Jean Barraqué

French composer of chamber music; a contemporary of Messiaen; one of the first serialists. His unique style combined a rich impressionism with extremely formal pointillism. The use of jazz instrumentalists in classical ensembles playing his serial music led to social stigmatization in the late '50s. The pieces ...au delà du hasard and Chant après Chant (1966) for six percussionists, voice, and piano were inspired by The Death of Virgil, by Hermann Broch. These pieces do not merely set the text but reflect upon it, as shown in "Unable to evolve or regress," "Before the quotation," and "On a thought without night." ~ Blue Gene Tyranny, Rovi