A French composer born in 1944 in Neuilly-sur-seine.
Patrick Marcland was a practitioner of jazz from a very early age while studying the guitar and harmony and counterpoint at the École Normale de Musique in Paris. While composing for the theatre and the cinema, he followed composition and analysis classes with Max Deutsch and Yves-Marie Pasquet, then with Claude Ballif at the Paris Conservatory.
Influenced first and foremost by serialism (Mètres, 1972), Marcland rapidly distanced himself from it by forging an original stylistic system that associates notably modality and tonal polarity (Versets, 1979). Preliminary to composition, he works on the numerical proportions, in particular the Golden Mean, in order to determine the densities, tempi and tone-colours. Marcland thinks of his works as being in a scenic dimension that takes into account space and gesture. He is also interested in a style that is common to dance and music, collaborating with choreographers such as Nadine Hernu, Susan Buirge and Laurence Marthouret. He composes for various instrumental and vocal formations, with or without electronics, or on media support only. His works include De Temps en Temps for viola and instrumental ensemble, first performed by Christophe Desjardins and the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou (1995); Maldoror for actor, children’s chorus, mixed chorus and orchestra, first performed by Philippe Dormoy, the chorales of the Metz Conservatory, the chorus and orchestra of the Philharmonie de Lorraine conducted by Pascal Rophé at the Arsenal in Metz (1997); Eclipsis for trumpet, viola and electronics, first performed by Jean-Jacques Gaudon and Christophe Desjardins in Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou (2003); Le Roc-aux-Sorciers, aural and visual fresco for spatialised diffusion at the prehistoric site of Angles-sur-l’Anglin (2008); Meltem for a female dancer and a female singer in an interactive video and sound environment, first performed by Arabella Scalisi and Élodie Tisserand at the Klap in Marseilles (2014); Mazeppa, musical monodrama to a libretto of Christophe Hardy, first performed by Chantal Perraud and the ensemble C Barré conducted by Sébastien Boin at the Printemps des Arts of Monte-Carlo (2017).
In parallel to his activity as a composer, Patrick Marcland practises the profession of publisher at the Éditions Musicales Transatlantiques that he has directed for more than thirty years.
