Liliane Donskoy

Première edition, which brings together a near-complete collection of the acousmatic works of Liliane Donskoy, recorded in the 1970s and 1980s.

Liliane Donskoy (*1933) is a French, classically trained pianist, music teacher, and composer of both instrumental and acousmatic music. She began her musical training at an early age, undertaking private piano studies with Yves Nat at the age of thirteen, shortly after the Second World War. During the 1960s and 1970s, she pursued advanced studies with prominent figures of twentieth-century music, including Darius Milhaud, Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Schaeffer, and Guy Reibel, and participated in courses led by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luciano Berio, György Ligeti, and Iannis Xenakis.

Despite this extensive and diverse training, Donskoy encountered limited institutional and professional opportunities to fully realize her artistic vision. A decisive turning point occurred in 1977, when she gained access to the facilities of the Institute of Psychoacoustics and Electronic Music (IPEM) in Ghent. There, she realized and completed the majority of her acousmatic compositions.

Donskoy’s oeuvre is characterized by a high degree of structural complexity, precision, and expressive intensity. Her work reflects a pronounced and distinctive artistic temperament, manifested through a rigorous exploration of sound material and form. Notwithstanding its artistic significance, her music has remained largely unknown, as her compositions were neither widely circulated nor formally released, leading to their relative obscurity until the present publication.

Signed photo (special box edition)

All compositions by Liliane Donskoy

A1-La Légende des Merveilles du Monde (1978)
A2-Instant d’Automne (1984)
B1-Incantation Nocturne (1978)
B2- Improvisation (1990)
B3- Six Pièces pour Violon et Bande (1984)
C1-Quatre Chevaliers avec des Glaives d’Eau – d’après Cendrars (1981)
C2-Quatre Chevaliers avec des Glaives d’Eau – d’après Lorca (1982)
D1-Quatre Chevaliers avec des Glaives d’Eau – d’après Rumi (1984)
D2-Quatre Chevaliers avec des Glaives d’Eau – d’après Artaud (1986)
E1-Gigognes (1980)
F1-Tcheer et son Voyage (2019/2025)

Liliane Donskoy at IPEM, early 1980s

Anthology produced by Timo van Luijk
Mastering by EARLabs
Booklet edited by Vincent de Roguin
Design by Meeuw