Rainer Boesch † (CH)

Rainer Boesch, composer (1939 – 2014)

The composer and musician Rainer Boesch died at the age of 75.

Rainer Boesch was born in Männedorf (Zurich) in 1938. He studied in Zurich and he obtained a piano diploma in Geneva with Louis Hiltbrand as well as virtuosity in Neuchâtel with Harry Datyner. From 1966 to 1968 he undertook an internship at the GRM (Groupe de Recherche Musicale) and studied composition with Olivier Messiaen at the CNSM in Paris. He was awarded first prize and first nomination for “Désegregation”, which was composed for clarinets, brass instruments, voices and magnetic tape and which was the first work using electro-acoustic music during an academy contest. Between 1968 and 1972, he was director of the Conservatoire of Lausanne.

Rainer Boesch was the founder of the Studio ESPACES in Geneva (integrated in 1977 with the Conservatoire populaire de musique). He was also the co-founder of the Centre Suisse de Musique Informatique. He collaborated with the Ircam and was invited by Media-Lab of the Boston MIT as well as by the CCRMA of Stanford for musical research and by the Bach-Academie of Sendai in Japan for Master Classes. Rainer Boesch taught improvisation at the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze from 1976 and at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris from 1994.

“Espaces de Souffles d’ici et d’ailleurs” de Rainer Boesch

The composer’s words…..(Translated)

“Since my childhood I was fascinated by space, space to see and hear, some of my first memories

were the wind, in the mountains, the sound of which had been changed by the trees, and the narrow streets between the houses, making one dizzy..

 The piano has perhaps become my instrument because the player is sitting precisely in the middle of a multitude of chords, each one in it’s place, each one vibrating the “Soundboard” in it’s own way.

And this enabling such wonderful rich sounds ( even though it is only a hammer hitting a wire….!)

 From my very first musical experience space has played an essential role.

 Not until “Souffle d’ici et ailleurs” asked me to compose a piece, to close a day of flute playing,

 on the theme of the instrument’s evolution, that I understood that I had here the opportunity to realise an old dream, whats more when 24 flautists were assembled for this occasion my dream was fulfilled.

First and foremost the flute, I have a particular liking for this instrument as the players produce sound with their lips, and this intimate way of playing music allows for subtle colours and infinite heights.

 24 like instruments offer to a composer unlimited possibilities to create mass sonority and  to make it evolve within the space. The variety of sounds at my disposition were even greater as I also had Ancient Flutes to work with.

From the very first rehearsal I felt myself totally backed up: In this work I asked Flautists to participate in my permanent invention, and I found myself among musicians very happy to experiment, the winds from here and elsewhere were really present.

 The piece is comprised of a group of  “frescoes”, of which certain melt together.

Some are similar, some seem to have been found in the attic of an old house, while others seem to have appeared from an enchanted forest.

 There really is nothing to understand, one should be lead into a journey where time is sometimes short, sometimes long, and even sometimes very long.”

Rainer Boesch January 2008.