Search - Bulent Arel, Mario Davidovsky, Otto Luening :: Electronic Music Pioneers

Real Electronic Music

07/02/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is a compilation of what might be thought of as the tip of the iceberg of mostly out of print avante-garde electronic music. These are serious compositions which are well ahead of their time. They are not to be confused with so-called new age music; they are highly futurist in their conception. I have alot of this on vynil and started listening to it back in the early 70's. I used to take tapes of this stuff out in the desert on moonless nights and crank it up on my car stereo. It would then take on a whole new meaning. In college it might be a part of some psychedelic fest or used to silence people in my dorm who dared take it on in a stereo battle. In such battles these sounds were invincible."

Interesting mess of computer and instrumental sounds

Ian Jones | Danville, Kentucky | 10/31/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is unlike the modern "electronica" music of Fat Boy Slim or other popular acts. This music is the first of its kind. It was recorded back in the late forties and fifties. The sounds are not refined mixes and monotonous dubbings. The sounds are strange and exciting, a musical texture. The sounds imply colors, moods, air density, incredible stuff."

Found sounds

katja_r | 01/01/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The music on this CD is fascinating to me. It contains compositions by Professor Vladimir Ussachevsky (1911-1990) along with contributions from some of his associates and friends who were involved with Columbia University. I am excited by this aural glimpse of history in the making. This CD captures for me the joy and intrigue of discovering a new musical instrument. The CD demonstrates the evolution of thought about the tape machine from the first simple attempts at sound distortion and time dilation to extremely complex computer applications. Ms Alice Shields, (b. 1943) Associate Director of Electronic Music Center of Columbia University from 1978 to 82, guides us through this history of sound in the comprehensive notes. This development can be clearly seen by comparing the first track, Professor Ussachevsky's SONIC CONTOURS (1952), with PIECE FOR TAPE RECORDER (1956) and COMPUTER PIECE NO. 1 (1968). The first piece extends his earlier explorations of feedback and speed variation, Ms Shields explains. The very twentieth-century concept of "found" sounds is also incorporated. On the PIECE FOR TAPE RECORDER, Dr Ussachevsky explores the concept of musical coherence and logical continuity. Obviously, these were not a bunch of "knob-turners". ;D Finally, a decade and one-half after SONIC CONTOURS, Dr Ussachevsky put together COMPUTER PIECE NO.1 "in an analog electronic music studio, using the sound materials produced with digital computers at the Bell Telephone Laboratories." If you are interested in the development of electronic sound in the mid-twentieth century, this academic CD will be interesting to you."