updated 5 April 2011
© Patrice Voisin

Henri Pousseur

Belgian composer born 23 June 1929 in Malmedy; died 6 March 2009.

Henri Pousseur studied at the Liège Conservatory from 1947 to 1952 with Pierre Froidebise and André Souris, both of whom encouraged him to study the music of Webern. He met Pierre Boulez in 1951 and Karlheinz Stockhausen two years later; the latter meeting gave rise to a period of work for Pousseur at the Cologne Studio, where he composed Séismogrammes, and his regular attendance at the Darmstadt Summer Courses starting in 1954. Pousseur’s first mature works (notably Symphonies for 15 Soloists, Quintet in Memory of Webern, Scambi for tape, created at the Milan Studio of Phonology (1957), Mobile for two pianos, and Répons) date from this period. He founded the Brussels Studio in 1958.

In the 1950s, Pousseur was an ardent defender of post-Webernian serialism, both in his compositions and his analytical writings. In contrast, the 1960s were shaped by the composer’s meeting with writer and art critic Michel Butor, with whom he would collaborate for the remainder of his career, and by the composition of Votre Faust and Couleurs croisées for orchestra (1967). It was also around this time that Pousseur finalised his “network theory,” which broadened his serialist approach through the assimilation of historical repertoire, as described in his book “The Apotheosis of Rameau” (1968). Pousseur taught at the University of Buffalo from 1966 to 1968, and co-founded the Wallonia Centre for Musical Research in 1970 with Pierre Bartholomée and Philippe Boesmans. In 1975, he composed Die Erprobung des Petrus Hebraïcus, a tribute to Schoenberg which also exists in a French-language version under the title Le procès du jeune Chien. In the same year, he became Director of the Liège Conservatory. From 1984 to 1987, he was Director of the Paris Institute of Musical Pedagogy, and was composer-in-residence at Louvain University from 1993 to 1998, during which he notably composed the cycle Aquarius-memorial, dedicated to Karel Goeyvarts.

Like Boulez and Stockhausen, Pousseur wrote extensively regarding theoretical aspects of his music, authoring numerous highly influential articles on the subject. He was also outspoken on questions of musical aesthetics, and was one of only a handful of musicians to have proposed meaningful responses to Nicolas Ruwet’s “Contradictions within the Serial Language” and Lévi-Strauss’s famous “Overture” to The Raw and the Cooked.

With the exception of a handful of works published by Universal Edition (Vienna), Pousseur’s scores are published by Suvini Zerboni (Milan). His archives are housed at the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel.


© Ircam-Centre Pompidou, 2011

Sources

Alain Poirier

By Alain Poirier

Henri Pousseur’s work divides into four periods, according to Célestin Deliège: around 1949-1955, Pousseur exploited tone-rows in a post-Webernian spirit; in 1956-1959, he explored mobility within the open work; in the 1960s, he was absorbed in composing Votre Faust; and after 1970, finally, came the era of the “generalized series” as outlined in Pousseur’s long article “L’apothéose de Rameau” (“The Apotheosis of Rameau”). Cutting across these divisions, Pousseur grew more and more interested in teaching, especially in the 1980s.

Pousseur According to Webern

Even in his early works, Pousseur showed a fascination with the music of Anton Webern, on which he drew quite closely in his aphoristic Sept Versets des psaumes de la pénitence for mixed choir and especially in the Trois Chants sacrés for soprano and string trio, which attracted the attention of Pierre Boulez. Alongside his first electronic experiment, Séismogrammes (Seismograms, 1954), Pousseur continued to explore Webern’s influence in works such as his Symphonies à quinze solistes (Symphonies with Fifteen Soloists), as well as in his writings, which often correlate with particular compositions.

More interested in Webern’s free-atonal works than his serial ones — a rare perspective at the time — Pousseur looked especially to Webern’s Bagatelles, op. 9, which he analyzed in depth in one of his first major articles, “Le chromatisme organique d’Anton Webern” (“Webern’s Organic Chromaticism,” 1955). In that essay, he demonstrated the stylistic unity of Webern’s work. He identified a “rhythm of intervallic connections” that maintained a constant connection between simultaneous and sequential elements, suggesting that Webern’s music hinted at an “acoustic continuum of space-time” even before he adopted serial dodecaphony. Pousseur argued that both features underpinned a new kind of harmony, one that neutralized the constant chromaticism of post-Wagnerian harmony by using a structured metrical and rhythmic approach to establish contrast among harmonic relationships.

