replicating instrumental timbres and additional acoustic phenomena. In the early 1970s he introduced computer-based sound synthesis at Orsay, then extended those efforts during the mid-1970s to sites in Marseille and Paris, notably the Institute for Acoustic Music Research and Creation in collaboration with Pierre Boulez. Between 1975 and 1979 he directed computer-music activities at IRCAM before assuming research-leadership posts that included CNRS, where his contributions and related publications—including the 1969 catalogue of computerized sound synthesis—were honored with the Bronze Medal in 1971, the Silver Medal in 1987, and the Gold Medal in 1999. Additional distinctions comprised the Dartmouth Prize in 1970, first prize at the Bourges Digital Music competition in 1980, the Ars Electronica prize in Austria in 1987, the Grand Prix National de la Musique in 1990, Musica Nova Prague in 1995, and an honorary doctorate of music from the University of Edinburgh in the mid-1990s. Among his most enduring compositions, spanning several decades, are “Sud” (1985), “Aventure de lignes, Profiles” (1981), “Mirages” (1978), “Inharmonique” (1977), “Musique pour Little Boy” (1968), and “Fantasie pour Orchestre” (1963).
Albums
