Joël-François Durand (born 17 September 1954) is a
French composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and def ...
.
Biography
Born in
Orléans
Orléans (,["Orleans"](_blank)
(US) and [mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...]
, music education and
piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, then
composition
Composition or Compositions may refer to:
Arts and literature
*Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography
* Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...
with
Brian Ferneyhough
Brian John Peter Ferneyhough (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer. Ferneyhough is typically considered the central figure of the New Complexity movement. Ferneyhough has taught composition at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and ...
in
Freiburg im Breisgau
Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...
, Germany (1981–84), and at
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...
, New York, with Arel and Semegen (1984–86) . Between 1979 and 1984 he attended masterclasses by
György Ligeti
György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde music, avant-garde composers in the latter half of the ...
and
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental music, experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia (Berio), Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Seque ...
at the Centre Acanthes in Aix-en-Provence, and with
Luigi Nono
Luigi Nono (; 29 January 1924 – 8 May 1990) was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music.
Biography
Early years
Nono, born in Venice, was a member of a wealthy artistic family; his grandfather was a notable painter. Nono bega ...
at the Freiburg Musikhochschule. In 1981–82 he was awarded a scholarship from the DAAD (
German Academic Exchange Service
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD; ), founded in 1925, is a joint organization of German universities and student bodies to foster their international relations. Since 1 January 2020, the president has been Joybrato Mukherjee.
Organisa ...
) . In 1982 he received a Darmstadt Institute Scholarship for his String Trio, and in 1983 his piano piece ''...d'asiles déchirés...'' was awarded a prize at the Third International K.H. Stockhausen Composition Competition in Brescia, Italy. He left Europe in 1984 to pursue a
PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in
Composition
Composition or Compositions may refer to:
Arts and literature
*Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography
* Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...
(awarded in 1988) at
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...
(USA), where he studied composition with
Bülent Arel and electronic music with
Daria Semegen.
Durand was awarded scholarships from the
Fulbright Foundation (1984) and from the
French Ministry of Culture
The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...
(1985). He received the ''Kranichsteiner Musikpreis'' from the Darmstadt Internationalen Ferienkurse in 1990. He was appointed assistant professor in composition at the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
in 1991, and was invited to teach at the
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...
in the autumn of 1992 . During the 1980-90s, he was regularly invited as a lecturer at the summer courses at
Darmstädter Ferienkurse
Darmstädter Ferienkurse ("Darmstadt Summer Course") is a regular summer event of contemporary classical music in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany. It was founded in 1946, under the name "Ferienkurse für Internationale Neue Musik Darmstadt" (Vacation Co ...
. He taught at the annual mastercourse at the Fondation Royaumont in France in 1993. He is currently Professor of Composition , and since 2002 Associate Director of the University of Washington School of Music .
In parallel to his activity as composer, Durand designs and manufactures high-end tonearms for record players. He founded the company Durand Tonearms LLC in 2009.
Works
;Orchestral works
* Piano Concerto (1993) – 22'
* ''Five Musical Tales'' (1998) – 14'
* ''Athanor'' (2000–2001) – 20'
* ''Le Tombeau de Rameau III'' (2014) – 16'
*''Tropes de : Bussy'' (2017–18) – 25'
;Chamber music and works for ensemble
* String Trio (1981) – 7'
* ''So er'' (1985) for 20 instruments – 11'
* ''Lichtung'' (1987) for 10 instruments – 12'
* ''Die innere Grenze'' (1988) for string sextet – 25'
* ''Un feu distinct'' (1991) for
flute
The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
,
clarinet
The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell.
Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...
, piano,
violin
The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
and
cello
The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...
– 15'
* ''B.F., ein Mittelpunkt'' (1992) for 8 instruments – 3'
* ''La terre et le feu'' (1999) for
oboe
The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites.