Whereas so many contemporary articles reduced Webern analysis to spotting tone-rows (see for example the Webern issue in Die Reihe, vol. 2), Pousseur was ahead of his time in criticizing the “futility of insisting on a complete and continual exposition of the chromatic ‘total,’ as in orthodox dodecaphonism.” He questioned how listeners could perceive music that extended Webern’s “multipolar sound space” to the point of non-differentiation. He was pioneering the idea, later widely explored, of the need for polarity based on the first five natural harmonics.

This essay was contemporary with Pousseur’s Quintette à la mémoire d’Anton Webern (Quintet in Memory of Anton Webern), whose instrumentation (clarinet, bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano) constitutes a unmistakable homage. The music draws on the tone-row from Webern’s Quartet, op. 22, and is based on major sevenths and minor ninths, which Pousseur dubbed “false octaves.”1

Pousseur clarified his position in a subsequent article, “De Schoenberg à Webern: une mutation” (“From Schoenberg to Webern: A Shift”) from 1956, in which he emphasized the continuity of Webern’s style through his transition from atonal to serial works. He also examined the “radical shift in meaning” produced when Webern adopted chromaticism, contrasting it with Arnold Schoenberg’s return in the 1920s to a thematic ideal. Echoing Boulez’s critique of extreme thematization in “Schoenberg est mort” (1952), Pousseur delved into Webern’s harmonic fields, arguing for the establishment of polarities that would enhance the appreciation of particular works.

In his article “Ébauche d’une méthode” (“Sketch of a Method,” 1957), Pousseur details the strategies employed in his own Symphonies à quinze solistes (structured as seven brief sections with varied instrumentation, in the spirit of Pierrot lunaire) and Quintette à la mémoire de Webern (a “relatively long large form” in a single fifteen-minute movement). His goal was to investigate the density of harmonic groups within a tightly organized timeline, even while working with pervasive chromaticism. Webern’s footprint is very much present in these works and would remain so in Pousseur’s subsequent works, though his language expanded significantly to include consonance.

The “Mobile” Works

Pousseur experimented with open form, which later became a hallmark of his work, as early as 1957 in the tape piece Scambi (“Exchanges”), created at the RAI studio in Milan. In his article “Scambi, description d’un travail” (Scambi: A Description of a Project), he explains that the piece consists of thirty-two sequences “dosed differently, and according to different dosing instructions” that allow for a large number of progressions, determined by shared characters at the beginning or ending of each sequence. This approach aligns with Umberto Eco’s concept of the “work in movement” from his 1962 study of the open work. Indeed, Luciano Berio and Marc Wilkinson have proposed alternative realizations of their own.

Pousseur further developed his approach to the open work in Mobile, for two pianos (1957-1958). In comparison to Boulez’s Third Piano Sonata and Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Klavierstück XI, Mobile is different in that there are two performers, playing the roles of “leader” and “follower” (which is also seen in André Boucourechliev, notably). Mobile’s structure consists of ten continuous sections, with three interchangeable parts for each piano (parts II, IV, VIII and II, IV, VI). As Pousseur explains in his article “Théorie et pratique dans la musique récente” (“Theory and Practice in Recent Music,” 1959), “The groups in which one leads are fully specified in all their parameters (but in approximate, broad, qualitative fashion) […] Units of time, dynamics, attacks, and pedaling are also variable; only an approximate total duration is indicated.”

Pousseur continued this experiment in ludic interchangeability among players in Répons (Responsorial Chant), for seven musicians (1960), though it quickly revealed its limits. As Pousseur noted, “While the play could prove exciting for performers well-versed in the instructions, to the audience it came off as esoteric.”2 To address this problem, he made a second version in 1965, Répons avec son paysage, for the same ensemble and one actor, adding a text by Michel Butor. The text was “designed both to assist the musicians in their playing and to leave them freer for the actual musical interpretation […] as well as to inform the public by means of an imaginary poetic representation.”3 Despite these improvements, the work continued to challenge the public. However, his acknowledgement of the public’s difficulty pointed to his growing intent involve them directly in shaping the musical experience. Répons avec son paysage would date to the same period as Votre Faust.

