New Electronic Music from Leaders of the Avant-Garde

various artists compilation - New Electronic Music from Leaders of the Avant-Garde

"I believe that the use of noise to make music will continue and increase until we reach a music produced through the aid of electrical instruments that will make available for musical purposes any and all sounds that can be heard."

This statement was made by John Cage as long ago as 1937. Yet, with a few "pre-historic" exceptions, it was not until the development of magnetic recording tape around 1950 that the fulfillment of this prophecy began to be truly realized. The establishment of tape studios in Paris, Cologne, Milan, New York and elsewhere enabled composers to create finished works directly on tape, utilizing both electronically generated signals and live sounds recorded through microphones. In both cases, the sounds could be further processed by electronic modification or tape manipulations. Henri Pousseur's "Trois visages de Liège" elegantly illustrates the refinement which can be achieved with such "classic" studio practice.

With the aid of such new musical resources, composers have pursued two increasingly divergent interests, the first leading toward the invention and discovery of "any and all sounds that can be heard," the second toward precise control over musical materials beyond the limits of the human performer. To facilitate such control, particularly over rhythmic problems, sophisticated programming devices, such as the RCA Music Synthesizers, the Moog Synthesizers and high-speed digital computers have been employed. Enabling the composer to specify precise values of frequency, amplitude, duration and succession of all sound events, such devices produce a completed tape composition requiring little or no editing. Milton Babbitt's "Ensembles for Synthesizer" is an eminent example of works in this genre.

To composers whose demands had already exceeded the capabilities of most instrumentalists, the elimination of the performer was most welcome, assuring a perfect "performance" every time. To others, more interested in questions of of process and change, chance and indeterminacy, plus the actions and interactions of human performers, the medium of fixed tape music seemed increasingly "deadly." Thus, in the late 1950's, a number of musicians began experimenting with "live" electronic performances. Foremost among these were John Cage (whose live electronic works actually extend back to "Imaginary Landscape No. 1", of 1939) and David Tudor. (From the liner notes by Richard Teitelbaum)

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. John Cage - Variations II {26:02}

David Tudor - piano

Side 2

1. Milton Babbitt - Ensembles for Synthesizer {10:32}

2. Henri Pousseur - Trois visages de Liège {17:35}

I. L'Air et l'eau

II. Voix de la ville

III. Forges

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