RECOLLECTION GRM - Forced Exposure

$26.00 IN STOCK

A discreet but essential figure in the field of musical creation, Horacio Vaggione has been crafting an ambitious, precise and highly significant body of work for over the last fifty years, coupled with a demanding research activity. This disc offers four purely electroacoustic pieces which illustrate, each in their own way, this singular and fascinating grammar developed by Horacio Vaggione, a complex but fertile grammar which establishes a very special relationship between structure and texture, between matter and formula, to create a fascinating musical space, made up of polyphonies and metamorphoses.

$26.00 IN STOCK

In the 1970s, Robert Cahen turned to the burgeoning field of video art, where he became a pioneering artist. He was originally trained in musique concrète, his creative background, and joined the Groupe de Recherches Musicales in 1972. The pieces on this record were composed in the GRM studios between 1971 and 1974. They testify to a lively inspiration and imagination combined with a precocious formal mastery that already carries the seeds of later developments, which the artist cleverly and inventively deployed in the field of visual arts.

$24.00 IN STOCK

2023 restock. "Senderos de luz y sombras" (Paths of Light and Shadows) -- Commissioned by the French State for INA grm -- 2016-2020. In memoriam Bernard Baschet, Bernard Parmegiani, and Carlos Pellegrino. A 16-channel piece inspired by astrophysics, the mystery of the pre-Big Bang era and some of the uncanny motions of the unconscious mind, where strangeness meets the ordinary. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi. Cut by Andreas Kauffelt at Schnittstelle, Berlin, July 2021. Translations: Valérie Vivancos. Layout: Stephen O'Malley.

"The themes that permeate Senderos de luz y sombras simultaneously engage the overwhelming, unyielding immensity of the beginnings of the universe and the forces at work in the unconscious mind. What connects these themes are the dark energies operating outside our knowledge, far beyond the conceptual scope of our limited thinking. How to convey all this and build music from these concealed forces? What Beatriz Ferreyra achieves, thanks to her trademark virtuosity, is precisely to summon energies, to bring in the raw forces that govern the laws of acoustics, so as to trigger sonic storms as one would call the rain, to transform all sound matters into the core of a ritual. Indeed, Beatriz Ferreyra addresses the mind-body reconciliation, for in providing this unique sound and musical experience, with a rare sensitive intensity, the great composer simultaneously invites us to engage in a personal experience." --François Bonnet, Paris, 2021

$24.00 IN STOCK

"Between 1984 and 1989, my acousmatic work was focused on processing and merging the four fundamental substances. Each 'element' gradually became articulated with the others, thus crystallizing my subjective perception of their materiality. Over the years, helped by the enthusiasm of a Greek friend who propelled me into the Socratic universe, what started out as an exploratory path has become a circular, spherical unity, in which each occurrence simultaneously belongs to one of the four substances as well as the whole. These four sections, of uneven durations, embody the different resonances of each 'element' upon my imagination. The movements are ordered compositionally and range from the intangibility of the air to the extreme density of the earth. In 'Eterea', the dual nature of air, a space for the dissemination of sounds and an environment for mobile masses, shaped the work and the development of its forms. Whether it be the vast expanse of particles as organized movement or the displacement of sources in our three-dimensional perception, ethereal air fills the space and drives the immaterial motions and gestures. 'Aquatica' locates the materiality of water in relation to its amazing extremes: from the drop to the ocean, an extensive journey unfolds through the various phases of the reinvented liquid. Still waters, deadly waters, raging waters follow one another, leading to the aerial fusion of a primordial equilibrium eventually retrieved. Then comes 'Focolaria' and the unsteady fires, the elusive and wild will-o'-the-wisps that open and adorn the gates leading to the depths of the earth. The land of 'Terra' is devoid of atmosphere, a land of matters before the advent of life. The sounds of the original matter merge and evolve into purer forms. The motions trigger progressions towards new equilibriums of forces, the ultimate fusion, the very last attempt, needed for the emergence of life. The sphere is now complete, the world ready for creation..." --Daniel Teruggi

"While the theme of the four elements has been a constant source of inspiration in the arts, its setting to music using electroacoustic techniques seems highly auspicious, since the notion of matter and its transformation is consubstantial with the concrete approach. In Sphæra, Daniel Teruggi precisely addresses this question, transcending matter with the help of novel digital audio techniques so as to draw out forms, trajectories, layers, and musical objects, all of which result from the merging or sublimation of primordial sounds. Indeed, this is where Daniel Teruggi's music and compositional approach stand out: by engaging sounds, with strength, will and inspiration, in a close encounter with energies, whether tectonic or electrical. Such collisions, such metamorphoses, are then appeased in the whole space of the composition, a fascinating landscape, the final destination of all transmutations." --François Bonnet, Paris, 2021

Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi. Cut by Andreas Kauffelt at Schnittstelle, Berlin, July 2021. Translations: Valérie Vivancos. Layout: Stephen O'Malley.

$23.00 IN STOCK

2023 restock. "I wonder if my fascination for clouds (without being an obsession) may have risen at the end of the '80s as, whilst composing 'Micro-climat', I would regularly wander between the Vercors mountains and the high plateaus of the Monts du Forez discovering, through my eyes, body, breath, active observation and walk, that natural forms when constantly changing and yet swollen with a unity of matter (in this instance, water) open one up to a deep, fundamental breath and a clear field for the mind. The sky and its forces: our ally. A model for a natural music which, although fixed, as in musique concrète (a rule of the genre), moreover on a recording tape, will remain charged with such a poetic quality that (isn't it its role or rather its reality?) it will ensure a perpetual renewal for our senses, so as to reach another idea of the world, far more open and richer than what we could have imagined." --Lionel Marchetti, 2011.