Votre Faust

Pousseur’s meeting with Butor sparked an unusual, long-lasting collaboration that extended well beyond the years they spent writing Votre Faust, subtitled “Variable Fantasy in the Operatic Genre.” In 1960, Pousseur’s essay “Vers un nouvel univers sonore” (“Towards a New Sonic Universe”)4 appeared in the magazine Esprit alongside Butor’s article “La musique, art réaliste” (“Music, a Realistic Art”). Butor’s article revisited the ongoing debate over the “representational capacities of music,” drawing on Balzac to argue that contemporary music should explore this direction. He proposed a series of categories connecting “certain areas of the musical domain and certain areas of reality.”

These ideas resonated with Pousseur, who further explored the concept of “realist” music in his article “La musique électronique, art figuratif?” (“Electronic Music: A Figurative Art?,” 1961), later included in his collection “Essays on Expression,” which spans topics from his recent electronic works to Monteverdi’s Orfeo. Published in La musique et ses problèmes contemporains (Music and Its Contemporary Problems) — a volume celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Domaine musical by juxtaposing one section from 1953 with another from 1963 — Pousseur’s article was followed by an excerpt from the libretto for Votre Faust. The article contrasts strikingly with his writings from ten years earlier, at which time he was one of the most militant exponents of post-Webernian serialism.

One of the clearest signs of Pousseur’s new interests was his commentary on Trois Visages de Liège (Three Faces of Liège, 1961), an electronic work produced in Brussels and commissioned for a sound and light show. Its scenario has three main parts,

three ‘movements’ almost in the classical sense: a long introductory Andante, mostly limited to blue tones and fleeting forms; a Scherzo in red and yellow, with clear and sharp articulations […] and a Finale in the vein of the chorale.5

Votre Faust is also structured in three parts, in the course of which the audience is occasionally invited to participate in ways that shape the story’s direction. At the end of the first part, for instance, the audience votes in response to the question “Will Henri go to the puppet show with Maggy or with Greta?” — a choice that significantly alters the storyline. In the second part, the audience can interrupt or reject the unfolding events, while in the third part, they are encouraged to drown out the actors’ and musicians’ performance with protests, demanding a new direction. These interactions have serious consequences, with possible outcomes ranging from Henri’s suicide or damnation to his reunion with Maggy or his redemption, along with various intermediate scenarios.

The character of the Opera Director acts as the main leader and mediator between audience and stage, even calling on an audience member at one point to make a choice or refusal. Henri (perhaps representing Faust, or even Pousseur himself) has the role of the Composer, giving a lecture at the beginning of the work (borrowed from the article “Pour une périodicité généralisée,” “For a Generalized Periodicity”) and later being commissioned by the Director/Mephistopheles to write an opera, “provided that it be about Faust.”

From this premise, Butor and Pousseur devised a complex combinatorial system involving five locations, each associated with a color and distinct musical styles. This structure enables multiple paths and sequences within an overarching scheme. The opera’s recording even came with a set of cards to illustrate these permutations. Butor borrowed from various literary Faust sources and incorporated broad literary citations, with the texts sometimes broken down to phonemes, recited, sung, or even shouted in multiple European languages.

Between Scambi and Votre Faust, Pousseur sought mobility on all levels, including by integrating (and often transforming) historical musical elements from a wide range of composers, including Monteverdi, Gluck, Schumann, Bartók, Weill, and even himself. He theorized this stylistic integration within his notion of the “generalized series” — not in the sense of strict 1950s total serialism but rather an expansion of the serial principle into various scales capable of absorbing quite different languages, ranging from tonal to serialism, jazz, and popular song. Seeking an answer to the problem of “How to make Monteverdi ‘rhyme’ with Webern,” Pousseur pursued his dream of recovering the musical past through a coherence ensured by his “theory of networks.” He expounded this theory in his most complex article, “L’apothéose de Rameau (Essai sur la question harmonique)” (“The Apotheosis of Rameau [An Essay on the Harmonic Question],” 1968), where he contrasts Webern’s “multipolar” conception of music with Rameau’s “unipolar” one. He defines a “network” as a “distribution of notes along several axes, each constituted as a chain of one and the same interval.” The transpositions of one harmonic field (e.g., that of superposed major sixths) onto another interval produce many other harmonic fields capable of evoking, when the field is strongly consonant, the styles of distant periods. Through these broad harmonic constellations, Pousseur developed connections between seemingly unrelated musical worlds, supported by extensive writings to analyze and justify these combinations (for instance, his article “La Foire de Votre Faust,” “The Fair in Votre Faust,” 1968).

