Eliane Radigue: Asymptote Versatile
Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
CONCERT | COMMISSION
This will be the first-ever performance of French composer Éliane Radigue’s oldest surviving composition, Asymptote Versatile, composed in 1964. It will be performed at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK) by 12 musicians : 4 from France, 4 from the UK, and 4 from Ireland. The performance will shed light on Radigue’s relationship to the New York school of composers she met in the 1960s. The project also represents an exciting opportunity for the participating instrumentalists.
“I was young when I composed the Fibonacci suite. I was in New York at that time… During this period of my life I was very interested in mathematics and for this piece I constructed a logarithmic spiral. It is to do with the infinitesimal; the ever-changing, until its destruction in the dance of constant change. […] In one’s interpretation, it’s important to stay flexible, to avoid rigidity. You can think of the piece as your asymptote … but you are free, it is important to remain free.”
Eliane Radigue in conversation with Rhodri Davies on 26 June 2023, Paris
Composers
Éliane Radigue (FR), Asymptote Versatile
Project Location: Britain
Artists: French
Composer: French