Éliane Radigue is also among the founders of the musical movement we often refer to as minimalism, although by no means every composer agrees with this label either. She once started out with electronics, but some years back has devoted herself almost entirely to composing for acoustic instruments. Today, we focus on three recent pieces, performed by the musicians it was also written for. Quatuor Bozzini released a recording of ’Occam Delta XV’ on their own label; Ensemble Dedalus recorded ’Occam Hepta I’ and Ryoko Akama plays ’Occam XX’ on synthesiser. That second album was released by Montaigne Noire.

Even more than the other composers we count under this movement, Radigue seems interested in the essence of sound. La Monte Young’s music comes closest to this. So it can happen that in that ’Occam Delta XV’, which adds up to over an hour of music, we find remarkably little variation. Radigue is more concerned with the coherence of the sound between the various instruments of the string quartet. Sometimes those sounds run a little further apart and a stratification arises, but regularly there is also a fairly even drone. So music that lacks progression, which is the case with a lot of music within this movement anyway, but Radigue goes a few steps further than many others. However, this does not mean that the music is static; there is plenty happening for those who have an ear for it. Something that, incidentally, is also evidenced by the fact that this album contains two recordings of the piece, which, despite that lack of variety, sound quite different.