Satan's Sermon and Other Electronic Fantasies

various artists compilation - Satan's Sermon and Other Electronic Fantasies

Yes, it's another great compilation of vintage electronic music.

GEORGE TODD - SATAN'S SERMON

SATAN'S SERMON and VARIATIONS ON A BAGATELLE were composed in the Bregman Electronic Studio at Dartmouth College. The sounds were produced on a Synclavier, a real-time music system driven by an Able 40 computer. This extraordinary instrument was developed by Jon Appleton, Director of the Bregman Studio, and Sydney Alonso and Cameron Jones, directors of New England Digital of Norwich, Vermont, which now manufactures the system. Strictly speaking, then, the music is computer (digital) music - though a great deal of the compositional process involved analog devices; mixers, tape machines - and, of course, razor blades.

Though the surface of SATAN'S SERMON is often dense, the materials used to create the textures were very simple. Basically the piece consists of short gestures (very few of which have more than twenty notes) which have been elaborately reprocessed through the Synclavier. (George Todd)

GEORGE TODD - VARIATIONS

VARIATIONS on the other hand was composed in ten days. The machine was still in its proto-type stage and the variations which I composed one-a-day were sort of my compositional calisthenics on the Synclavier. The theme is a set of sine tones with undifferentiated envelopes. The variations which follow are loosely based on the contours of the phrases in the theme. (George Todd)

DARIA SEMEGEN - SPECTRA (ELECTRONIC COMPOSITION NO. 2)

In SPECTRA, the fast-flowing thematic groups are combined in various successions to generate new structures which are different from the characteristics of their original components. The work's rapidly changing sound colors are also the result of the superimposition of many sound layers, each with its own individual timbre. SPECTRA uses electronic sounds from a Buchla Series 200 synthesizer combined with precise mixing, editing, and recording techniques. (Daria Semegen)

THOMAS WELLS - 11.2.72, ELECTRONIC MUSIC

11.2.72, ELECTRONIC MUSIC is divided into three sections: the outer sections employ FM and resonant-filter-produced sounds, while the middle section consists of discrete pitch material. The work is characterized by emphasis on compositional transformations of a limited amount of material. (Thomas Wells)

JAN GREENWALD - DURATION 2

DURATION 2 was computed on the Nova 1200 Data General computer and transferred via an interface program to the Buchla 500 digital-to-analog synthesizer. The computer program was written so that it generated pitch, rhythmic and timbre group material. More subtle timbral qualities were composed by ear. This particular program was earlier used to generate Durations (Perseverance Furthers) for Orchestra, and then applied with slightly altered input data to this version. The piece describes a linear transformation of durations from 10 to .05 seconds within a timespan of 12' 50". (Jan Greenwald)

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. George Todd - Satan's Sermon {14:45}

2. George Todd - Variations on a Bagatelle {8:04}

Side 2

1. Daria Semegen - Spectra (Electronic Composition No. 2) {10:31}

2. Thomas Wells - 11.2.72, Electronic Music {5:27}

3. Jan Greenwald - Duration 2 {12:40}

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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 Music Winners

various artists compilation - Electronic Music Winners

* originally posted on July 30, 2006

There was an electronic music competition that took place in the 1970s and the best pieces chosen by the judges were put on this record. Here's more information about this contest:

In the autumn of 1974, the League of Composers-International Society for Contemporary Music, U.S. Section, organized an International Electronic Music Competition, the first undertaken by the organization. Tapes of electronic music compositions were solicited from composers and electronic music studios all over the world. A distinguished panel agreed to select the winners.

The judges were:

Bulent Arel, composer and Professor of Music at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Mario Davidovsky, Pulitzer prize-winning composer, Co-Director of the Electronic Music Center of Columbia and Princeton Universities, and Professor of Music at City College of New York.

Jean Eichelberger Ivey, composer and teacher of composition and electronic music at Peabody Conservatory of Music.

J.K. Randall, composer and Professor of Music at Princeton University.

129 tapes representing composers from 15 countries were entered in the competition. Each judge listened to each tape individually, and then the judges met as a group to make their final selections. During the entire judging process, the tapes were placed in unlabeled boxes and identified only by numbers.

The winning compositions are presented in this album. It should be noted that no distinctions were made between the winning compositions, and that the order of works presented on the recording does not signify a ranking. Program notes and biographical material have been provided by the composers.

As President of the League-ISCM and coordinator of the International Electronic Music Competition, I feel that these works, besides being excellent pieces of music, represent a wide spectrum of approaches, attitudes, styles, and technical procedures that will give the listener much enjoyment and, also, an understanding of the breadth and sophistication of current electronic music. (Hubert S. Howe, Jr.)

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Maurice Wright - Electronic Composition {5:12}

2. Joel Gressel - Points In Time {6:50}

3. Daria Semegen - Electronic Composition No. 1 {5:37}

4. Menachem Zur - Chants For Magnetic Tape {3:50}

Side 2

1. Richard Cann - Bonnylee {1:22}

2. Arthur Kreiger - Short Piece {2:34}

3. Paul Lansky - mild und leise {17:39}

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