The collaboration between Pousseur and Butor culminated in the premiere of Votre Faust in 1969 at the Piccola Scala in Milan. The opera was poorly received, due in particular to a convoluted staging that both authors later criticized. Berio attributed the failure mainly to Butor, arguing that “opera has never been a concerto with a drama superimposed on it” and that in Notre Faust the music is the only real element, while the dialogues feel abstract, unnecessary, and irritating. Pousseur, in his response, “Les mésaventures de Notre Faust, lettre ouverte à Berio” (“The Misadventures of Notre Faust: An Open Letter to Berio,” 1985), affirmed his solidarity with Butor and their shared responsibility for the work.

Contemporary with Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten and Satyricon by Bruno Maderna, Votre Faust — whichever one the public chooses — with its variable unfolding at each performance, offered an alternative approach, even if it did not fully achieve a sustainable solution.

The long gestation of Votre Faust was punctuated by numerous “satellite” works, which are excerpts or offshoots from it. Among others, these include Miroir de Votre Faust, for piano and soprano ad libitum (1964-1965), Jeu de miroirs de Votre Faust (with elements of the opera’s tape), Écho de Votre Faust, for high voice and three instrumentalists (1969), and Voyages de Votre Faust, a reduced film version made by RTBF (Belgian public media) over 1969 to 1970.

The expanded technique behind Votre Faust led Pousseur to develop these clusters of works with “satellites,” which would crop up throughout the remainder of his output. Examples include Icare (in which Icarus escapes from the labyrinth but is nevertheless brought down by his ambition), Mnemosyne (named for the personification of memory and mother of the nine muses), and Aquarius-Memorial (1993-1998), which overlaps with the Icare cycle.

Generalized Series and Harmony

The theoretical approach in “The Apotheosis of Rameau” led Pousseur to explore his “network technique” across various contexts, particularly in one of his major works, Couleurs croisées (Crossed Colors), for large orchestra (1967). This piece skillfully blends styles, unified by Pousseur’s use of a central matrix: the African-American song “We Shall Overcome,” from which the entire composition is rigorously derived. Its six sections successively present chromatic periods and Expressionist borrowings before ending symbolically in diatonicism.

In 1974, for Schoenberg’s centenary, Pousseur presented Die Erprobung des Petrus Hebraïcus (The Trial of Petrus Hebraicus), a musical theater piece for two actors, three singers, seven instrumentalists, and tape. Collaborating with Butor, he made a French version, Le Procès du jeune chien (The Trial of the Young Dog), premiered four years later. Playing with layered identities, Pousseur presents a young schoolteacher, P. H. (Pousseur Henri), who clearly evokes Schoenberg in Act I (The Heritage of Moses). The musical matrix is borrowed from the B-minor fugue in the first book of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier (which symbolically presents all twelve tones), in a reference to Schoenberg’s article “On Nationalism in Music” where he outlines the fundamental stages of his musical journey (“What I Learned from Bach,” etc.). Taking up Schoenberg’s declaration “My originality lies in the fact that I immediately imitated everything that seemed good to me,” Pousseur revisits various styles from his own musical heritage. These styles emerge through the “network technique,” conveyed in a line sung by the bass voice: “From Noah [i.e., Bach], I derived my art: all things derive from one, the figures combine, accompany each other, and transform without losing their identities.”

Conceived as a historical parody, this piece spans different forms and styles: it pays homage to Bach’s forms (the cantata, ricercare, passacaglia) in Act I, moves into expressionism close to Erwartung in Act II (Abraham and Saul), and concludes with free music incorporating electroacoustics in Act III (The Drunkenness of Noah).

