Pascale Criton

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Pascale Criton (born 1954 in Paris) is a French composer and musicologist known for using very dense microtonal scales—tiny steps smaller than standard notes, such as 1/12 tone or 1/16 tone. She studied with prominent composers including Ivan Wyschnegradsky, Gérard Grisey, and Jean-Etienne Marie, and took part in the Darmstadt Summer Courses in 1980 and 1988. She trained in electroacoustic music at CIRM (1980–82) and did computer music work at IRCAM (1986). Criton also developed an interest in ethnomusicology, joining the Groupe de Recherche sur la Tradition Orale in Abidjan in 1979.

Her works have been created in France and performed worldwide, at venues and festivals such as Darmstadt, the American Festival of Microtonal Music in New York, IRCAM, Presences, Ars Electronica, and others. Since the early 1980s she has explored microvariability of sound and written for instruments tuned to microtonal scales (pianos, microtonal guitars, strings tuned to 1/4, 1/8, 1/12, 1/16 tone), often alongside traditional diatonic instruments and with electronic synthesis.

Her approach is influenced by philosopher Gilles Deleuze, whom she met in 1987, focusing on the idea of the continuum. She aims to move beyond natural scale breaks to create a continuous sound world, using very dense microtonal intervals that are barely audible but change how we perceive timbre, rhythm and time, enabling subtle shifts in musical texture.