"Lionel Marchetti is a major figure of the 'third generation' of concrète musicians, a term he values. Listening to these works, imbued with poetry and traversed by micro-narratives, one can indeed retrieve the original concrète spirit, the one that draws from the sonic world, with ears wide open, so as to extract a fertile, rich and multiple substance then shaped and conveyed towards a formal and musical abstraction. Lionel Marchetti has mastered this process, but his real distinctive feature is a truly unique talent for setting climates (as one sets traps) and keeping us on constant alert. The two pieces in this record perfectly illustrate the entrancing dimension of Lionel Marchetti's music, whose charm leads us, through each successive listening, to become voluntary captives so as to better liberate ourselves." --François Bonnet, Paris, 2020.

"La grande vallée": Musical composition, design and sound production carried out at the INA grm Studios (Paris) in 1993/95; Original audio recordings in the Drôme and the Mont Ventoux areas "Micro-climat" is the first movement of the Sirrus cycle (Micro-climat, Passerelle, Sirrus) composed in 1989/90; Musical composition, sound design and production, audio recordings in 1989/90 at the CFMI studios in Lyon (Lumière University, Lyon 2). Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi; Cut by Andreas Kauffelt at Schnittstelle, Berlin, November 2020; Translations: Valérie Vivancos; Layout: Stephen O'Malley.

$23.00 NOT IN STOCK

[sold out, no repress] "Michèle Bokanowski's art is one of densities, much like the density of a given color, a given depth. Her sound textures are, indeed, profound, both in the space occupied by their frequencies and the sharp temporal trail they leave behind. Here lies the composer's immense talent that finds the right development for each sound, letting it blossom before altering it, adapting the musical structure to let the sounds 'be', even if it sometimes means returning to the most basic form, such as a loop. This is a sign of great honesty and artistic sensitivity; able to stand back and let the music become music. It is the most radical, the most accurate gesture of composition. The two pieces on this record, dissociated in time, both in their approach and destination, nevertheless reflect, each in its own way, Michèle Bokanowski's highly singular and insightful musical intuition." --François Bonnet, Paris, 2020.

"Rhapsodia" (two movements and one interlude) is dedicated to Marceline Lartigue. The piece was created in the composer's own studio; Technical collaboration: Jonathan Prager. "Battements solaires" is music for Patrick Bokanowski's film. Produced in the Kira BM Films studios; Production: Kira BM Films with ARTE France and CNC contributions. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi; Cut by Andreas Kauffelt at Schnittstelle, Berlin, November 2020; Translations: Valérie Vivancos; Layout: Stephen O'Malley.

$23.00 NOT IN STOCK

2020 repress, originally released in 2013. Recollection GRM assembles Greek experimental composer Iannis Xenakis' works for Groupe de Recherches Musicales circa 1957-1962. "Concret PH" (1958) was assembled for the Brussels World Fair. The industrialist Philips commissioned Le Corbusier's famous "Philips Pavilion": "I'll create an electronic poem for you, he said. Everything will happen inside: sound, light, color, and rhythm." Iannis Xenakis designed the architectural blueprint and composed "Concret PH" meant to psychologically prepare the public for the show created inside, accompanied by a musical piece by Edgard Varèse. The 400 speakers that lined the inner shell were meant to fill the space through the sound sparkles of "Concret PH" and achieve a joint emanation of architecture and music, conceived as a whole: the roughness of the concrete and its internal friction coefficient found an echo in the timbre of the sparkles. "Orient-Occident" (1960) was originally composed for a film by Enrico Fulchignoni for UNESCO. The film describes a visit to the museum comparing artifacts produced by various cultures and highlighting their interaction, dating back to ancient times. From an abstract point of view, the composer regards this work as a solution to the problem of finding highly diversified means of transition, meant to link a type of material to another. One indeed witnesses a varied gradation of mutations, interplays, overlaps, cross-fading, sudden shifts, and hidden junction points. "Diamorphoses" (1957-1958) portrays continuity and discontinuity within evolution. Here are two aspects of being, whether in opposition or in communion. In "Diamorphoses" this antithesis was illustrated sections of sound strongly opposed to others, and particularly in organizations of continuous variations of average or "statistical" heights. "Bohor" (1962): Bohor (referring to Bors the Younger, Lancelot's cousin), is a character from the medieval cycle of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. "Bohor" is dedicated to Pierre Schaeffer. The author deliberately abstained from giving any descriptive information on his piece, letting the listener choose an imaginary route for himself. This release presents the 1968 version, revised by Iannis Xenakis himself and as yet not made available to the public. "Even though Iannis Xenakis never made 'musique concrète' in the sense given by Pierre Schaeffer, the GRM was a locus for experimenting with his ideas about sound and sound structures. These works, composed between 1958 and 1962, show a boldness as advanced as in his orchestral approach. The relationship between Xenakis and Schaeffer was often tense. It nevertheless entailed mutual recognition and respect towards each other's musical approach. Schaeffer found the piece disproportionate in terms of intensity but was indeed pleased by the dedication. The four pieces presented here, all produced at the GRM, undoubtedly demonstrate the experimental intent and the strictly 'physical' character of Xenakis' music, in that it provides the audience with a listening experience of a rare intensity." --François Bonnet & Christian Zanési; Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, January 2013. Layout by Stephen O'Malley. Executive Production by Peter Rehberg.

$23.00 IN STOCK

2022 repress. "Fractals" (1981): Composed at the GMVL from December 1979 to September 1981, this work was commissioned by Fnac. Fractals are mathematical oddities that, when crossing our path, turn the smallest island into an immensity to be explored. "Fractals" is a series of short studies, all based on the same sound source. Seeking in the sound and its very logic a proposal upon which a construction is elaborated, each Fractal remains open and is a mere fragment of itself. "Fractals", music pieces sculpted in four dimensions, are vast microcosms that can only be inhabited by the mind. Each "Fractal" can be approached from several angles, far, near, etc. Some can be listened to at different speeds, forwards or backwards. "Fractals": amorphous and endless music pieces whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.

