My Fascinating Instrument

Oskar Sala - My Fascinating Instrument

From Discogs:

Oskar Sala (1910, Greiz, Germany - 2002, Berlin, Germany) was one of the most innovative composers in the history of electronic music. His instrument, the Mixtur-Trautonium was first introduced to the public in 1952 and soon received international licenses. Its massive architecture remains so unique that nobody is able to reproduce the instrument nor interpret any of his compositions.

Oskar Sala had been a pupil of Friedrich Trautwein, the inventor of the Trautonium. But physicist Sala studied music with Paul Hindemith in 1930 at the Berlin conservatory and also played his compositions for Trautonium. Early on with Trautwein, he composed pieces for Trautonium and performed them with the Berlin Philharmony conducted by Carl Schuricht in 1940.

From the 40's, he dedicated himself to film scoring and helped numerous classics to gain their musical refinements. In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock was unsuccessfully searching for an acoustic environment to his eerie bird scenes until Sala convinced him to use his Trautonium-generated
sound-effects.

Someone asked for something from Oskar Sala. I managed to borrow a CD-R copy of this album from a friend. I did not receive any liner notes. As is the case with most innovative electronic musicians, I was introduced to Oskar Sala from the OHM: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music compilation (Concertando rubato from Elektronische Tanzsuite) which is also on here.

Tracklisting:

1. Fantasie-Suite in Drei Satzen Fur Mixturtrautonium Solo {20:58}

a) Demonstration b) Skala Nuova c) Farbmelodie

2. "Rede Des Toten Christus Vorn Weltgebaude Herab, Dass Kein Gott Sei"
{12:29}

3. Largo {4:52}

4. Fanfare {1:17}

5. Impression Electronique {6:46}

6. Elektronische Tanzsuite {16:07}

a) Concertando rubato b) Expressivo c) Glocoso d) Strepitoso e) Furioso

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There's also Sala's sound effects work on Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds available at Orpheus Music.