Manoury's work is strongly influenced by Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Iannis Xenakis, and his early work from 1972 to 1976 combines serial punctualism with the densely massed elements characteristic of the music of Stockhausen and Xenakis, and the paintings of Jackson Pollock.[1] Works such as Sound and Fury are of interest because of the use of computer-assisted composition. Sound and Fury also uses a very large orchestra, which is symmetrically disposed, and makes quite extensive use of left-right spatial effects.
Since the 1980s, Manoury has been closely associated with the American computer researcher Miller Puckette, first at IRCAM and subsequently at UCSD. The Sonus ex machina series of works (Jupiter, Pluton, Neptune and La Partition du Ciel et de l'Enfer), which were developed in collaboration with Puckette, are among the first pieces to utilize real-time audio signal processing, and Pluton was the first ever composition using Puckette's groundbreaking software Max.
His Abgrund—pour grand orchestre was commissioned by the Bavarian State Opera together with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and premiered by the Bavarian State Orchestra on November 26, 2007. It has been described as "a work that will neither disturb nor annoy [...] a pleasant and perhaps harmless string of dissonant semi-climaxes, little jolts, and resting phases. It has an invigorating effect, is easy to concentrate on . . .".[2] In it "Manoury [...] mercifully knows how to use [the abundance of percussion instruments] in ways far more discriminately than his contemporaries beholden to one bongo-frenzy after another".[2] "Philippe Manoury hit[s] the right mix between shallow and deep, melodic and dissonant, placating and strident, stasis and progress, simplicity and complexity. The steady run-up—stop—tighten—burst—relax scheme may not be novel at all, but it paid dividends [in 'Abgrund']".[2]
Writings
Manoury, Philippe. 1998. La note et le son: Écrits et entretiens, 1981-1998, with a foreword by Danielle Cohen-Levinas. Musique et musicologie: Les dialogues. Paris: L'Harmattan. ISBN2-7384-6985-X
Manoury, Philippe. 2001. Entretiens avec Daniela Langer. Paris : Musica falsa. ISBN2-9512386-3-0
Selected compositions
Operas
60e parallèle for 9 singers, large orchestra and electronics (1995–96)
K… (2001)
La frontière, chamber opera for 6 singers, 9 instruments and electronics (2003)
La nuit de Gutenberg, opera in a prologue and 12 scenes. Premiered at the Opéra national du Rhin, Strasbourg, 24 September 2011
Orchestral works
Numéro huit, op. 8 (1980, revised 1987)
Pentaphone, 5 Pieces for large orchestra, op. 24 (1993)
Prelude and Wait (1995)
Sound and Fury (1999)
Concertos
Echo-Daimónon, for piano, electronics and large orchestra (2011–12)
Bref Aperçu sur l'Infini for cello and orchestra (2015)
Chamber music
Numéro cinq for piano and 13 instruments, op. 5 (1976)
Instantanés (1983)
Version La Rochelle, op. 10a (1983)
Version étude, op. 10b (1983)
Version Baden-Baden, op. 10c (1985)
La Partition du ciel and de l’enfer, op. 19 (1989)
Passacaille pour Tokyo for piano and 17 instruments (1994)
Fragments pour un portrait, 7 Pieces for ensemble of 30 instruments (1998)
Épitaphe for 7 instruments, op. 29 (1995)
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man for 10 instruments (2004)
Identités remarquables for 23 instruments (2005)
Strange Ritual for 21 instruments (2005)
Focus (1973)
Le tempérament variable (1978)
String Quartet, op. 6 (1978)
Musique I for 2 harps, guitar, mandolin and 2 percussionists (1986)
Musique II for 7 brass (2.2.2.1) and 2 marimbas, op. 14 (1986)
Petit aleph (1986)
Solo de vibraphone (1986)
Le livre des claviers, Six pieces for 6 percussionists (1987)
Deux mélodies (1988)
Michigan Trio for clarinet, violin and piano (1992)
Jupiter and La Partition du Ciel et de l'Enfer – Sophie Cherrier (flute) and Ensemble Intercontemporain. Conducted by Pierre Boulez. In Compositeurs d'aujourd'hui, Adès, 206 062, 1996
60ème parallèle – Orchestre de Paris, conducted by David Robertson, Naxos 8.554249/50, 1997
En écho and Neptune – Donatienne Michel-Dansac (soprano); Roland Auzet, Florent Jodelet, and Eve Payeur (percussion), Technique Ircam ACCORD, 465 526–2, 1998
Complete Chamber Music – Ensemble Accroche Note, Assai 222052, 2002