"Brain Fever" (2017): Wherever you may be in the forest of South India, the Brain Fever bird, together with the Seven Sisters, literally gets into your head. Whether it be early morning, daytime, or nighttime, amidst the stridulations of insects, its song utterly reflects Indian life: sonorous, noisy, insistent, dense, overcrowded, mobile, swarming, frantic, overheated, deprived of rest and sleep. "Brain Fever" echoes sonic images caught in the Aurovillian forest, near Pondicherry, and rich fragments of improvisations made in Lyon on analog sound synthesis or feedback devices, the kind Fort used to do in the first GMVL studios. "Brain Fever" is dedicated to Sofia Jannok, a musician and sàmi singer.

Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, November 2019. Translations: Valérie Vivancos. Layout: Stephen O'Malley. Photos: Daniel Lepoutre, Francesco Giorni, Christian Ganet. Mécanisme d'un paysage urbain, by Paul Klee. Coordination GRM: François Bonnet, Jules Négrier. Executive Production: Peter Rehberg.

$23.00 IN STOCK

2023 restock. "Violostries" (1963/64): Premiered and recorded in April 1965 at the Royan Festival -- France, by Devy Erlih (violin) and Bernard Parmegiani (sound projection). "Violostries" represents the intersection of several musical research directions, presented as two simultaneous dialogues: composer/performer and instrument/orchestra. After a short introduction tutti very spatialized: "1. Pulsion/Miroirs": multiplied by itself, the violin is projected into the four corners of the sound space. "2. Jeu de cellules": concertante piece for violin and audio medium, the latter being made up of very tightly woven microsounds. "3. Végétal": slow and invisible development following a continuous time, resulting from an internal and permanent processing of the matter.

"Capture éphémère" (1967, 1988 version): "This work was composed in four tracks in 1967 for quadraphonic diffusion. Remixed in stereo in 1988. Premiered at the Studio 105 of the Maison de la Radio, Paris, May 1967. Sounds -- noises that circulate as time unfolds -- continue to exist despite our recording them. Breaths, fluttering wings: ephemeral microsonic sounds streaking space, sound scratches, landslides, bounces, vertigo of solid objects falling into an abyssal void, multiple snapshots forever frozen in their fall. As many symbols leave inside us the permanent trace of their ephemeral brushing against our ear. Someday, a desert, a sound, then never again... Somewhere, in my head and body something still resonates... resonance, what could be more ephemeral."

"La Roue Ferris" (1971): Premiered at the Festival des chantiers navals, Menton, on August 26, 1971. Sound projection: Bernard Parmegiani. "La Roue Ferris" (Ferris wheel) spins, merging with its own resonance, stubbornly perpetuating its variations. It only sketches a regularly evolving movement around a constant axis. Each of its towers generates thick sonic layers that penetrate each other, producing a very fluid interweaving. The crackling of the origin eventually metamorphoses into sonic threads whose lightness recalls high-altitude clouds, cirrus clouds, haunted by the cries of swifts twirling in the warm air. The wondrous arises and dies off, leaving the listener with an illusion of duration.

Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, November 2019. Translations: Valérie Vivancos; Layout: Stephen O'Malley; Photos: Lasklo Ruszka © INA; Coordination GRM: François Bonnet, Jules Négrier; Executive Production: Peter Rehberg.

$22.00 IN STOCK

2022 repress. "Music Promenade" (1964-1969): Electroacoustic Music, world premiere for the Théâtre de la musique, March 16, 1970 "Hétéro-Concert". Permanent version for four stand-alone tape recorders. A series of colliding realistic sounds and sonic images. Whilst walking, a man is struck by the violence of his surroundings. Nature has disappeared in a whirlwind of warfare and industry in the midst of which he encounters a dying folklore and a lost young girl. The "Installation" version is used to sonify a place in which walkers are free to choose their musical itinerary.

"Unheimlich Schön" (1971): Musique concrète made in 1971 in the studios of the Südwestfunk in Baden-Baden. Voice: Ilse Mengel. "How does a young woman breathe when thinking about something else?" To be listened to at a low volume.

Translations by Valérie Vivancos. Layout by Stephen O'Malley; Photos by Jacques Brissot, ARR. Coordination GRM by François Bonnet. Remerciements by Brunhild Ferrari. Executive Production by Peter Rehberg; Digital transfer by Jonathan Fitoussi and Diego Losa; Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, November 2018.

$22.00 IN STOCK

"Allégeance Volatile" and "Esquive" each tackle the same issue in their own way. Overcoming time: whether it be successive, additional, enumerative, or repetitive. However, there is nothing here about the ensuing nature of so-called "repetitive" music. These are types of high-end music. And it is more about insistence, the obstinacy of an individual who keeps knocking on a door that will never open. The rustic drumming of "Allégeance", talkative, acidulous, colorful, and over-articulated, with almost clownish desinences, eventually dies out in this very respite. The iterative and puffy shimmering of "Esquive" with its dull, thin and precise sounds, shifts and is engulfed into another sonic world -- which appears as a gaping and collapsed response to this prime insistency. This is, indeed, a "volatile allegiance" and "avoidance" from the sonic to the musical elements: the musical phenomenon anticipated and pursued as the non-sound of sound -- or, in other words, the void of sound. This seems to be the lesson of the concrete attitude in music. Such is the kind of questioning that stirs the composer. He returns with another title: "Contrée", which, once again, speaks of a counter-event. Here, the movement is broader, more generous, more confident. Time spreads and stretches out. What seems to be a landscape of entanglements, trajectories, influx, masses, and points emerges. "Something" rises and presents itself out of the sounds -- these escaping beings, these "relatively short combustion flames" (Schaeffer). The piece consists of five consecutive and uninterrupted parts: "Entrée" and "Stance I" -- "Véhémence De L'air" and "Stance II" -- "Grande Allure". It is the central section of an electroacoustic triptych with Sables (2011) as the first and Nil (2017) as the last. "Contrée" is dedicated to Philippe Mion, whose friendly ears have been entrusted with my music for so many years. Translations by Valérie Vivancos. Layout by Stephen O'Malley; Photos by Stéphane Ouzounoff and Bernard Bruges-Renard. Coordination GRM by François Bonnet. Executive Production by Peter Rehberg; Mastering by Mathias Durand; Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, November 2018.