As with Votre Faust, Die Erprobung inspired various “satellite works” well into the 1980s, including Chroniques berlinoises, Ballade berlinoise, Canines, Chroniques canines, and others. Following the collaborative projects Stravinsky au Futur (Stravinsky in the Future) and L’Effacement du Prince Igor (The Erasure of Prince Igor, 1971), and his tribute to Schoenberg, Pousseur produced works honoring J. S. Bach, such as Nuit des nuits (Nacht der Nächte), ou la Voyante Insomnie de Monsieur Goldberg (Night of Nights, or The Visionary Insomnia of Mr. Goldberg, 1985), a “compression” of the Goldberg Variations, and others to Robert Schumann, such as Dichterliebesreigentraum (1992-1993), a “paraphrase” of Dichterliebe. To Schumann he also devoted a series of analytical readings, Vingt-cinq moments d’une lecture de Dichterliebe (Twenty-Five Moments from a Reading of Dichterliebe), which echo Butor’s Dialogue with Thirty-Three Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli.

Finally, Pousseur played a significant role in music education, serving as director of the Liège Conservatoire and of the Institut de pédagogie musicale in Paris. His pedagogical contributions include numerous instructional works, culminating in the collection Méthodicare, subtitled Studies in the Understanding, Interpretation, and Invention of Contemporary Music (1988-2008). He also explored what he called “multimedia,” combining electroacoustic music with digital images, as in Voix et Vues planétaires (Planetary Voices and Views, 2003-2004), described in its subtitle as a work of “ethno-electroacoustic” music and accompanied by texts by Butor.

Translated from the French by Tadhg Sauvey

1. Gottfried Michael Koenig writes of “indistinct octaves” in Die Reihe, vol. 4. ↩

2. Henri Pousseur quoted by Dominique Bosseur and Jean-Yves Bosseur in “Collaboration Butor/Pousseur,” Musique en jeu 4, Le Seuil, 1971, p. 107. ↩

3. Ibid. ↩

4. This new publication was an extract from “La nouvelle sensibilité musicale” (“The New Musical Sensitivity,” 1957). ↩

5. In “La musique électronique, art figuratif?” (1960/61), La Musique et ses problèmes contemporains: Cahiers de la compagnie Madeleine Renaud-Jean-Louis Barrault 41 (1963), pp. 169-202; reprinted in revised version in Écrits théoriques 1954-1967, edited by Pascal Decroupet, Mardaga, 2004, p. 167-172. ↩