The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...
and ensemble – 18'
* ''La mesure des choses III. La mesure de la terre et du feu'' (1999) for oboe and viola – 12'
* ''Cinq Duos'' (1999) for violin and viola – 14'
* ''In the mirror land'' (2003) for flute and oboe; also versions for flute and B clarinet and for B clarinet and oboe – 6'
* ''Ombre/Miroir'' (2004) for flute and 14 instruments – 14'
* String Quartet (2005) – 21'
* ''Le Tombeau de Rameau'' (2008) for flute, viola, and harp – 23'
* ''Hermetic Definition'' (2012–13) for 10 instruments – 25'
* ''Cage 100 Party Piece'' (2013) for ensemble – 1'
* ''Mundus Imaginalis'' (2015) for 14 instruments – 17'
* ''Geister, schwebende Geister'' (2019–20) for solo viola and 9 instruments – 20'
* String quartet no.2, ''Cantar de Amigo'' (2020) – 27'
;Works for solo instruments
* ''Roman'' (1982) for violin – 8'
* ''...d'asiles déchirés...'' (1983) for piano – 12'
* ''La mesure des choses I. La mesure de l'air'' (1992) for
B clarinet – 12'
* ''La mesure des choses II. La mesure de la mer'' (1993) for piano – 9'
* ''Le chemin'' (1994) for piano – 18'
* ''Un chant lointain'' (1995) for electronic
carillon
A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a musical keyboard, keyboard and consists of at least 23 bells. The bells are Bellfounding, cast in Bell metal, bronze, hung in fixed suspension, and Musical tuning, tu ...
– 4'
* ''Les raisons des forces mouvantes'' (1996) for
organ
Organ and organs may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function
* Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body.
Musical instruments
...
– 16'
* ''Par le feu receuilli'' (1997) for flute – 10'
* ''Au-delà, Cinq Etudes pour Piccolo'' (1997–98) for piccolo – 7'
* ''Tiodhlac'' (2001) for B clarinet – 3'
* ''Tiodhlac II'' (2006) for bass clarinet – 4'
* ''Further reflections on the nature of the mirror'' (2006) for flute – 8'
* ''Le Tombeau de Rameau II'' (2013) for piano – 25'
* ''Enfance'' (2015) for piano – 14'
* ''Yellow and Red'' (2015) for drum set – 12'
* ''La mesure des choses IV. La mesure du temps'' (2017) for one percussionist – 13'
* ''Geister, wieder...'' (2020) for solo viola – 15'
* ''In a weightless quiet'' (2020) for solo violin – 12'
;Vocal music
* ''Trois Mélodies'' (1986) for
mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...
and 5 instruments – 6'
* ''She or not'' (1998) for
barytone
In Ancient Greek grammar, a barytone is a word without any accent on the last syllable. Words with an acute or circumflex on the second-to-last or third-from-last syllable are barytones, as well as words with no accent on any syllable:
*τις ...
– 9'
His music is published by
DURAND Editions Musicales, Paris, and
Editions Musicales Européennes, Paris, and distributed by
Alexander Street Press, and
BabelScores (Paris)
Discography
* ''La mesure des choses I. La mesure de l'air'' and ''Tiodhlac''
Mathew Nelson, clarinet
Soundset Recordings SR1087, 2017
* ''Roman'' for solo violin
Eric Rynes, violin
Albany Troy1614, 2016
* ''Ombre/Miroir'' for flute and ensemble
musikFabrik, Helen Bledsoe (flute), James Wood (conductor)
Wergo 68542, Edition musikFabrik CD 04, 2010
* ''La terre et le feu'' – ''Les raisons des forces mouvantes'' – ''La mesure des choses III. La mesure de la terre et du feu'' – ''Athanor''
BBC Symphony Orchestra – London Sinfonietta – Gareth Hulse (oboe) –
Paul Silverthorne (viola) – Hans-Ola Ericsson (organ)
Mode 139, 2004
* Concerto for piano and orchestra – String Trio – ''Die innere Grenze''
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Stefan Litwin (piano), Bradley Lubman (conductor) – Trio de l'Ensemble Intercontemporain – Sextuor Schoenberg
Naive Montaigne Mo 782093, 1998
Bibliography
*
*
*
External links
Durand HomepageJoel Durand's page at BabelScoresDurand at the Classical Composers DatabaseDurand Tonearms HomepageJoël-François Durand's biographyon Cdmc website
'Ep. 58: Joël-François Durand, composer'Interview by Tigran Arakelyan, 2017
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durand, Joel-Francois
1954 births
20th-century French classical composers
21st-century French classical composers
French male classical composers
Living people
Musicians from Orléans
University of Washington faculty