$22.00 IN STOCK

Christian Zanési on Grand Bruit (1991): "The great mobile sound bodies have an ordinary yet amazing ability to place the listener-traveler within, as if he or she was inside a giant double bass, in this case a train stroked by a double bow: the rails and the air. In 1991, I explored this phenomenon during my daily commute from the studio to my home. I used only a 21 minutes recording and treated it as a single sound object. I then processed and enhanced it as a photographer would have done, immersing it in successive 'baths'. The title I chose for this singular form was Grand Bruit."

Christian Zanési on Stop ! l'horizon (1983): "Saturday morning, nine o'clock as I reach the studio. No one here. I only turn on the spotlights as the fluorescent tubes are too noisy. I switch the power on, shut the door, unplug the telephone. I then switch the mixing desk on, which sends an electronic impulse into the amps. The four speakers react individually with a very brief and low hiss. A kind of presence. I haven't listened to anything since the evening before and my ear is refreshed by a night's sleep. I feed the original mix into the master recorder and sit down in the center. Remote control: PLAY With the first sound I close my eyes. The studio instantly vanishes. Another place, a much larger space opens up. I enter it. I have the very distinct feeling that music is merely a 'great noise', chiseled inside with a thousand details. It opens up like a living organism to let my hearing wander across it. A magnetic relation quickly occurs and all the sounds that constitute this great noise draw me towards the East. I accept this direction. Later, much later, I reach a distant point on the horizon which pulls me towards it."

Cut by CGB at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, June 2017; Digital transfer by Jonathan Fitoussi; Translations by Valérie Vivancos; Layout by Stephen O'Malley; Coordination GRM - Daniel Teruggi and François Bonnet; Executive Production - Peter Rehberg.

$22.00 NOT IN STOCK

François Bayle on Tremblement de terre très doux (1978); first performance on March 19, 1979 at the Grand Auditorium of Radio-France, Ina-GRM's Cycle Acousmatique: "The familiar generates the strange. These rolls, these hums, these sudden rushes; this song, these peaceful circlings; these sudden outbursts, these returns to quiescence -- what do they remind us of? This piece's trajectory could also be a representation of the dramatic unfolding of a day -- of a life -- from sunrise ('Climate 1') to night-time ('Landscape 4') via restless encounters, transitions ('Transit 1', '2', and '3') that announce the drama climaxing in 'Landscape 3', before reaching its denouement in "Climate 4"... A whole concrete 'story'. The subterranean properties inherent to listening gently shift our ideas..."

François Bayle on Toupie dans le ciel (1979); first performance on January 21, 1980 at the Grand Auditorium of Radio-France, Ina-GRM's Cycle Acousmatique: "A wave is swaying on two minors thirds. This constantly uniform yet constantly varied swaying revolves in a swarm of sharp designs that blink on and off in a layer of growing density and mobility. Distance, speed, pressure, density, temperature, color, intensity, are the 'themes' of the 27 short interconnected cells flowing together though this seemingly unified movement. Occasionally, a breach in the texture reveals skies dotted with little comets. In the center, a slow gliding picks up the distant harmonics of a basic chord. Toward the end, this gliding returns with a fiery burst. Fine lines and whirs are generated from the song of a spinning antique top. To end on a lighter note the title Toupie dans le ciel -- 'Spinning Top in the Sky' reminds us of 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' by The Beatles as well as Lucy, the oldest Australopithecine (three million years), our African grandmother in the Erosphere... The overall title Erosphere alludes to the desire inherent to the listening experience, and to the very primitive cues that sustain the auditory attention and are the basis of all musical pleasure."

Cut by CGB at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, June 2017; Digital transfer by Jonathan Fitoussi; Translations by Valérie Vivancos; Layout by Stephen O'Malley; Coordination GRM - Daniel Teruggi and François Bonnet; Executive Production - Peter Rehberg.

$29.00 NOT IN STOCK

"The Institute of Sonology in Utrecht has earned its international reputation mostly for pioneering work in the field of computer-assisted algorithmic composition and digital sound synthesis by composers such as Gottfried Michael Koenig, Werner Kaegi, Paul Berg, and Barry Truax. Anyone familiar with the music of these composers would have to admit that even within this 'genre' there were no stylistic dogmas. The stylistic range of the Institute's artistic output becomes even broader when the work of other staff and frequent guests is taken into account, for example the compositions based on field recordings and audio-visual projects by Frits Weiland, the radiophonic works and pieces for tape and instruments by Luctor Ponse, the cybernetic tape compositions by Roland Kayn, or the experiments with computer graphics by Peter Struycken, to name just a few. And then there was Jaap Vink. Jaap Vink studied engineering at first, but then became interested in electronic music. He attended courses in electroacoustics at Delft University of Technology and installed a pedagogical studio for electronic music in 1961 at the Gaudeamus Foundation . . . Jaap Vink always tried to break out of the periodicity of the sounds so abundantly available in the electronic music studio. Although his music was entirely produced with purely electronic sound material, its textures resemble the richness of orchestral sounds, or large natural sound-complexes, as a result of recursive processes. The density of this sound material increases and decreases by careful control of feedback networks with configurations of analog tape recorders (delay lines), filters, and modulators. It should come as no surprise that his work is being rediscovered at a time when a new generation of musicians has conquered the stage with modular synthesizer setups and 'no-input mixers', in which feedback of audio and control signals plays an important role. And although Jaap Vink's music wasn't performed live but produced and recorded on magnetic tape in the studio, it is exactly the human interaction with feedback processes that connects his work with the current generation of live electronic music performers. To some extent Jaap Vink's pieces are indeed recorded live improvisations, and extending his patches and 'rehearsing' with them was an ongoing process. . . . The selection presented here gives an overview of Jaap Vink's works made in Utrecht, ranging from his first composition Screen up to Tide 85." --Kees Tazelaar Works selected by: François Bonnet and Kees Tazelaar.

