INA-GRM / Musique Concrete recommendations?

puretokyo

Mercury Blues
Yes, I'm fishing again :D ... I have a feeling that I should be listening to some concréte (or acousmatique etc). I really haven't delved at all, to tell the truth - its such a self-contained and forbidding world that I'm not sure where to start. Parmegiani keeps coming up, and what I've been able to download of his I've really enjoyed. And I love luxurious packaging and artwork - so, who can tell me where I might start?

Big thanks to the answerers!
 

vache

Well-known member
Of INA-GRM in particular, to start:
"L'oeuvre Musicale"--Pierre Schaeffer
"De Natura Sonorum"--Bernard Parmeghiani
"Tautologos"--Luc Ferrari
"Diamorphoses-Concret PH-Orient Occident"--Xenakis
"L'Experience Acoustique"--Francois Bayle

Those are sort of the classics released on that label. I think "De Natura Sonorum" is so good that it can turn on people to this sort of music who would never have any interest in it otherwise.

However, there are lots of other related and non-INA-GRM releases worth checking out to get a feel for the "scene."
"Variations on a Door and a Sigh"--Pierre Henry
"8 Electronic Pieces"--Tod Dockstader
"The Complete Tape Music of Dick Raijmaakers"
"Outstanding Warrants"--Ilhan Mimaroglu
to name three...

If you want free stuff, check out earLabs . They've posted mp3s of the classic Electronic Panorama set that is long out-of-print.
 
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francesco

Minerva Estassi
Artist: VA
Title: Archives GRM
Label: INA GRM (FRANCE)
Format: 5CD
Price: $55.00
Catalog #: INA 1030
Deluxe 5CD box issued in conjunction with the 30 history history of the INA GRM in France. The roots and historical development of musique concrete and experimental electronic/tape music -- packaged in stunning form. 5 jewel cased CDs in a heavy duty box, featuring 101 tracks (many previously unreleased, others never released on INA before; most are edits to some degree), with an 80 page booklet of historical photos. Essays by Jean-Christophe Thomas, Regis Renouard Lariviere, Christian Zanesi,
Daniel Teruggi, Yann Geslin & Francoise Bayle, plus detailed notes on every track. Provides a captivating overview of decades of breakthrough developments in sound/architexture, and is a totally essential artifact in its own right.

"To mark and celebrate the thirty years of the INA, the GRM has chosen to bring together an exceptional set of five compact discs, illustrating some of its most remarkable musical archives. These original works, which are often previously unpublished or have been dispersed throughout a host of other publications, are important because of the originality and audacity they testify to in the second half of the 20th century. Some listeners will be pleased to see that there are a number of illustrious composers here who, in the 1950s, frequented the studio of Pierre Schaeffer, and others will discover numberous musicians whose enthusiasm enabled this innovative musical genre to last throughout the following decades. The Institut National de l'Audiovisuel, whose mission to conserve and diffuse audio-visual heritage has never been more active, is able to demonstrate with these CDs the full extent of its extraordinarily rich musical collections. The INA is steadfastly building up the future of your memory." -- Emmanuel Hoog, INA Chairman

CD1: "Les visiteurs de l'aventure concrete" (early works by "the visitors of the concrete adventure"); CD2: "l'art de l'etude" ("The art of study"); CD3: le son en nombre ("Sound in numbers"); CD4: "Le temps du temps reel" (all works produced via Syter); CD5: le GRM sans le savoir ("The GRM without knowing it"). Featured artists (and year of work included): Andre Hodeir ("Jazz et Jazz" from 1951, "the very first mixed work in history"), Pierre Boulez (Etudes from 1951), Jean Barraque (1951-54), Darius Milhaud (1954), Roman Haubenstock-Ramati 1957), Henri Sauguet (1957), Edgar Varese ("Deserts", "Interpolation 1", 1954), Andre Boucourechliev (1959), Claude Ballif (1962), Iannis Xenakis ("Concret PH", 1958), Oliver Messiaen (the legendary unreleased collaboration wtih Pierre Henry, "Timbres Durees", from 1952), Pierre Schaeffer ("L'Etude Pathetique", from the concrete debut of 1948) , Monique Rollin (1952), Michel Philippot, Philippe Arthuys (1955), Luc Ferrari (various works from 1958), Francois-Bernard (1959), Mireille Chamass-Kyrou (1960), Ivo Malec (1961), Philippe Carson (1962), Akira Tamba (1962), Beatriz Ferreyra (1960), Alain Savouret (1969 & 1985), Francois Bayle ("It." -- excerpt of L'experience Acoustique, from 1970, with Robert Wyatt!), Dieter Kauffman (1987), Jean-Claude Risset (1984) Denis Smalley (1987), Gilles Racot, (1984-5) Yann Geslin (1981-2), Benedict Mailliard (1984-5), Francois Dhomont (1989), Benard Parmegiani ("Indicatif Roissy", the classic 4 second work from 1971, plus other early/short "sound designs"), Ake Parmerud, Denis Dufour, Horacio Vaggione, Gilles Racot, Daniel Teruggi, Ramon Gonzales-Arroyo, Michel Redolfi, Michel Portal, Boris Vian (1962), Robert Cohen-Solal (1968), Guy Reibel (1971), Edgardo Canton (1967), Christian Zanesi (1996).
 

