Michel Rateau

Michel Rateau (4 September 1938 Paris – 16 October 2020 Bois-Guillaume)[1] was a French composer known for his contributions to choral, orchestral, ensemble, and instrumental music.

He attended the classes of André Jolivet and Jean Rivier and begin studying under the supervision of the CNSM Professor of Harmony, Maurice Duruflé.

Shortly after his return to Paris, he turned his focus to sounds emitted by unconventional instruments (such as bird cage, pipes, and tanks) and recorded them on magnetic tapes.

As reported by Billboard in 1975, Rateau instigated a new musical style founded on what the composer called "sounds of nature and every-day life".

For the 25th anniversary of the University of Rouen Normandy in 1991, Rateau composed a "Quatre" for flute, clarinet, violin and piano for the Nouvel ensemble Contemporain (The New Contemporary group), created in concert in 1991.

"Chants du Temps" returned to a very simple, quite purified, strongly melodic, and contrapuntal form of writing, which contrasts radically with the pioneering pieces he wrote in 1960–1970.