$22.00 NOT IN STOCK

In the field of biology Heterozygous (Hétérozygote) means: a plant whose heredity is mixed. It implies that Hétérozygote, composed between December 1963 and March 1964, is an attempt to engineer a language located both on the musical and on the dramatic plane. You could call this music "Anecdotal Music" for if the organization of events is purely musical, their choice suggests situations justified at two levels: the music and the anecdote. Luc Ferrari explains the piece Petite Symphonie Intuitive Pour Un Paysage De Printemps (1973-1974) in 2002: "This electroacoustic music is part of a series that could be called 'imaginary soundscape'. Unlike 'Presque Rien Ou Le Lever Du Jour Au Bord De La Mer (Almost Nothing Or Daybreak By The Seaside)', where the landscape narrates itself, here a traveller discovers a landscape which he tries to convey as a musical landscape. Brunhild and I were in the Gorges du Tarn area. We chose to take a small path that was going up a rocky mountain for about ten kilometres. After a last turn, a totally unexpected landscape opened before my eyes. It was sunset. Before us, a vast plateau spread open with soft curves up to the horizon, up to the sun. The colours ranged from dry grass yellow to purple, in the distance, with the darkness of a few small groves punctuating the space. The almost bare nature was presenting itself to the eye, free from any obstacle. We could see everything. Later, when I recollected this place and the sensations I had experienced there, I tried to compose a music that could revive this memory. The 'Causse Méjean' is a high plateau, about 1000 m high, in the Massif Central mountain range. It is dotted by scattered farms. A few people bring their flocks of sheep home. I thought about evoking this solitary and hazy human presence by including snippets of conversations I had had with some of the shepherds. Human language is woven into the musical texture; the sound of the voice says more than its actually meaning. Once, a shepherd told me '... I am never bored. I listen to the landscape. Sometimes I play my flute and then I listen to the echo responding...' Thinking of him, I used the flute and its echo in my music."

$22.00 NOT IN STOCK

Erda (1972): "This piece illustrates my early research carried out in a professional composition studio. After studying every available tools and creating variably hybrid connections between them, I chose to compose several short sequences, each being the expression of a research based on a sonic manipulation and exploring a well defined sound hue. Besides, my background as a percussionist and a jazzman encouraged me to conduct a rhythmical study in each of these sequences. . . . The slightly raucous and acid texture of the 'square' sounds, that can be heard in several movements, is a reminder of saxophone and muted brass sonorities, as used in contemporary jazz." The seven movements include "an evocation of the realm of insects," "stereotypical bird songs produced by the generators of the studio 54," "a tribute to the Goddess of Wisdom and the Earth in Wagner's Das Rheingold and Siegfried," "rhythmical drumming figures such as those Kenny Clarke (aka Klook) used to teach me," and "a tribute to John Coltrane," among others.

Suite N (1982): "Commissioned by the Direction de la Musique and the Ina GRM. Composed in the Ina GRM's numerical composition studio with the assistance of Benedict Maillard and Yann Geslin. In a composition studio, musical research is never very far removed from madness. The first step is the initial work on the sound picked up by the microphone and the varieties of delirium that result from it: exaggerated amplification, inversion, transformation. Synthesizers and their crazy possibilities com next. The third step is the computer, one of the purest products of logic. . . . My intention in 'Suite N' was, on the one hand, to use solely sounds produced by the computer either by direct synthesis (MUSIC V) or by sound treatment, and, on the other hand, to work with a definite form."

"Jean Schwarz is an idiosyncratic figure in the world of electroacoustic music. With a dual background in jazz and ethnomusicology, he has crossed times and genres with an unwavering singularity, infusing improvisation, ballets or cinema with the art of acousmatics. 'Erda' or 'Suite N', each in their own way, demonstrate Schwarz's unique propensity for exploring sound, its cross-fertilisations and its evocative power." --François Bonnet, Paris, 2015

Digital transfer by Jonathan Fitoussi. Cut by CGB at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, August 2015. Translations by Valérie Vivancos. Layout by Stephen O'Malley. Coordination GRM: Daniel Teruggi and François Bonnet. Executive production: Peter Rehberg.

