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At the very beginning, when I was talking about my radio play project, I had used the word “clip” to describe what I was imagining. But once I began working on it, I realized that what I was doing was a sonic metaphor for the literary technique of short story writing.

Short forms that all tell a story, or describe a situation, an atmosphere, but in a sketched-out way only. An indirect, surrealist way of story telling, full of allusions yet using realist material. It’s also a way of leaving the listener (I was about to say the viewer) in anticipation, perhaps even frustrated at not getting an ending to each anecdote told.

Each novella is constructed around a small event: a sound, an atmosphere, a soundbite, a random word spoken with feeling by the voice being heard. They offer multiple paths for the audience to go down or abandon, threading in and out of one another across several different languages — the musical, the noisy, the realist, the artificial, and finally Spanish and French.

Speaking of paths, the present one is a staircase that keeps coming back, like a theme. The idea that there’s a place in Madrid called The Staircase of the Blind has fascinated me, like a poetic reality, or rather a surreality. But also like a symbol of what I was doing; a composition with sounds, for the radio. And as everyone knows, radio is for those whose heads are bursting with images.
[Luc Ferrari]

• Commissioned by Radio Nacional de España
• Co-production Ars Sonora rne-2 & La Muse en Circuit
• Broadcasted premiere on radio RNE-2 on 21 June 1991 for the European Music Day
• Italia Prize 1991 (Special award)

This publication around 'L’escalier des aveugles', features never released before contents; including notes from the editor, full transcription of the dialogs (Spanish/French/English), historical documentation about the project, soundmap, facsimile manuscript from the composer & afterword.
Trough these 101 pages, you will have look behind the scene of this radiophonic piece — from the idea to the result.
Guided in Madrid by 6 different ladies in places they like, Luc Ferrari produces a sensitive sonic portrait of the city. Each one of the 12 movements is constructed around a small event, as part of this collection of short stories.
French/English publication, printed in colors.
Audio available under licence for any use.

1929 – 2005

Never ceasing to investigate, Luc Ferrari leaves behind a body of work by turns exalting, noble, funny, intimate, and nocturnal. Like a mirror turned toward the Other, it reflects the world and its fantasies.

He had a weakness for women with accents.

Find the near-complete catalogue of his mixed music and sonic pieces at Maison ONA — about 150 works released over time.