francesco

Minerva Estassi
Ohm-Early Gurus of Electronic


B00004T0FZ.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg



Disc: 1

1. Tchaikovsky: Valse Sentimentale - Clara Rockmore
2. Oraision - Olivier Messiaen
3. Etude aux Chemins de Fer - Pierre Schaeffer
4. Williams Mix - John Cage
5. Klangstudie II
6. Low Speed
7. Dripsody - Hugh Le Caine
8. Main Title from "Forbidden Planet" - Bebe Barron
9. Concertando Rubato: Elektronische Tanzsuite - Oskar Sala
10. Poème Électronique - Edgard Varèse
11. Sine Music (A Swarm of Butterflies Encountered Over the Ocean) [#] - Richard Maxfield
12. Apocalypse II - Tod Dockstader
13. Kontakte - Karlheinz Stockhausen
14. Wireless Fantasy - Vladimir Ussachevsky
15. Philomel - Milton Babbitt
16. Spacecraft - M.E.V.

Disc: 2

1. Cindy Electronium [#] - Raymond Scott
2. Pendulum Music - Steve Reich
3. Bye Bye Butterfly - Pauline Oliveros
4. Projection Esemplastic for White Noise - Joji Yuasa
5. Silver Apples of the Moon, Pt. 1 - Morton Subotnick
6. Rainforest Version 1 - David Tudor Listen
7. Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band - Terry Riley
8. Boat-Woman-Song - Holger Czukay
9. Music Promenade - Luc Ferrari
10. Rosace 3 - François Bayle
11. Mutations - Jean-Claude Risset
12. Hibiki-Hana-Ma - Iannis Xenakis
Listen

Disc: 3

1. Speech Songs: He Destroyed Her Image - Charles Dodge
2. Six Fantasies on a Poem by Thomas Campion: Her Song - Paul Lansky
3. Appalachian Grove I - Laurie Spiegel
4. En Phase/Hors Phase - Bernard Parmegiani
5. On the Other Ocean - David Behrman
6. Stria - John Chowning
7. Living Sound, Patent Pending [#] - Maryanne Amacher
8. Automatic Writing - Robert Ashley
9. Canti Illuminati - Alvin Curran
10. Music on a Long Thin Wire 1 - Alvin Lucier
11. Melange - Klaus Schulze
12. Before and After Charm (La Notte) [#] - Jon Hassell
13. Unfamiliar Wind (Leeks Hills) - Brian Eno
 

Ness Rowlah

Norwegian Wood
RCD2002.JPEG


shame on me for not having this CD (I've got the Nordheim Deathprod/Biosphere CD though)
- but I'll chip in with our own Arne Nordheim:

"In the mid-50s he had lessons with Vagn Holmboe, and also started studied in sound particularly in conection with "musique concrete," and studies in electrophonies in Bilthoven (1959). From 1967-1972 Nordheim spent much time in the Studio Eksperymentaine in Warsaw studying electronic music, which resulted in the work <CITE>Pace</CITE> (1970), a commission from Polish Radio."

http://www.forcedexposure.com/artists/nordheim.arne.html (sounds like a bargain at $15)

"Beautifully presented reissue of classic archival electroacoustic works, first released on now very obscure vinyl in 1974. Bright orange fold-out digipak, extensive booklet of notes package some of the most exciting, shimmering and crystalline electronic sounds to be unearthed in quite a while. Important and essential.
... He started to get international recognition in 1960 with his orchestral work 'Canzona per Orchestra' and soon after began to explore the use of pre-recorded tape as part of the compositions. His electronic works were recorded in Warszaw between 1967 and 1971, and have strangely enough not been available on record since the 70s. We are extremely proud to be able to present what can be termed the collected electronic works of Arne Nordheim. ... Compared to some of the more 'famous' electronic composers, Nordheim distinguish's himself by his sheer musicality and sense of structure...Electronic boxes, electric instruments and recorded tape glide in and out as a natural part of the orchestra, in constant pursuit of magical and spellbinding timbres. The orchestral parts reveal how working with mixers and tape splicing have influenced the development of musical ideas in more traditional arrangements"
 
