A French composer born February 14, 1950 in L'Isle-Adam.
In parallel with studying architecture, Claudy Malherbe followed the classes of Gérard Geay (renaissance counterpoint), Alain Bernaud (harmony), Yvonne Desportes (fugue), Max Deutsch (composition), André Riotte (formalised analysis) and Iannis Xenakis (mathematical formalisation).
A researcher at Ircam, a member of the Atelier de Recherche Instrumentale, he led a project devoted to new instrumental techniques and the beginnings of computer-assisted composition. From all this work, he integrated into his musical syntax the acoustic properties of sound materials and made the computer a veritable tool for musical composition.
His earliest works, for small groupings, reveal his investigations into the nature and the potential of instruments, his interest in the voice and for the music/text relationship: VoI de (fEmme)x for five female voices (1979, premiered at the festival of Avignon); à (monodrame), quintet for voice, flute and strings (1987); Discorps, duets for soprano and bass clarinet (1987, commissioned by the ensemble Accroche Note). His research into the nature of tone-colour and its representation in notation (Color for small orchestra, 1986, commissioned by the Ensemble Intercontemporain) led him towards a greater plasticity of sound, a feature he continually developed thereafter. In association with writers, visual artistes and choreographers, he re-examined the relationship of music to the stage and began a series of compositions to be seen, a cycle of multidisciplinary productions integrating music with new technologies and with the visual and scenic arts: Play-Back (1990), Géométries (1994, commissioned by the French State).
His music became more complex and virtuosic at the turn of the 20th century with Blanc-noir, grisé for piano and ensemble (2001, commissioned by the French State) and Métro for tape and orchestra (2002, commissioned by Radio France) and La cantatrice, radiophonic opera (commissioned by Radio France for the Prix Italia 2008), the libretto and the music of which compose each other.
Claudy Malherbe has been director of the Bagnolet Conservatory, a lecturer at the CNRS-Ircam, the Cefedem of Lorraine and at the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications of Brest. He is also the author of articles and of lectures on contemporary musical language.
