On February 19th 2016, the Ivan Wyschnegradsky Association organizes in partnership with the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris a concert-performance with 4 pianos tuned two by two a ¼ tone apart. It will take place at 7 p.m, at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris, 14 rue de Madrid, 75008, Marcel Landowski Auditorium.

The concert will be followed by two days of CD recording, for the publishing of a CD by the Shiiin label at the end of 2016.

In program, three great works by Ivan WYSCHNEGRADSKY:

– Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra op. 17 for 4 pianos tuned two by two a ¼ tone apart,

– the 4ème Fragment symphonique op. 38c for 4 pianos and Ondes Martenot,

– the Méditation sur deux thèmes de La Journée de l’Existence op. 7 for cello and piano by Ivan Wyschnegradsky,

as well, in first performance, Racines by Alain BANCQUART for 4 pianos, and De l’ange by Alain MOENE for 2 pianos tuned a 1/4 tone apart.

The musical performers will be pianists Matthieu Acar, Jean-François Ballèvre, Dominique Ciot and Martine Joste for the first performance of the works by Alain Bancquart and Alain Moëne, pianists Yukina Inoue, Cyrille Guion, Li Xie, Guanlan Xu, Yoko Yamada, Emiri Wada, Hiroko Arimoto, Manon Longchamp, students at CRR Paris, for the Wyschnegradsky works, as well as Cécile Lartigau, Ondes Martenot, Noé Natorp, cello and Léo Margue, conductor.

Last September, in 2015, Arc-en Ciel by Ivan Wyschnegradsky for 6 pianos tuned at 1/12th tone distance was played at the Berlin Philharmonic in the framework of the Berliner Festspiele!! It is time to bring the composer’s works and their unique character into the limelight for the Paris public.

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Ivan Wyschnegradsky, born in Saint Petersburg in 1883, lived in Paris from 1920 to his death in 1979.

The Ivan Wyschnegradsky Association, founded in 1983, has dedicated itself to raising awareness of that composer’s work and thought. It was presided by composer Claude Ballif from its founding till 2002, and since then by pianist Martine Joste.

Since its creation the Wyschnegradsky Association, in France and abroad, developed a thorough knowledge of the composer’s music, through literary, musical and record publication and dissimination of his work.

Ivan Wyschnegradsky was admired by numerous composers, among whom Olivier Messiaen, Henri Dutilleux, Bruce Mather, Alain Bancquart and Claude Ballif. He is recognized by the musical world as one of the most important composers of the XXth century and as a pioneer for his research on micro-intervals and sound continuum.

The concert organized by the Ivan Wyschnegradsky Association on February 19th 2016, in partnership with the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris, will be a significant event as it will feature 4 pianos tuned two by two at ¼ tone distance. A concert of that type has not taken place in Paris since 1977, almost 40 years!

Ivan Wyschnegradsky had written several works for 4 pianos, which are very rarely played and recorded. In 1937 and 1945 he himself had organized and conducted concerts for 4 pianos tuned at 1/4 tone distance in Paris, with pianists such as Yvonne Loriod, Pierre Boulez, Ina Marika, Serge Nigg, Claude Helffer...

Alain Bancquart knew Ivan Wyschnegradsky, and in 1978, in the composer’s presence, had organized two days in the Perspectives du 20ème siècle series, which he directed at Radio-France. It is during these days that Ivan Wyschnegradsky’s La Journée de l’Existence, was created. He had been expecting for 60 years the creation of this immense symphonic fresco with narrator on a text by the author, which he composed in 1917/1918! That was an unforgettable moment.

Alain Moëne composed many works for chorus and various musical groups, one combining a medieval music ensemble and a Japonese Nô orchestra. He is composing for the piano for the first time and his work is keenly anticipated! Alain Moëne has always been engaged in using ¼ tone writing as a mode of expression.

As a reminder: last September, in 2015, Arc-en Ciel by Ivan Wyschnegradsky for 6 pianos tuned at 1/12th tone distance was played at the Berlin Philharmonic in the framework of the Berliner Festspiele!! It is time to bring the composer’s works and their unique character into the limelight for the Paris public.

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Ivan Wyschnegradsky at his 1/4 of tone piano in 1979

A few lines on the Ivan Wyschnegradsky Association’s achievements since it was founded in 1983

In 2011/2000 the Association created and brought online a site on the composer : www.ivan-wyschnegradsky.fr, regularly updated, containing news, a biography, a bibliography, a gallery of photographs, a discography, the complete catalog; press clippings, excerpts from scores, listening to records and Cds, copies of the composers’s ultrachromatic drawings.

Since 1983, the Association co-produced :

- Five records and monographic Cds with the following labels: Editions Block/Berlin, 2e2m Collection, Col Legno (Germany) and Shiiin (France). This last publication was crowned by a Classica 4 star, a Diapason d’Or and a « Coup de cœur » from Académie Charles Cros.

- Three unpublished books of writings by the composer (Le Premier Cahier Wyschnegradsky, followed by La Loi de la Pansonorité at Editions Contrechamps (Geneva) and recently Ivan Wyschnegradsky – Libération du son – Ecrits 1916-1979, texts collected, presented and annotated by Pascale Criton, published at Editions Symétrie (Lyons). In April 2015 this last work received the Prix des Muses in the Document Prize category.

- Numerous monographic concerts in Paris, in 1985, 1988, 2010, 2014 etc.; and abroad, in Venise, Graz, Bonn, Zurich, Berne, Heilbronn, Genève, Prague and others.

- Two international Days of symposia and concerts, held in 2014 in Paris at the CDMC (Cité de la Musique) and at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse, gathering musicologists coming from Russia, Germany, Switzerland, and France around the theme: Ultrachromatism, between futurism and constructivism.

- Three scores revised by the Association towards their publication by Editions Belaïeff (Francfort) and Editions Jobert/Lemoine (Paris).

- An exhibition took place in 1985 in the main Hall of Centre Pompidou, entitled Chromatismes et Ultrachromatismes, showing scores, drawings, studies, photographs and documents about the composer.

- In 1989, the tenth anniversary of Ivan Wyschnegradsky’s death appeared in the Célébrations Nationales.

Concert & CD Ivan Wyschnegradsky