$22.00 NOT IN STOCK

Argentine electroacoustic composer Beatriz Ferreyra describes each of the pieces included on GRM Works: Demeures aquatiques (1967): "This electroacoustic piece, articulated into two clearly distinct parts, draws its sound source from the classical and unorthodox instruments -- metal sheets, glass rods, etc. -- invented by the Baschet brothers. I wanted to show the contrast between the rhythmic repetition of a sounding object, which gives out a feeling of fixity, an electroacoustic flavour and the continuous re-creation of the same sensation through similar yet not identical sounds." Un fil invisible (2009) For Christine Groult: "This piece was inspired by the various stages of Medieval Alchemy. The alchemical process is one of transformation, whose actual subject is the alchemist himself. Here, the process is inextricably tangled with the transformation of sounds and the very structure of the piece." Médisances (1968/69): "This electroacoustic piece for 4 channels was produced by manipulating such items as orchestral instruments, a mouth bow, breath and some unexpected technical defects." Les Larmes de l'inconnu (2011): "This is the first part of a work inspired by the Qabalists Carlos Suares (consciousness-energy), Rivka Cremici (charm of the mystic energy) and Shinta Zenke (dazzling Hebrew calligraphy) to whom I dedicate this music. Through its letters-numbers, the Qabalah expresses three different levels of 'primordial equation of the universe': the level of the archetype, that of the event and the incarnation, and the universal and cosmic level... I would like to thank the wonderful flutist Hernan Gomez for his kindness and his musicality during the recording." "The music of Beatriz Ferreyra bears a magnetic force, which generates a truly recognisable style that could be defined as a unique sense and intuition for sound. Whether in her early works ('Médisances,' 'Demeures aquatiques') or in the more recent ones featured here, one can easily perceive a freedom-loving musical personality. A pioneer alongside Pierre Schaeffer, in the '50s and '60s, she worked on the development of the famous Solfège de l'Objet Sonore (Music Theory of the Sounding Object) before freeing herself from the institution to focus on creating a challenging and independent music." --Christian Zanési and François Bonnet, Paris, 2015. Digital transfer by Jonathan Fitoussi; layout by Stephen O'Malley; photos by Laszlo Ruszka (1983/87) © Ina, Bernard Perrine (1969); translations by Valérie Vivancos. Coordination GRM: Christian Zanési & François Bonnet. Executive production: Peter Rehberg. Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, November 2014.

$23.50 NOT IN STOCK

Packaged with 3D cover art; includes Anaglyphic 3D glasses. "Pacific Tubular Waves" (1979): Electronic music for Synclavier digital synthesizer. "The first four movements frame different visions of the energy delivered by the rolling waves as a kind of auditory surfing on the crest and into the trough of the wave (movements 1-3), followed by a high speed crossing within the tubular cyclone (4). The piece ends with easing waves at dusk... In terms of the making, 'Pacific Tubular Waves' is a purely electronic music, a solo performance on the first digital Synclavier synthesizer. The flexibility of its touch keys enabled me to intuitively program a sonic organic life quality with a concrete quality. Here the computer was used to magnify the texture and behavior of the oceanic material though never mimicking it." "Immersion" (1980): Electroacoustic music for Synclavier synthesizer and underwater recordings. "Composing 'Immersion' started with underwater recordings using a hydrophone. After recording the shifting sands and the rolling pebbles under the breakers, I came up with the idea of dipping a sonar loudspeaker underwater to diffuse my 'Pacific Tubular Waves' piece (made the previous year) below the surface. The music was thus shuffled by the waves and unexpected filtering effects resulted from its passing through clouds of foam. Its dispersion at sea by currents would send back incredibly smooth harmonic echoes... The recording of this natural remixing process is the guiding thread of the piece. It is interspersed with sequences composed in the studio with the Synclavier. Alternating dry/wet, for a gradual immersion through increasingly calm and dense increments... Three-dimensional Visible Images through the glasses attached hereto. Analogous to stereo, the anaglyph graphic process consists of two left and right points view of the same object... The feeling of space is expanding proportionally to the distance of observation, from 80 cm to several meters" --Michel Redolfi. A singular figure of the electroacoustic landscape, Redolfi debuted in 1980 with Pacific Tubular Waves/Immersion on INA-GRM. Recollection GRM presents the first reissue of this record. Digital transfer by Diego Losa. Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, July 2014. Original 3D artwork and inner sleeve wave photo by Michel Redolfi. All other photos and portrait by Donna Cline. Sleeve and new Anaglyph 3D design by Stephen O'Malley. Anaglyphic 3D supervision by Guy Ventouillac. Coordination GRM: Christian Zanési and François Bonnet. Executive Production: Peter Rehberg.

$22.00 NOT IN STOCK

Recollection GRM, a label within the Editions Mego family of labels, offers a third selection from the vast archives of Groupe De Recherches Musicales (GRM). The main idea behind the Traces series is to excavate short, forgotten or ignored pieces of music from the GRM Archives. This third volume, gathering pieces from before 1980, features the works of four composers from very different geographical and musical backgrounds. In addition to echoing the extraordinary vitality of musical experiments from a bygone era, Traces aims to give some audibility to music pieces which, in some instances, are being released for the very first time.

Charles Clapaud, "Ruptures" (1978): "The idea of the break (rupture) as a disruptive phenomenon should be integrated into discourses and perceived musically: to break the silence, a matter, shapes, plans... in this musical piece, two main parts can clearly be identified: in the first part, the chaotic activity of the sound material (crumbled, fragmented, discontinuous forms) blossoms into a static burst. A sustained deep tone settles within a sort of 'Cadence' and highlights a solo sequence of discontinuous sound 'lines.' The entire sound spectrum then erupts, abruptly interrupted by three loud blasts. In the second part, the fragmented form unfolds as a whole initial sequence, followed by a second one where other forms overlap in a kind of sound collage that induces emergent phenomena. The piece ends as a sharp break." --C.C.

Janez Matičič , "Hypnos" (extrait de Trois Visions) (1975): "This non-progressive piece is composed of several sequences, each introducing an additional element and ending with a twist. A quiet swaying from one framework to the next constantly defines the sound quality of the piece, just like blurry visions tantalize the dreamer one after another." --J.M.

Servio Tulio Marin, "Impresiones Fugitivas" (1976): "This piece is based on the process of sound as a solid material. The shape and height of a concrete, granular texture (very similar to white noise) is being transformed. While still unfolding, this process is being interrupted at several stages by various interfering elements with opposite natures. This gives rise to a complex dialogue between distinct materials, like a counterpoint expressed through sound spatialization." --S.T.M.

