a r t i s t : Pierre Henry
t i t l e : Cortical Art III
d a t e : 2006
l a b e l : Creel Pone
g e n r e : Avantgarde
r l s. d a t e : Apr/2006
t r a c k s : 03
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 75,6 MB
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In the first two weeks of september, 1973 an international
group of electro-encephalography and neurophysiology
professionals gathered in marseilles; the group was led by its
president professor gastaut and a significant number of
doctors and researchers.
due to their experience and knowledge, on september 5th
themembers of the congress were convened to attend a concert
at the saint victor abbey by composer pierre henry. they were
to witness a recently perfected instrument that tapped into
the cerebral electricity of its user: the corticalart, on
which pierre henry improvised that evening, creating nearly
one hour of music straight from his brain.
this recording was made at the scene, in public and is a
direct account of the sound created in the abbey. it did not
undergo any processing or mixing of any sort.
alpha, beta and artifact waves
those who were lucky enough to witness pierre henry's
improvisation on corticalart (besides those who'd been privy
to his performance at the musee d'art modern in paris in 1971*
and at the winter circus in 1972) in an intense state of
cerebral concentration, would never forget it.a great
adventure into a world of audio hitherto unexplored, this
exercise was a fascinating spectacle. it is important that we
can discuss it without fear of speaking of hypnosis,
catalepsy, "black mass" or seances. however, cortical art is
only one instrument like others (or, almost like them), that
uses all the resources of modern technology with regards to
electronics, but fundamentally no more cumbersome than a pedal
organ. cortical art uses alpha-rays, a hundred-year-old
discovery, whose existence was proven by german, hans berger,
to a musical end.
it is composed of an electric wave of variable frequency
(between 8 and 12 cycles per second), emitted in the
occipital-temporal regions of the human brain by two
symmetrical generators, oscillating at about the same rate.
the waves' rate seem to vary within the subject, and can be
collected directly on cranium using electrodes. the waves are
identified as either alpha waves (slow rate/rhythm,
corresponding with a state of inattentiveness, relaxation and
rest) or beta waves (a fast rate, implying alertness,
attentiveness and activity) according to their frequency. on
the front of the subject one can collect signals known as
artifact which are related to the muscular activity of the
eye.
the invention of corticalart
let us now transform this electric transmission into audio
signals: the individual, the musician, becomes at once his own
material and the materialÆs own interpreter. it was in the
hope of implementing the school of thought (fanatical
identification on the philosophical level) that musician and
researcher roger lafosse came to imagine, and then to build
with the technical assistance of the groupe artec de bordeaux
a preliminary version of the cortical art. the instrument was
then developed and improved for a richer and more flexible
use.
a solo instrument
whereas pierre henry combined his preceding "mises-in-musique
du cortical art" with mixtures of pre-recorded sequences made
using studio equipment, the instrument alone is what is
experienced here. its music has a brut, incomparable,
"prehistoric" force. each moment of the improvisation, its
beginning which resembles a dawn, its increasingly loud sound
pushes, its glorious efflorescence, its baroque summits, holds
its own, but as a whole it appears welded together by its
extraordinary dramatic progression, perhaps related to the
fight of the composer to go down increasingly deep into
himself. --- anne rey
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01-cortical art iii side 1 [24:27]
02-cortical art iii side 2 [24:27]
03-applause [00:23]
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49:17 min