condition (book): NEW 9"x6", 224-page softbound book. (Presque rien) avec Luc Ferrari exists as a book rather than a recording, Jacqueline Caux in extended conversation with the composer about the work that defined his mature period. "Presque rien" means "almost nothing," and Luc Ferrari's series of pieces under that title revolutionized electroacoustic music by proposing that the composer's role might be reduced to placement: position the microphone, press record, wait.
Caux draws out the philosophy behind the method. What emerges is not minimalism in the American sense but something more radical: a refusal of the composer's traditional authority, a willingness to let the world speak for itself. The book belongs alongside Michael Nyman's theoretical writings on experimental music, though Ferrari would have bristled at being categorized too neatly. Published by Editions Main d'Oeuvre, it remains essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how Ferrari thought, not just how he sounded.