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redcrescent

Well-known member
vache said:
If you want free stuff, check out earLabs . They've posted mp3s of the classic Electronic Panorama set that is long out-of-print.
Thanks so much! A mate made me a 'best of' this box set once but I think it's all worth hearing. Nice one.

@francesco
Good call with that OHM box, that's a good primer on some of the landmarks, I think.

@Ness Rowlah
If you enjoyed the Biosphere/Deathprod re-dos of Nordheim material, you will love Electric. Has some great things on it, i.e. PolyPoly, a piece done for the Scandinavian pavilion of the 1970 Osaka World Trade Fair (where Stockhausen was doing his thing at the German pavilion, and Xenakis had his 'Hibiki-Hana-Ma' piece -available on the OHM set above- playing in the Japanese Steel pavilion). Six pieces of tape, of varying lengths, running side by side. For these tapes to repeat the exact same sounds as at the beginning of the piece, they would have to be left running for 106 years!
This is really worth getting, IMHO.
 

Woebot

Well-known member
great list vache!

and wow never knew bout that comp franceso.

heres a few of mine

<img alt="chion.jpg" src="http://www.woebot.com/images/dissensus/chion.jpg" width="500" height="500" border="0" />

<img alt="lejeune.jpg" src="http://www.woebot.com/images/dissensus/lejeune.jpg" width="500" height="500" border="0" />

<img alt="mache.jpg" src="http://www.woebot.com/images/dissensus/mache.jpg" width="500" height="500" border="0" />

<img alt="mion.jpg" src="http://www.woebot.com/images/dissensus/mion.jpg" width="500" height="500" border="0" />

<img alt="parm.jpg" src="http://www.woebot.com/images/dissensus/parm.jpg" width="500" height="500" border="0" />

<img alt="reibel.jpg" src="http://www.woebot.com/images/dissensus/reibel.jpg" width="500" height="500" border="0" />

the parmegiani without a doubt the best. the mion/reibel/lejeune all top quality. the chion here the same fellow vaunted by kodwo eshun who wrote that famous book on david lynch. his record only so-so. the one i want is jean scharz's "symphonie"
 

Rambler

Awanturnik
vache said:
If you want free stuff, check out earLabs . They've posted mp3s of the classic Electronic Panorama set that is long out-of-print.


Oh, wow - thank you for that link vache - that's my afternoon sorted!
 

SMorlighem

Well-known member
WOEBOT said:
the one i want is jean scharz's "symphonie"

Matt, I can cdr-it if you wanna (& also : 'Erda', 'Gamma Plus', 'Sonances' & 'Surroundings')

What about a GRiMe genre ? Imagine Parmegiani & Dizzee ! Bayle & Wiley ! Ferrari & D Double E ! CONCRETE JUNGLE, MATES ! ;)
 

vache

Well-known member
WOEBOT said:
the parmegiani without a doubt the best. the mion/reibel/lejeune all top quality. the chion here the same fellow vaunted by kodwo eshun who wrote that famous book on david lynch. his record only so-so. the one i want is jean scharz's "symphonie"
Chion's Requiem is subtly one of the more unsettling/disturbing pieces of music I've ever heard; I would argue that a good portion of Steve Stapleton's career is built on attempting to emulate its atmosphere. It's quite nice especially if you're a connoisseur of panic-inducing music.
Chion's book on sound in film Audio-Vision is absolutely essential.
 

nonightsweats

Active member
someone mentioned mimaroglu's ...warrants cd but, really, his best stuff continues to be the still out of print "wings of the delirious demon" and "face the windmills, turn left". both are essential listening.
 

iueke

Active member
yr right about 'wings of a delirious demon' to classic stuff - my fave by Mimaroglu has to be 'Tract' which i think has jjust been re'd.
 

puretokyo

Mercury Blues
Gosh, thanks to you all for the recommendations!

Special thanks to Vache, Francesco and Woebot, who've given me than I know what to do with... I'll start with some more Parmegiani, perhaps the INA-GRM comp, look for than OHM one and let you know how I go with my discoveries. Ta!
 
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