© Ircam-Centre Pompidou,

Bibliographie

La majeure partie des écrits de Pousseur est réunie par Pascal Decroupet en 2 volumes, Sprimont, Mardaga, 2004 et 2009 :
  • Écrits 1954-1967: « Structure du nouveau matériau sonore » (1954), « Le chromatisme organique d’Anton Webern » (1955), « De Schoenberg à Webern : une mutation » (1956), « La nouvelle sensibilité musicale » (1957), « Webern et la théorie » (1957), « Ébauche d’une méthode » (1957), « Musique et hasard » (1959), «Scambi— description d’un travail » (1959), « Forme et pratique musicales » (1959), « Théorie et pratique dans la musique récente » (1959), « Webern et le silence » (1961), «Rimes pour différentes sources sonores» (1961), « La musique électronique, art figuratif ? (Electre - Trois visages de Liège) » (1961), « Éléments réalistes dans la musique électronique » (1964), « Calcul et imagination en musique électronique » (1966), « La foire deVotre Faust » (1968), « La combinatoire au service de l’intention musicale. Apostrophe et Six réflexions » (1971) ;
  • Écrits 1968-1998 : « L’apothéose de Rameau. Essai sur la question harmonique » (1968), « Musique sérielle » (1969), « Stravinsky selon Webern selon Stravinsky » (1971), « Note sur la transaction musicale » (1974), « Webern, de la lettre à l’esprit, une autre mutation » (1987), « Composer avec des identités culturelles » (1987), « Une mémoire obstinément prospective » (1989), « Harmonie ? Harmonies ! » (1995), « Applications analytiques de la “technique des réseaux” » (1998).
Autres écrits d’Henri Pousseur, sélection :
  • « Domaines à venir », « Textes sur l’expression » et extrait du livret de Votre Faust, in La musique et ses problèmes contemporains 1953-1963, Cahiers Renaud-Barrault, Juilliard, 1963.
  • « Pour une périodicité généralisée » (1965), in Fragments théoriques I sur la musique expérimentale , Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1970. Un extrait a été publié dans Preuves 178, 1965 (« Enquête sur la musique sérielle aujourd’hui » d’André Boucourechliev) ;
  • Musique sémantique, société , Casterman, 1971.
  • « Journal de Liège à Paris », in Collages, Revue d’esthétique 3-4, 1978.
  • « Les mésaventures de Notre Faust (lettre ouverte à Luciano Berio) » in Contrechamps 4, 1985.
  • « Une expérience de musique microtonale : racine 19e de 8/4 pour violoncelle solo », in Interface 14/1-2, 1985.
  • « Premiers éléments d’une pédagogie alternative de l’écriture musicale », in Pédagogie de l’écriture, Institut de pédagogie musicale, 1987.
  • Schumann le poète. Vingt-cinq moments d’une lecture de Dichterliebe, Klincksieck, 1993.
  • Musiques croisées, L’Harmattan, 1997.
Sélection d’écrits sur Henri Pousseur :
  • Berio, Luciano BERIO, « Notre Faust », in Contrechamps n° 1, 1983.
  • Dominique et Jean-Yves BOSSEUR, « dossier Michel Butor et la musique » in Musique en jeu n° 4, 1971.
  • Jean-Yves BOSSEUR, « Votre Faust et la question de l’opéra contemporain » in Musique et dramaturgie, Esthétique de la représentation au xxe siècle, sous la direction de Laurent Feneyrou, Publications de la Sorbonne, 2003, p. 561-570.
  • Butor, Michel BUTOR, « L’opéra, c’est-à-dire le théâtre » (1965), repris in Répertoire III, éd. de Minuit, 1968.
  • Michel BUTOR, « La musique, art réaliste. Les paroles et la musique » (1960), repris in Répertoire II, éd. de Minuit, 1964.
  • Pascal DECROUPET, Développements et ramifications de la pensée sérielle: Pierre Boulez, Henri Pousseur et Karlheinz Stockhausen de 1951 à 1958 (thèse de doctorat, Université de Tours).
  • Célestin DELIÈGE, in Cinquante ans de modernité musicale : de Darmstadt à l’Ircam, Mardaga, 2003.
  • Umberto ECO, L’œuvre ouverte, Le Seuil, 1965.
  • Françoise ESCAL, Die Erprobung des Petrus Hebraïcus / Le Procès du jeune chien in Le Compositeur et ses modèles, PUF, 1984.
  • Michel GONNEVILLE (sous la dir. de), Henri Pousseur, Visages in Circuit 12/1, Montréal, 2001.
  • Gottfried Michael KOENIG, « Henri Pousseur » in die Reihe 4, Universal Edition, 1958.
  • Heinz-Klaus METZGER et Rainer RIEHM (sous la dir. de), « Henri Pousseur » in Musik-Konzepte 69, Munich, 1990.
  • Herman SABBE, « Henri Pousseur : quelques étapes d’une longue marche », Bulletin de la Société Liégoise de Musicologie n° 46, 1984.

