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VA
pioneers of electronic music
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.date Aug-08-2004
.style Electronic
.label CRI
.cat.no. CRI CD611
.source CDDA
.type Album
.quality VBRkbps 44.1hz Joint-Stereo
.size 109,7 MB
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DPS note: I know a lot of you look to DPS for bleepy beats and such, and
that our more avantgarde releases leave some of you cold. Well, give
this record a shot even if all you want from us is Kid606's latest
jizzrag... Vladimir Ussachevsky in particular is not to be missed.
Obligatory lazy paste from a website:
For a lot of electronic music fans, the pioneers of electronic music
would be Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, or Vangelis. For younger
fans, they might be Derrick May, Juan Atkins, or Jesse Saunders.
This CD really goes "back in the days" to the days when electronic music
was in its first heyday in the academic world. It collects works created
at the Columbia-Princeton Music Center, one of the more important early
centers for electronic music. Included are works by Vladimir
Ussachevsky, Otto Luening, Pril Smiley, Bulent Arel, Mario Davidovsky,
and Alice Shields. The works selected are from 1952 to 1971.
The music of Pioneers of Electronic Music is experimental, and will be
enjoyed by those that are excited by experimental music. The tracks are
often dissonant and atonal, while many of them may remind you of
background music for scary movies of the 60's.
Ussachevsky's "Sonic Contours" explores splicing and tape manipulation
of recorded piano sounds. The sounds are reversed, sustained, echoed and
otherwise manipulated. The music is fairly open; at most Ussachevsky has
two or three sounds occurring at once. One section of the piece
contrasts slow echoed sounds with what sounds like twelve-tone serial
lines in the upper registers of the piano. Another section sounds like
Ussachevsky just improvised piano gestures while using tape echo to
create a background of fading repeats.
Luening contributes five pieces. Each features tape-manipulated flute
sounds. "Low speed" is a slow piece that takes flute improvisations and
combines them with flute that has been slowed down, dropping the sound
an octave, or sped up, raising the pitches. The result is quiet and
somber. "Invention in Twelve Tones" continues in a similar vein. It has
two sections. The first part is just flute playing serial melodies with
extended tape echo. The second section adds sped-up flute to this.
"Fantasy in Space" contrasts several flute lines that have been treated
in various ways. One flute plays with heavy tape echo, making it sound
muted and far away. Another part plays without any effects.
"Incantation" is the most experimental of the Luening pieces. Here he
works with Ussachevsky and use manipulated flute, piano and voice. The
vocals are loaded with strange tape effects, creating a haunting effect.
The flute and piano are drenched in reverb. The overall effect is
haunting. Luening's "Moonflight" continues his use of manipulated flute.
Again, he drenches most of the flute parts in echo or reverb, but he
also contrasts this with a untreated flute part.
Ussachevsky's "Piece for Tape Recorder" takes things into more
experimental territory. This piece is composed of tape manipulations of
a limited set of sounds. He took things like the sound of a single gong
strike, the sound of a jet plane, and piano sounds, and treated and
collaged the sounds to try and create a piece with some logical
continuity. This work works best when he explores the pure sound of the
manipulated tape elements. It's less successful at combining them into a
coherent whole.
Pril Smiley's "Kolyosa" jumps things up 15 years to 1970. By this time,
electronically synthesized sounds had become common. This piece
contrasts long and short percussive sounds, and is made up of almost
completely non-pitched material. The piece builds to climax by
increasing the density, volume and pitches of the sounds, and then dies
to silence.
Bulent Arel's "Stereo Electronic Music No. 2" a small range of parts and
sounds, and contrasts slow-moving drones, with fast sequenced gestures.
While this piece is carefully crafted, the result is sounds surprisingly
similar to Vangelis' improvised Beaubourg.
Next, Ussachevsky contributes several analog electronic pieces.
"Computer Piece No.1" is built from a variety of source materials,
including computer-generated sounds and recorded audio. Ussachevsky's
approach is the same as he used in this earlier music, so the effect of
the music is similar, even though it uses more exotic sounds. His "Two
Sketches for a Computer Piece" are completely electronic, and are the
result of using a computer to sequence pitches.
Davidovsky's "Synchronisms No. 5" combines live performance with
electronic elements. The live sounds come from various percussion
instruments, and electronics are used largely to extend the palette of
percussive sounds. The piece is made up of extreme contrasts of tempo
and dynamics, and much of the interest results from the synchronization
of the electronic and acoustic sounds.
The last cut on the CD, Alice Shield's "The Transformation of Ani", is
from 1970, uses only manipulated versions of the composers voice.
Shields manipulates the sounds so extensively, though, that she is still
able to turn it into a tremendous range of sounds. The text is taken
from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. She combines the manipulated vocal
sounds with her voice quietly speaking the text. This piece is haunting,
because her treatments transform her voice into something barely
recognizable as human.
Because of the limited number of artists, "Pioneers of Electronic Music"
can't be seen as comprehensive. If you're looking for an overview, or a
greatest hits of academic electronic music, this isn't it. What it does
do is provide a excellent introduction to the style of experimental
sound manipulation pioneered at the Columbia-Princeton Music Center.
-synthtopia.com
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01 vladimir ussachevsky - sonic contours (1952) 07:24
02 otto luening - low speed (1952) 03:46
03 otto luening - invention in twelve tones (1952) 03:47
04 otto luening - fantasy in space (1952) 02:57
05 otto luening and vladimir ussachevsky - incantation 02:37
(1953)
06 otto luening - moonflight (1968) 03:00
07 vladimir ussachevsky - piece for tape recorder (1956) 05:44
08 pril smiley - kolyosa (1970) 06:44
09 bulent arel - stereo electronic music no. 2 (1970) 14:24
10 vladimir ussachevsky - computer piece no. 1 (1968) 03:49
11 vladimir ussachevsky - two sketches for a computer 00:59
piece 1 (1971)
12 vladimir ussachevsky - two sketches for a computer 02:17
piece 2 (1971)
13 mario davidovsky - synchronisms no. 5 (1969) 08:39
14 alice shields - the transformation of ani (1970) 09:05
. .
75:12 min
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