Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center 1961-1973

various artists compilation - Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center 1961-1973

CD released in 1998

This is an excellent and essential compilation of vintage first-generation electronic music from one of the most well-known electronic music studios.

The Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center was the first electronic music center of its kind to be established in the United States, and from 1959 to the late 1970s it was one of the premier sound facilities in the world. The history of the EMC falls into four sections: 1951-59, as the original experimental studio begun by Vladimir Ussachevsky; 1959-1983, the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, directed by Ussachevsky, and the leading electronic music studio in the United States; 1983-1994, as the Columbia University Electronic Music Center, directed by Mario Davidovsky; and 1994 to the present, as the Columbia University Computer Music Center, directed by Fred Lerdahl and Bradford Garton. [now directed only by Bradford Garton] From 1951 to 1983, the function of the EMC was the teaching and production of electronic music, and the vast majority of pieces composed at the Center - approximately three hundred - were composed during this period. Some of these compositions have become classics of music history.
...
In 1959, with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center was founded, with Ussachevsky as director, and his colleagues Otto Luening, Milton Babbitt, and Roger Sessions on the committee of direction. A number of composers were invited to do the first work at the Center, including Bulent Arel (Turkey), Halim El-Dabh (Egypt), Mario Davidovsky (Argentina), and Charles Wuorinen, who was then a graduate student at Columbia. The Center presented its first concert in May 1961, the program consisting of Ussachevsky's Creation-Prologue, Arel's Stereo Electronic Music No. 1, Halim El-Dabh's Leila and the Poet, Milton Babbitt's Composition for Synthesizer, Mario Davidovsky's Electronic Study #1, Otto Luening's Gargoyles for Violin Solo and Synthesized Sound, and Charles Wuorinen's Symphonia Sacra. [all of these pieces with the exception of Wuorinen's piece are on the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center LP] This wide variation in musical style and aesthetic continued at the Center for the next twenty years, until Ussachevsky's retirement.  (Alice Shields)

Tracklisting:

1. Bulent Arel - Postlude from "Music for a Sacred Service" {4:01}

2. Charles Dodge - Earth's Magnetic Field {14:08}

3. Ilhan Mimaroglu - Prelude No. 8 (To the Memory of Edgard Varese) {3:59}

4. Bulent Arel and Daria Semegen - Out of Into {16:38}

5. Ingram Marshall - Cortez {8:35}

6. Daria Semegen - Electronic Composition No. 1 {5:52}

7. Alice Shields - Dance Piece No. 3 {5:53}

8. Alice Shields - Study for Voice and Tape {5:17}

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Electronic Pioneers

various artists compilation - Electronic Pioneers

Originally posted on July 22, 2006

From the back cover:

The music on this record was produced at the original Columbia University Tape Music Studio and its successor, the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, and at the University of Illinois Electronic Music Studio. It includes some of the earliest electronic music released on commercial records, and is reissued by CRI after its deletion on the Son Nova and Heliodor labels. The tapes used in this reissue are all freshly mixed from the original materials.

Three fundamental types of electronic music are represented: (1) tape music composed from materials created from 'natural' (concrete) sounds such as gongs, voices, and instruments; (2) tape music composed from sounds which were generated by electronic instruments such as audio oscillators and manipulated by diverse processing devices; (3) tape music composed from mixtures of concrete and electronic sound sources.

In all of the compositions, the composers employed the customary techniques of manipulating basic source-sounds recorded on magnetic tape. For example, complex sounds were constructed by splicing together short pieces of tape cut from recordings of various basic sounds. the ear perceives a total impression of complexity without being able to distinguish each of the simple components. This mosaic-like technique, which demands considerable patience on the part of the composer, was, in the early days of tape music sometimes regarded as sufficient to the completion of a tape composition.

In these works, however, the composers found it compositionally desirable to further process basic sound sources by way of semi-automatic devices. For example, tape recorders and associated equipment were used to develop continuous patterns of sound, usually characterized by certain rhythmic rigidity, but nevertheless useful. Between, the extremes of handicraft and machine work, the composers used a variety of other specialized techniques, made possible by the flexibility of tape and the versatility of electronic equipment. For example, varying speed was used to produce different pitches and timbres; filtering was used to suppress some of the timbral characteristics of a given sound; reverberation to let the echo add color, liveliness, and a sense of spaciousness.

Tracklisting:

1. Mario Davidovsky - Electronic Study No. 2 {6:10}

2. Vladimir Ussachevsky - Linear Contrasts {3:35}

3. Bulent Arel - Electronic Music No. 1 {8:23}

4. Kenneth Gaburo - Lemon Drops {2:44}

5. Kenneth Gaburo - For Harry {4:39}

6. Vladimir Ussachevsky - Metamorphosis {5:04}

7. Bulent Arel - Music For a Sacred Service: Prelude and Postlude {6:32}

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Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center

various artists compilation - Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center

Originally posted on July 21, 2006

Write up by muse1453:
I bought this record at a library sale for only a dollar several years ago (to this day I still consider this the best dollar I ever spent). It opened my ears to a musical history that I was totally unaware of, and, of course, the music on this album is great as well. While the music is academic in nature (music made by academics, duh), the pieces are quite engaging and not just some dull exercise as they could have been IMHO. One could feel a sense of musical exploration taking place when listening to these tracks.

This record was released sometime in the early 60s when electronic music was still considered a new form of expression explored by mostly music professors. Electronic music was considered controversial in and out of formal music circles. Some people still seem to take an aversion to electronic music in the present. This record comes highly recommended especially for those who enjoyed Ohm: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music compilation.

The back cover has the basic information about the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center: "The Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center was established in 1959 with the assistance of a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. The Center provides three studios for composition and research in the electronic production of music. One studio houses the RCA Electronic Sound Synthesizer and related recording equipment, the others contain specialized equipment for sound generation and modification. Earlier grants from the Foundation made through Barnard College, allotment of space and other assistance by Columbia University have enabled Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky of Columbia to conduct joint experiments in the medium, with technical assistance from Mr. Peter Mauzey. The Center is jointly administered by Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky of Columbia University and Milton Babbitt and Roger Sessions of Princeton University."

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Bulent Arel - Stereo Electronic Music No. 1 {10:09}

2. Halim El-Dabh - Leiyla and the Poet {5:08}

3. Vladimir Ussachevsky - Creation - Prologue {7:45}

Side 2

4. Milton Babbitt - Composition For Synthesizer {10:19}

5. Mario Davidovsky - Electronic Study No. 1 {5:32}

6. Otto Luening - Gargoyles {9:06}

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