Pascale Criton

Born in Paris in 1954 to parents active in the visual arts, Pascale Criton’s early musical studies included the clarinet and guitar. A composer with wide-ranging interests including free jazz and ethnomusicology, she studied musical composition with Ivan Wyschnegradsky, Gérard Grisey et Jean-Etienne Marie, acoustics at the LAM (Laboratoire d’acoustique musicale) founded by Émile Leipp, and took part in the activities of the Groupe de Recherche sur la Tradition Orale with Claude Laloum (Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, 1979).

Formative encounters of the 1970s include work with the Russian emigré microtonal composer Ivan Wyschnegradsky, who introduced Criton to his concepts of “pansonorité” and “continuum sonore.” Study with Gérard Grisey (beginning in 1976 after the premiere of Partiels in Paris) brought Criton into contact with the aesthetics of the “école spectrale” as well as the quartets of Giacinto Scelsi (whose music Grisey had encountered in Rome). Her interest in Wyschnegradsky led to an ongoing interchange with philosopher Gilles Deleuze, who found intriguing echoes between concepts in his own work—“chaos,” “planomène,” “plan d’immanence”—and Wyschnegradsky’s “pansonorité” and “continuum”¹.

Criton’s study of the ideas of Deleuze and Wyschnegradsky led to a university course in musicological research: a master’s degree with Daniel Charles at Université Paris VIII (1987), a DEA under the direction of Hugues Dufourt, a doctorate study at Ircam (1993), and a doctorat d’Etat under the direction of François Decarsin. Her research has been disseminated through numerous articles and lectures on musical aesthetics².

Between 1975 and 1980, Pascale Criton was a member of the Compagnie de Théatre Musical des Ulis, with Michel Puig, Michaël Lonsdale, Catherine Dasté, Edith Scob, and others. She directed various creative workshops: Université Paris XIII (1979-1981), Festival d'Avignon (1977-1978), Conservatoire de Pantin (1981-1982). Her experience with the stage continued as a composer for Productions Transcénic (dance / theater / music / audio-visual), notably the piece Ecrans Noirs, commissioned by the French government and premiered at Ecritures scéniques, Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris, 1982. She took part in the Darmstadt International Summer Courses in 1980 and 1988, and trained in electroacoustics at CIRM (Centre international de recherche musical, founded in 1968 par Jean-Étienne Marie, 1980-82). Her first microtonal work, Mémoires (1982), was commissioned by CIRM, and written for the 16th-tone piano pioneered by Mexican composer Julián Carrillo. Her training in computer music at Ircam (1986), led to the composition of Thymes (1987–88) for microtonal piano and synthesized sounds.

Since 1980, Criton has devoted herself to primarily to instrumental writing, introducing specifically tuned instruments (piano, microtonal guitars, strings, etc. in 1/4, 1/8, 1/12, 1/16 tones). As a composer attached to CIRM (1982-89), she received various commissions for her work on micro-intervals and later collaborated with Ircam’s Laboratoire d’Acoustique (1991-92). She founded the Association Jean-Etienne Marie (1990) and the Sysmis research group (1993). Consultant composer at Ircam (Département de la Recherche Musicale, 1989-1991), she has also collaborated since 1993 with the Laboratoire Ondes et Acoustique (Ecole Supérieure de Physique Chimie Industrielle, Paris). She also taught at the Ecoles Nationales de Musique in Le Blanc-Mesnil (1978-1995) and Saint Denis (1993-1995).

Criton’s music has been commissioned by governments, cities and ensembles. It has been premiered and performed in France and abroad: Centre Georges-Pompidou, Ircam, MANCA, MIDEM, Intermusica, Ars Electronica, Darmstadt, Institut Ijsbreker, Festival Archipel, Huddersfield Spring, IIIe Pianoforum (Heilbronn), American Festival of Microtonal Music (New York), Radio-France, and many others. Major commissioned works include Territoires imperceptibles (Ensemble 2e2m, 1997), Artefact (commande de l’Etat, Ensemble 2e2m, 2001), Objectiles (Radio France, 2002), Plis pour ensemble instrumental et captations (commande de l’Etat, 2007-2009, révision 2017), Wander Steps (Festival Messiaen au Pays de la Meije, 2018), Circa (GMEA, 2019), and Alter pour voix et orchestre (BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra & BBC Radio 3, 2022). Recordings include two monographic CDs, Pascale Criton (2003, Ensemble 2e2m, Assaï 222 482) and Infra (2017, Potlatch P317).

<sup>1. BAZIN, Paul. (2020). La pansonorité d’Ivan Wyschnegradsky et son héritage, Thèse de doctorat, Université McGill, 2020, p. 199 : https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/8910jz928↩
2. See the page “Ressources” for a complete list of the composer’s writings.↩</sup>