Pierre Henry Essentials

A student of Olivier Messiaen and a contemporary of fellow musique concrète visionary Pierre Schaeffer, Pierre Henry became fascinated with the possibilities of electronic music in the early 1940s. His early compositions were built from random sound samples and squelching noises from early synthesisers, especially his 12-part cut-and-paste Symphonie Pour un Homme Seul. Henry's later work, including scores he wrote for ballet and film, embraced fuzzy garage rock and modular synths like the Moog and proved to be a huge influence on modern IDM.