THIERRY PECOU

THIERRY PECOU
OUTRE-MEMOIRE (2004)
320 KBPS

Born in 1965 Thierry Pécou discovered music at nine years old when learning to play piano. At first attracted to composition he learned about harmony and counterpoint at the time he completed his piano studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. He then entered the composition class at the CNSMDP and obtained the Premier Prix for orchestration and composition in 1987 and 1988. Different trainings enriched his formation and most notably at the Banff Centre of Arts (Canada), with which closed relationship was established since he became a regular guest in 1989.
Thierry Pécou's Stabat mater received a special mention at UNESCO's International Rostrum of Composers in 1990. In the same year the SACEM awarded him the Stéphane-Chapelier-Clergue-Gabriel-Marie Prize and in1993 the Georges Enesco Prize ; three years later he was awarded the Pierre Cardin Prize by Académie des Beaux Arts at the France Institut.
He spent several months in Russia, specially invited during winter of year 1994-95 by Moscow's Centre Culturel Français on the occasion of his "Villa Médicis Hors les Murs" grant. As a member of artistic department of Casa de Velàzquez in Madrid from 1997 to 1999, Thierry Pécou travelled frequently throughout the world which brought him special inspiration for his own music.
His pieces have been performed in renowed concerts and festivals: Festival Présences at Radio-France, Gaudeamus Music-Week at Amsterdam, Moscow Autumn Festival, New Music Concerts Toronto, Foro Internacional de Musica Nueva de Mexico, Bath Festival, Festival d'Ambronay, Tampere Choir Festival (Finland), Jeux d'orgues en Yvelines, Octobre en Normandie.
Outre-Mémoire, his 2004 work, speaks of the slave trade. The humanist composer Thierry Pécou is has worked his way through this dark chapter of mankind history only to let surface the grave beauty and sense of justice music sometimes brings to the listener. A must hear.

1. Gunga
2. Attachment Aux Quatre Coins
3. 'La Décharge', Mambú 1
4. Mulonga, Dialogue Gestuel 1
5. Traces-Mémoires, Effacement 1
6. Mulonga, Dialogue Gestuel 2
7. Kalunga, Mambú 2/Traces-Mémoires, Effacement 2
8. Mulonga, Dialogue Gestuel 3
9. Traces-Mémoires, Effacement 3
10. Grand-Fonds, Mambú 3
11. Traces-Mémoires, Effacement 4
12. Corps, Mambú 4