Photo via Bandcamp
The death of Éliane Radigue marks the passing of one of the most singular voices in experimental music history. The French composer and electronic pioneer died aged 94, with the news confirmed on 24 February by Groupe de Recherches Musicales (INA grm). A central figure in both the musique concrète tradition and the evolution of drone and minimalist composition, Radigue leaves behind a body of work that reshaped how sound, time and listening itself could be understood.
Born in Paris in 1932, Radigue studied under musique concrète founder Pierre Schaeffer and later worked alongside composer Pierre Henry, positioning her at the heart of post-war electronic experimentation. She later spent time in New York, where she became connected to a minimalist circle that included Steve Reich, Terry Riley and Philip Glass. While initially rooted in tape music and electroacoustic processes, Radigue gradually developed a deeply personal sonic language built on sustained tones, subtle harmonic shifts and near-imperceptible transformation.
Her instrument of choice became the ARP 2500 synthesiser, which defined the immersive character of landmark works such as Trilogie de la Mort (1994), widely regarded as one of the most profound achievements in electronic composition. In the 2000s, she turned toward acoustic instrumentation, launching the long-running Occam series in 2008, an expansive body of compositions exploring resonance, embodiment and collaborative interpretation that continued well into her later years.
Radigue’s legacy also carries particular weight as a woman who forged a path through electronic music at a time when the field was overwhelmingly male-dominated. Working largely outside institutional power structures, she built an uncompromising artistic identity grounded in patience, spiritual inquiry and sonic precision, influencing generations of experimental musicians, sound artists and composers across disciplines. Today, she is widely recognised not only as a pioneer of electronic and minimalist music, but as a foundational figure whose approach to duration, attention and listening permanently altered the landscape of contemporary sound.
