His voice, when it springs, amazes by its strangeness. Powerful or whispered, pure or raspy, familiar and disturbing, it seems to come from the depths of the earth with telluric force. Meredith Monk uses it as an instrument to create polyphonic and mystical soundscapes. The creations of the American composer and vocalist born November 20, 1942 take on their full brilliance on stage, performed by the artist or by others, such as the virtuoso choir Mikrokosmos in 2018 at the Via Aeterna festival in Mont-Saint-Michel.
“Inside a voice, there are myriads of people, landscapes, colors and textures, ways of producing sounds and messages without words. I intuitively sensed the rich, ancient power of the first instrument, and as I explored its endless possibilities, I felt I was returning home, to my family, and to my blood,” emphasizes the artist whose ECM record label has just brought together his entire work in a box of 13 CDs to celebrate his 80th birthday.
A demanding but accessible contemporary music
Meredith Monk comes from a long line of musicians. His great-grandfather was a cantor in Russia. His grandfather, a bass baritone, immigrated to New York, and married a pianist. Together, they performed in synagogues in churches, as well as in concert, before opening their own music conservatory. Their story inspired him the unforgettable play Ellis Island. His mother sang musical introductions for radio and then television broadcasts. She herself has chosen the demanding path of contemporary musical creation without ever giving up on making it accessible.
It is her diversity that makes the strength of this magician of contemporary music, which is illustrated by listening to her 13 discs, Dolmen Music (1981) to On Behalf of Nature (2016). Between these two masterful recordings were born operas and ariettas, melodies and tribal dances, dissonant experiences and mystical trances, all drawn from the forces of a nurturing and primitive nature.
Imperfection as proof of humanity
Capable of the purest minimalism, with just an a cappella song, two pianos that respond to each other or handclaps, Meredith Monk can also summon the profusion of vocal or instrumental ensembles to invent a world opera. On stage, as in Turtle Dreams, created in New York or its Vulcano Songs performed at the Festival d’Avignon, it brings together theatre, dance and video for stagings without artistic borders where the frail artist with fine features and long braids radiates an inner fire.
The celebration of creation in its beauty and its fragility irrigates all his work which arouses the fervor of music lovers. She has always claimed the free spontaneity of live performance. Meredith Monk defends the right to imperfection as the ultimate proof of humanity. A choice assumed from the start, she says, referring to her first recording in the ECM studios, in January 1981, in the presence of the label’s boss Manfred Eicher.
Sung in a state of stress, the first take of his great song Gotham Lullaby was imperfect. “My voice cracked at times. » Subsequent recordings become flawless. “It was technically perfect, but really it didn’t have that same spirit, that magic of the first take. » The two musicians will choose the first version “the most emotional”to burn it to disc.
“There’s vulnerability in a lot of my recordings, but I think it’s kind of the truth,” believes Meredith Monk. The American artist, still at the forefront at 80, claims a radical approach to music like “a whole that embraces our humanity, our body, our disorder”.
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With ECM Label
1969. Creation of the Edition of Contemporary Music (ECM) label in Munich by double bassist Manfred Eicher, who still runs it.
With the slogan “The most beautiful sound after silence”ECM publishes avant-garde jazz: saxophonist Jan Garbarek, drummer Jack DeJohnette…
1975. The Köln Concert by Keith Jarrett, best seller of the label.
1984. ECM “New Series” highlights contemporary classical music with three revolutionary artists, the Americans Steve Reich and Meredith Monk and the Estonian Arvö Part.
2022. Publication of Meredith Monk, The Recordings.