Eugeniusz Rudnik, "Moulin Diabolique" (1979): "The work consists of six sequences which all possess a dramatic, musical and architectonic sense independent from the context. Their position in the composition as a whole -- apart from sequences 2 and 6 -- is not derived from any absolute necessity. The basic material of this work consists of military orders given in different languages and of the sounds (voices) of a human group (soldiers). These -- assuming the order implies a constraint -- can either be the single answer to such a constraint or they can accompany it. Through editing, the sense of military discipline was removed from the ordering sentences, thus enhancing the grotesque and terrible content of the order itself. [ ... ] The possibility of identifying the sound sources (speech = order with its semantic, semiotic and associated values), the formal structure of the composition is to remind the listener of the constant presence by his side of the Evil Mill (Moulin Diabolique) of war. A mill that has been turning on and on for thousands of years -- and for how much longer? I dedicated this work to my daughter Kamila Maria." --E.R.

$22.00 NOT IN STOCK

Recollection GRM presents computer works from French composer Jean-Claude Risset. "Sud" (1985): This work was commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture, from a project initiated by the GRM, where it was produced circa 1984-1985. The piece mainly uses sounds recorded in the Massif des Calanques, south of Marseille, as well as sounds synthesized via a computer (again in Marseille). These sounds were then treated via another computer at the GRM. The natural and synthetic sounds are first presented separately. Along the piece, they increasingly merge, through mixing and processing. Thus real bird songs, as well as synthetic bird-like or insect-like sounds, have been spatialized. In the third movement, the filtering of birds' caws first appears as a colored echo, later as a genuine bird's "raga" using the defective scale. The origin of the many sounds deduced from the germinal material can be ascribed to a "family tree" displaying the sonic proliferation and resembling a rhizome. (J-C. R.) "Mutations" (1977): Piece for a two-track tape, computer-synthesized in 1968 at the Bell Laboratories. Commissioned by the GRM and premiered at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm in 1970. This work attempts to explore (particularly within the harmonic order) some of the possibilities offered by the computer to compose at the very level of sound -- to compose sound itself, so to speak. The title refers to the gradual changes that occur throughout the piece, including the shift from a range of discontinuous heights to continuous frequency variations. (J-C. R.) "Computer Suite from Little Boy" (1968): This piece, composed in 1968, is one of the first significant works entirely produced via a computer: all sounds were synthesized using the MUSIC V program. The piece features several experiments on Sounds Synthesis I produced between 1964 and 1968, while working with Max Mathews at the Bell Laboratories. (J-C. R.) Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, November 2013.

$40.50 NOT IN STOCK

"In addition to being a masterpiece of the acousmatic repertoire, L'Expérience Acoustique is also a fine example of the 'musical research' spirit. This work, a systematic exploration, investigates the true nature of the listening process itself. The composition of this piece, spread over several years, managed to tap into the potential of the analogue technologies of its time, producing a complex blend of unprecedented sonic occurrences. What emerges from this extensive work is a reflection on sound, in all its forms and through all its textures. François Bayle therefore invites us to a genuine listening experience and for the first time on vinyl, in its full version lasting more than two hours." --Christian Zanési and François Bonnet

$29.00 NOT IN STOCK

2022 repress. De Natura Sonorum (1975): Premiered at the Salle Wagram in Paris on June 3rd 1975. A suite of 12 movements, divided into two series of six. "The first series comprises six related movements, usually organized in pairs, electronic sounds with instrumental and more rarely, concrete sounds: Incidences/resonances bring into play controlled resonances akin to sounds of concrete origin in a process that helps to expand the variable electronic sound sources. Here, 'incidents' are opposed to one-off 'accidents' in the second movement: 'Accidents/Harmoniques' ('Accidents/Harmonics'). In the second movement, very short events of instrumental origin change the harmonic tone of the continuum they interrupt or overlap. Moreover, the high notes are underplayed, which stimulates the attention given to other phenomena generally hidden by the melodic form applied to the instrumental play. 'Géologie sonore' ('Sound Geology') is similar to a flight over an area where different 'sound' layers come to the surface one after the other. When seen from high above, instrumental and electronic sounds seem to fuse. 'Dynamique de la resonance' ('Dynamics of Resonance') is a microphonic exploration of a single sound resonating through different forms of percussion. 'L'Etude élastique' ('Elastic Study') places together various sounds produced by 'touching' elastic or instrumental skins (balloons, doumbeks) or vibrating strings and a number of instrumental gestures close to this 'touch,' using electronic processes to generate white noise. 'Conjugaison du timbre' ('Conjugated Tone'), the last movement in the series, uses the same substance to apply rhythmic forms onto a perpetually varying tone continuum. The second series of movements draws its inspiration from concrete and electronic sources rather than instrumental ones. 'Incidences/battements' ('Incidences/ Beatings') is a reminder of the first movement in the first series, which then quickly moves into 'Natures éphémères' ('Ephemeral Natures'): an ephemeral play on instrumental and electronic sounds, singled out by their internal trajectory rather than by the material itself. 'Matières induites' ('Induced Matters'): just as molecular effervescence triggers changes of state, it seems that the different states of these sound materials can be generated by each other or through induction processes. In 'Ondes croisées' ('Crossed Waves'), the pizz vibrations interfere with somehow 'visible' water drops on the surface of a similar material. 'Pleins et déliés' ('Downstrokes and Upstrokes') can be listened to as the energies absorbed in the motion of bouncing bodies, while hollow 'bubbles' and points bring together some people's gravity and others' downwards movements. The work finishes with 'Points contre champs' ('Reverse Angle Points'). Here, the notion of perspective of the different sound threads weaving a kind of network, or field, traps the occasional iterative elements in the foreground and progressively absorbs them, giving more space for the angle -- and the chanted sound -- to grow." --Bernard Parmigiani; De Natura Sonorum whose title echoes Lucretius' De rerum natura, similarly explores the multiplicity of sound possibilities. This profuse work, with countless discoveries and dazzling intuitions, has influenced several generations of composers and remains a truly seminal piece in the experimental music soundscape. De Natura Sonorum, one of Parmegiani's masterpieces, has left an indelible mark on the classical period of electroacoustic music. At last, it is being reissued on vinyl and for the first time this includes the whole of its 12 movements." --Christian Zanési & François Bonnet. Housed in a gatefold sleeve.

