Festwochen reframed: Éliane Radigue, ONCEIM / Éliane Radigue, François J. Bonnet - OCCAM OCEAN II / CHRY-PTUS

As deep as the ocean and as still as the sea, almost majestic in their tranquility, Éliane Radigue’s compositions unhurriedly unfold into the sound space, at a slow and measured pace. Her music invites us to lose ourselves in fascinating sounds and details, as we might among the waves and currents of the high seas. Radigue began her career in Paris in the 1950s. Over many years she worked exclusively with electronic instruments, creating an idiosyncratic musical style all of her own. An important precursor for an entire generation of electronic musicians, she has over the decades pre-empted many an aesthetic trend. But for the past 15 years or so she has developed her music exclusively in close collaboration with acoustic instrumentalists. Occam Ocean II, her latest work, is the result of a two-year collaboration with the ONCEIM ensemble. As a contrast to this comprehensive composition for 28 musicians the Wiener Festwochen also present Chry-ptus (1971), one of Radigue’s earliest works. A fascinating synthesiser composition, performed by the French musician and director of the INA GRM institute, François J. Bonnet.