Browse by Artist: SCHAEFFER, PIERRE

Artist:	SCHAEFFER, PIERRE
Title:	L'Oeuvre Musicale
Label:	INA GRM (FRANCE)
Format:	3CD
Price:	$42.00
Catalog #:	INA 1006/8

2005 repress with new cover art; this is a new version of the co-release with EMF (former cat# of EMF 010). Finally available again, the complete works compilation of the groundbreaking work by the electronic music pioneer; released in collaboration between INA-GRM in France & EMF in the U.S.. "This 3-CD package is the definitive and complete collection of Pierre Schaeffer's musical works, beginning with the first of his musique concrète compositions, continuing with the collaborations with Pierre Henry, and concluding with Schaeffer's late works from the 1970s. In 1948, Pierre Schaeffer, then a radio engineer at Radiodiffusion Française, took a radio sound truck out to Batignolles, near Paris, to record railroad locomotives. He used those sounds in a sound collage called 'Etude aux Chemins de Fer' ('Railroad Study') and then named his new approach 'musique concrète'. He composed four other sound collages in 1948, using thin-metal instruments, wooden percussion, and two whirligigs ('Etude aux Tourniquets'), an orchestra tuning up ('Etude pour Orchestre'), noises derived from a piano that is played in a variety of ways ('Etude au Piano'), and pots, pans and voices ('Etude aux Casseroles'). The five compositions were then broadcast from Paris on October 5, 1948 as a 'Concert of Noises,' and the broadcast was so successful, and evoked such widespread interest, that Schaeffer was granted an assistant. Pierre Henry worked with Schaeffer from 1949 to 1957. Their first collaboration was 'Symphonie pour un Homme Seul' ('Symphony for One Man Alone'), which was eventually used by Maurice Bejart in a 1955 performance by his dance company. Their next major collaborations were 'Orphee' and 'Orphee 53.' One of the special surprises to be found in these recordings is Pierre Henry's 'Echo d'Orphee, pour P. Schaeffer,' composed in 1988 as an homage to Pierre Schaeffer. Henry referred to it as a 'patchwork (of the existing) 'fragments' from 'Orphee' ('Orpheus 51 and 53,' a 1950 collaboration between the two composers) ... conceived in your style rather than mine ... a magnetic present.' These discs also include Schaeffer's works from the late 1950s and 1970s, some of them revisions of his early music, some of them technically improved, some of them reworked and shortened. You'll also find an extensive and informative booklet in French and English, with essays and tributes by Schaeffer's colleagues (among them François Bayle, Michel Chion, François Weyergans, and Jean-Christophe Thomas), a history, bibliography, excerpts from his books, letters, and photographs. It's a rich collection of material. Schaeffer was one of those people who changed the world, and this package will give you a good idea of how it happened."

Artist:	SCHAEFFER, PIERRE
Title:	Solfège De L'objet Sonore
Label:	INA GRM (FRANCE)
Format:	3CD
Price:	$32.00
Catalog #:	INA 2010-12CD

Repressed for the first time in a few years, this is a new reissue of an obscure artifact from 1967. Issued on 3 CDs, with a 176 page book (in French, English & Spanish), at a pretty low unit price. This is the third multi-CD set from Schaeffer, not to be confused with L'Oeuvre Musicale (3CD box, EMF 010) or the relatively impossible to find La Coquille á Planètes (4CD/book on INA/MFA). These CDs contains sound examples and spoken text (explanations) by Schaeffer. "Solfège De L'objet Sonore (Music Theory Of the Acoustic Object) is a sound recording that accompanied 'Traité des Objets Musicaux' (Treatise On Musical Objects) by Pierre Schaeffer, originally issued by ORTF (French Broadcasting Authority) as a long playing record in 1967 (a more common 3 cassette version was distributed later)." It features 282 short "sound examples", including the works of: Bernard Parmegiani, Ivo Malec, Pierre Henry, Françoise Bayle, Edgar Canton, Iannis Xenakis. Guy Reibel: "It was a wonderful period when the GRM was like a beehive buzzing with a multitude of strange, unpredictable events. Instrumental and electroacoustic mediums were combined, the place became a meeting point for all kinds of music and sounds. We were prepared for anything, craving new experiences and previously unheard-of sounds, working night and day in close musical communion, the center of which was Music Theory, that compulsory beginners exercise that is, in fact, a distillation of the most valuable discoveries musicians have made over the centuries. We created, transposed, fragmented, multiplied and transformed thousands of sounds that Pierre Schaeffer used to concoct his creations and gradually build up his musical language. Even though the musical world has never been very enthusiastic about Schaeffer's research, his message has been understood and has significantly influenced musical creation in the second half of the 20th century. Schaeffer has proved himself to be one of this century's major researchers and his influence can only continue to grow."

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