$22.00 NOT IN STOCK

2014 repress. Recollection GRM, a label within the Editions Mego family of labels, offers a second selection from the vast archives of Groupe De Recherches Musicales (GRM). "The idea of the Traces series is to unearth from the GRM Archives short, forgotten, or ignored pieces of music. This second volume, which gathers works prior to 1976, features the 'early' works of four composers who each went on to leave a unique trail of music. In addition to reflecting the extraordinary vitality of the musical experimentation of bygone times, Traces aims to reactivate the audibility of such pieces, some of which have never been released before." --Christian Zanési & François Bonnet; Dominique Guiot, "L'oiseau de paradis" (1974): "The composition of this piece was inspired by the rules of cinematic screenwriting. Indeed, the possibilities of an electro-acoustic music studio are very similar to those found in the audiovisual field (particularly editing). Based on this similarity, I thought it would be interesting to compose a series of scenes, dramatic atmospheres, and suddenly interrupted soundscapes." Pierre Boeswillwald, "Nuisances" (1971): Starting from microphone recordings of numerous sounds, the author chose not to systematically use the "best ones." Therefore, this construction always tried to refine itself while constantly being polluted by interferences which are nuisances. As in nature, man seeks to refine his environment but destroys it through his mistakes. Rodolfo Caesar, "Les deux saisons" (1975-1976): "This piece results from instrumental improvisations: the first one with the Baschet brothers' glass organ, the second one with a frequency modulation device assembled by Bernard Dürr, who co-created the 'Trièdre Fertile' (Fertile Triad) with Pierre Schaeffer. These were two input channels for a kind of 'anecdotism' I was interested in." Denis Smalley, "Pentes" (1974): The main features of the piece evokes vast landscapes, with their ascents and descents, hence the title, 'Pentes' (both French and Latin, meaning slopes, inclines, ascents). Most of the music was created by transforming instrumental sounds, but there are also synthesized sounds. However, the only recognizable sound source is the Northumbrian Pipes, whose drone is responsible for the slowly-evolving harmonies out of which its haunting traditional melody appears. Last copies...

$22.00 NOT IN STOCK

Recollection GRM presents two electroacoustic works by Croatian composer Ivo Malec. Triola (1978): "This piece marked my return to the studio after several years of absence, a return, which for unknown reasons, needed to be part of a rather ambitious project -- a strictly personal idea. This is how my mind slowly turned towards the design of a musical narrative meant to stand for a relearning of the trade, the temptation to use purely electronic material so as change it into something other than itself, a wide range of form(s) and, when possible, a work, if not a musical piece. The title, Triola ('triplet'), was chosen to emphasize these three movements, each with their own title and which, just like the three equal values of the triplet, sustain a basic unit through interference. This is quite symbolic, as is the alternative title: the 'symphony for myself' is not only named so because I wanted to offer myself something -- which I did -- but perhaps and above all, because I had a score to settle with myself. One could even say that the piece is autobiographical. We could do it but we do not need to: that is not the question." Bizarra (1972): "In order to understand this piece, it has always been possible to follow two paths, quite different if not divergent. The first one relies on imagery whose roots I would gladly trace back to Lautréamont's 'deserted swamps' and 'emanations' and to which I would add boiling lands, wet forests, volcanic landscapes, and all kinds of entrails. The other path is that of the realities of a studio where, like a craftsman, the composer manipulates, stretches and releases with his fingers a (magnetic) tape, facing the ears of a (magnetic) head, trying to find the narrow door for the 'real' sound to pass through. The rest is mere work, stewardship. How can one bring these two distant paths together? It is indeed necessary, since the second one precedes the first one, while the first one transcends the second one." --Ivo Malec; Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, October 2012. Layout by Stephen O'Malley. Produced by Peter Rehberg.

$29.00 NOT IN STOCK

2017 repress. Recollection GRM presents four musique concrète masterpieces by French electro-acoustic innovator Luc Ferrari -- all of the Presque Rien's collected together in one vinyl set for the first time. Presque rien n°1, le lever du jour au bord de la mer (1967-1970): "Following the complete disappearance of abstract sounds, we can regard this piece as a sonic snapshot and the culmination of an evolution. This is a realistic rendering (as faithful as possible) of a fishing village waking up. The first idea of minimalism." Presque rien n°2, ainsi continue la nuit dans ma tête multiple (1977): "Description of a landscape at night that a soundman attempts to define through microphones, but the night surprises the 'hunter' and creeps inside his head. It then becomes a double description: the inner landscape transforms the outer night and by composing it, adds its own reality (a fantasy of reality) or, perhaps, a psychoanalysis of his nightscape..." Presque rien avec filles (1989): "Within paradoxical landscapes, a photographer/composer is hidden while girls are having a sort of picnic on the grass. Without being aware of it, they offer him the spectacle of their intimacy." Presque rien n°4, la remontée du village (1990-1998): "I always hesitated before releasing 'Presque rien.' For instance, it took two years for the first one to come out and things went on this way. The fourth one took nine years of hesitating. But here it is. Perhaps because this is a real 'presque rien' fake where reality and lies mix. This is the ascent into the old town of Ventimiglia." --Luc Ferrari; Produced by Peter Rehberg. Layout: Stephen O'Malley. Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, October 2012.