Selection discographique

  • Henri POUSSEUR, Scambi, dans « Electronic music sources vol. 4 », Archive 1944-1959, avec des œuvres de Herbert Eimer & Robert Beyer, Halim El-dabh, Luc Ferrari, Richard Maxfield, Nam June, Vladimir Ussachevsky, François Mache, Daphne Oram, et André Boucourechliev, 1 cd Sinetone, 2010, AMR - AG007.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, « Parabolique d’enfer » : Paraboles-Mix ; Leçons d’Enfer, 1 cd Sub Rosa, 2009, SR 318.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, « Electronic, Experimental and Microtonal, 1953-1999 », 1 cd Sub Rosa, 2008.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, « Musique Mixte 1966-1970 », Crosses of crossed colors, 1 cd Sub Rosa, 2007.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, « Métamorphose des Noces de Mnémosyne et d’Eclipticare » joint au livre de Michel Hubin: « Henri Pousseur, Rencontre avec son temps », contient :  Les Métamorphoses de Marie-Madeleine ; Les Noces d’Icare et de Mnémosyne ; Eclipticare, éditions Luc Pire, Bruxelles, 2005.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, Naturel, Francis Orval : cor, avec des œuvres de Bruce Mather, Michel Gonneville et Jean-François Laporte, 1 cd atma classic, 2005, ACD22363.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, Liège à Paris, 1 cd Sub Rosa, 2004, SR 117.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, I. Couleurs croisées ; II. La seconde Apothéose de Rameau, Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, direction : Pierre Bartholomée (I), Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles, direction : Pierre Bartholomée (II), 1 cd Cypres, 2004, CYP 4621.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, « Paysages planétaires » : Seize Paysages planétaires ; Carillon brabançon, livret contenant entre autres la grande structure poétique homonyme et isomorphe de Michel Butor, illustrations du coffret, des différentes pochettes et du livret provenant d’images de la version audio-visuelle Voix et Vues planétaires, coffret de 3 cds Alga Marghen, Milan, 2003-2004, Alga 051CD.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, « Acousmatrix 4 » : Scambi ; Trois Visages de Liège ; Paraboles-Mix, Recherches Musicales de Wallonie, 1 cd Bvhasst, Amsterdam, 2003, n° 9010.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, Aquarius-Memorial in memoriam Karel Goeyvaerts : Les Litanies d’Icare ; Danseurs gnidiens cherchant la Perle clémentine ; Les Fouilles de Jéruzona ; Icare au Jardin du Verseau, Frederic Rzewski : piano, Beethoven-Academie, direction : Pierre Bartholomée, 1 cd Cypres 2001, CYP 4608.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, « Paraboliques » : Huit Études paraboliques, coffret de 4 cds Sub Rosa, 2001, SR 174.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, « 4 Parabolic Mixes », quatre réalisations des Paraboles-Mix parHenri Pousseur, Robert Hampson, Philip Jeck, Markus Popp, double cd Sub Rosa, 2001, SR 199.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, Traverser la Forêt, solistes, chœur de chambre et ensemble instrumental, direction : Jean-Pierre Peuvion, Musidisc, MU 243822, puis Universal-Music, Accord 461805-2, réédition : ADDA, n° 581295.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, Paraboles-Mix ; Leçons d’Enfer, joint au livre « Parabeln und Spiralen », collection « Signale aus Köln », Université de Cologne, Institut de Musicologie, Section Neue Musik, Série « Musik der Zeit » Paraboles-Mix avec Leçons d’Enfer, Lit-Verlag, Münster, 1999.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, La Guirlande de Pierre, Marianne Pousseur : soprano, Vincent Bouchot : baryton Frederic Rzewsky : piano Cypres, 1998.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, Mnémosyne I et Mnémosyne II, dans « Derniers Jours » Musique du XXe siècle, Jacques Feuillie : basse et le Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain, 1 cd Université de Rouen, UR001.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, Septième Vue sur les Jardins interdits, dans « Nouvelle Musique de chambre », ensemble de clarinettes, direction : Jean-Pierre Peuvion, avec des œuvres de Bernard Foccroulle, Frédéric D’Haene, Edison Denisov et Giacinto Scelsi, 1 cd Cypres, 1996, CYP 4601.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, Dichterliebesreigentraum, Marianne Pousseur : soprano, Peter Harvey : baryton, Alice Ader et Brigitte Foccroulle : pianos, Chœur de chambre de la Communauté française de Belgique, direction : Pierre Cao, Orchestre philharmonique de Liège, direction : Pierre Bartholomée, 1 cd Cypres, 1996, CYP 7602.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, Couleurs croisées, Orchestre philharmonique de Liège, direction : Pierre Bartholomée, avec une œuvre de Jean-Louis Robert, 1 cd Ricercar, RIC 036015.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, Séismogrammes, dans « Acousmatrix 6 » Early Electronic Music, 1 cd BVHAAST, Amsterdam, CD 9106.
  • Henri POUSSEUR, Phonèmes pour Cathy, dans « Song Cathy Sang » Linda Hirst : mezzo-soprano, 1 cd Virgin Classics, 1988, VC 790704-2.

Film

  • Guy-Marc HINANT et Dominique LOHLÉ, Hommage Au Sauvage - A Portrait Of Henri Pousseur, dvd, musique d’Henri Pousseur, interprétée par le Quatuor à cordes de l’Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles, édition française, sous-titres anglais, 1 dvd Sub Rosa, 52 minutes, 2009.

Liens Internet