Patrick Ascione

Patrick Ascione (Paris, France, 22 October 1953 - Calvados, France, 21 November 2014) is a French composer of electroacoustic and acousmatic music.

Patrick Ascione, janvier 2014, Auditorium St-Germain, Paris. Photo : Didier Allard ©Ina

Patrick Ascione, 2014. Photo Gaspard Ascione

Biography

Patrick Ascione (Paris, France, 1953) began composing in 1976 and shortly after joined the team of the Institut International de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges (IMEB, France) which he subsequently left in 1984. He approaches at the same time the composition by computer as the IRCAM (Research institute and coordination acoustics / music). He has pursued his activities independently and has produced a series of pieces, the majority of which have been commissions from the Groupe de recherches musicales of the Institut national de l'audiovisuel (Ina-GRM) in Paris (France).

He teaches the acousmatic composition to the Conservatoire of La Rochelle, based a course of electroacoustic music to the Conservatoire of Cherbourg in 2003 by means of the DRAC Basse-Normandie, and intervenes as trainer in the CeFEDeM of Normandy. He participates in international juries of competition of acousmatic composition in France and abroad.

Two distinct esthetic periods characterize his course of work: during the first, from 1977 to 1987, the composer placed an emphasis on the ties unifying acousmatic art and painting; ties arising from the use of a common permanent working surface which permits the painter to directly place his colors on the canvas just as the composer immediately captures sonorities on magnetic tape… He expressed this analogy and attempted to explore its ramifications in virtually all the works of this period (Métamorphose d’un jaune citron, 1978, Bleus et formes, 1981…).

In the second period, from 1987 to the present, following upon this initial preoccupation, he presented the idea of a ‘spatial polyphony’ (‘polyphony’ of spaces and not uniquely of sounds); he inaugurated this path in 1989 with Espaces-paradoxes composed for 16 tracks. The concert works thus developed have as their objective the mastering and integration of the spatial dimension of the piece from the very beginning of its elaboration in studio via adequate multi-track techniques.

A number of his pieces have been awarded prizes and mentions at various international competitions: Fontaines (La Défense/SACEM, France, 1978); Métamorphose d’un jaune citron (Bourges, France, 1979); Lune noire (Noroit-Léonce Petitot, France, 1989); Espaces-Paradoxes, (Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria, 1994). He was also a recipient of the ‘Léonard de Vinci Prize’ for Canada from the French Minister of Foreign Affairs (1991).

Recordings

• …Métamorphose d'un jaune citron (Cinéma pour l'oreille, MKCD 014, France, 1995)
• Polyphonie-polychrome (empreintes DIGITALes / INA-GRM, IMED 9522, 1995)
• Primitive ; Espaces-Paradoxes (Ina-GRM, INA_E 5012, France, 2002)

Compilations

• "Lune Noire" Prix International Léonce Petitot' (Coproduction Centre Noroit d'Arras et INA/GRM, France, 1989)
• "Métamorphose d'un jaune citron", (Cultures Électroniques, GMEB/CIME/UNESCO, France, 1996)
• "Primitive" 50 ans de Musique électroacoustique au GRM (Édition Teatro Massimo de Palerme, Italie, novembre 2001)
• "Lune Noire", A Storm of Drone (Asphodel, États-Unis, ASP 0966, 1995)
• "Divertissement" Cultures Électroniques (IMEB, France, 2003)
• "Primitive", in 50 ans de Musique électroacoustique au GRM (Édition Teatro Massimo de Palerme, Italie, novembre 2001)

List of Works (stereo, multi-track)

• "Soleil Baroque" (1977)
• "Fontaines" (1978)
• "Guernica" (1978)
• "Métamorphose d'un Jaune Citron" (1978)
• "Bleus et Formes" (1980)
• "À la Mémoire" (1980)
• "Orlanda" (1981)
• "Sur Champ d'Azur" (1984–86)
• "Valeurs d'Ombre" (1986)
• "Sonnerie de Pâques" (1987)
• "Aquarelle en Sol" (1987)
• "Lune Noire" (1987–89)
• "Suite Blanche pour les Temps Nouveaux" (1995)
• "Cet extrême silence des couleurs" (1996)
• "Quantique Musique" (1997)
• "15 août 1995" (1996)
• "Et puis l'oubli" (1998)
• "Boléro Picasso" (1999)
• "Divertissement" (2001)
• "Espaces-Paradoxes" (1989) First electroacoustic music in 16 real tracks
• "Arènes-Around" (1990) 16 real tracks
• "Chants Sphériques" (1991) 16 real tracks
• "Grands Ciels" (1991)
• "Couleurs d'espaces" (1993) 16 real tracks
• "Holophonie ou la baleine rouge" (1999–2000) 16 real tracks
• "Danse de l’Aube" (2000–2002) 8 & 16 real tracks
• "Énième" (2004) 8 real tracks
• "Barcarolle pour studio et bande" (2004) 8 real tracks
• "Figures de style" (suite of 5 « Ascionerie ») :
• "Ascionerie n°1" (2006) 8 real tracks
• "Ascionerie n°2" (2006) 8 real tracks
• "Ascionerie n°3" (2007) 8 & 16 real tracks
• "Ascionerie n°4" (2002–2007) 8 real tracks
• "Ascionerie n°5" (2009) 8 & 16 real tracks
• "Fantaisie diabolique" (2012) 8 & 16 real tracks
• "Opéra Diabolique" (2014) 8 & 16 real tracks

External links

• http://www.electrocd.com/en/bio/ascione_pa/
• http://www.cdmc.asso.fr/biographies/a_c/ascione.htm