Jacqueline Caux's 'Presque rien' avec Luc Ferrari explores composer's sonic world

Jacqueline Caux, a trained psychoanalyst, has compiled a book of interviews with the late French composer Luc Ferrari, interspersed with autobiographical narratives. The title, 'Presque rien' (Almost Nothing), borrows from one of Ferrari's own series. The book reveals Ferrari's unique sensitivity to the external world, characterized by juxtapositions and chance encounters. Ferrari (born 1929) is described as the most unclassifiable French musician of the second half of the 20th century. He approached composition by keeping his ears open and microphones pointed at reality, recording sounds from landscapes and then reworking them in the studio. The narrative sensibility of the Nouveau Roman finds a musical counterpart in his work: he sought novelty in ordinary reality through meticulous description of gestures, which he called 'anecdote.' Ferrari's exploration was vast: classical scores for instruments and voice, electroacoustic works (he was a pioneer of musique concrète alongside Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry), films on Varèse, Messiaen, Stockhausen, and Cecil Taylor, 'ephemeral actions' as performance, musical theater, radio composition, and film music. He prioritized action and freedom of sounds over notated music. Misunderstood or belatedly taken seriously by the French contemporary music scene, which marginalized him, Ferrari found recognition abroad, particularly in Germany and the United States, where his language became influential.