Pierre Schaeffer+Henry+Arthuys:Musique Concrete 1955 lp

$

76

Panorama of Musique Concrete-- Pierre Schaeffer: Mexican Flute (1949); Study for Piano (1948); Study for Whirligigs (1948); Railway Study (1948); Pathetic Study (1948); A Single Sound Source / Pierre Henry: Fleeting Percussion; Finale of the Concerto of Ambiguities (1950); 5th and 6th movements of Music Without a Title (1952); The Veil of Orpheus (1953) / Henry+Schaeffer: Trifle in C (1950) / Philippe Arthuys: Musical Box


label & cat. no.:
Ducretet-Thomson DTL 93090 pressed in:
UK date:
1955 format:
LP condition:
Vinyl: vg+ (few minor marks and a tiny pressing imperfection bubble; plays great for the most part, with just a few ticks audible at the end of side 1)
Cover: vg (2" split at center of top seam; 1" split at center of spine) description:

Mega-rare and essential lp, the first ever release of electronic tape music. It documents the amazing early experiments, from 1948 to the early 1950s, of the founding figures of the Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrete (aka the Groupe de Recherches Musicales or the INA-GRM, where many pioneer electroacoustic composers produced major works). Schaeffer, Henry, and Arthuys recorded "natural", non-synthesized sounds like trains, instruments, factory machinery, small objects, voices, bells, children's toys, etc., and created structured noise compositions by cutting up the tape and changing its speed. Many of the pieces incorporate an instrument Schaeffer invented called the Phonogene, which uses a keyboard to control a series of motors that allows the composer to transpose tape speeds on an octave scale (a primitive precursor to the sampling keyboard). Included here are landmark pieces like Schaeffer's Railway Study, the world's first tape composition, and Pathetic Study, which mixes Tibetan Chants, famous voices, and the motors of canal boats. Study for Whirligigs is Schaeffer's earliest work, a non-tape piece that was produced using 8 turntables with locked groove records. Interestingly, in an attempt to make the music more palatable to mainstream audiences, the liner notes classify the pieces into different types such as "classical", "instrumental studies", "expressionism", "primitive", etc. This lp is a highly recommended artifact of early electronic music!

Schaeffer was a French resistance radio engineer during World War II and a researcher of television technology in addition to being the inventor of musique concrete; he founded the world's first tape music studio, was among the earliest composers to use the turntable as an instrument, invented the Phonogene (a proto-sampling keyboard), worked at the INA-GRM with Pierre Henry, Jon Appleton, Francois Bayle, Michel Philippot, Philippe Arthuys, Luc Ferrari, Jean-Michel Jarre, Michel Chion, Michel Redolfi, Jean-Claude Risset, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Edgar Varese, Olivier Messiaen, Francois Bernard Mache, Ivo Malec, Bernard Parmegiani, Ilhan Mimaroglu, Ragnar Grippe, Francis Dhomont, Guy Reibel, Jacques Lejeune, Jean Schwarz, and Iannis Xenakis, and his groundbreaking work influenced contemporaries like Tony Schwartz, Jim Fasset, John Cage, Tod Dockstader, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Tom Dissevelt, Henk Badings, and Jean-Jacques Perrey, and later electronic artists like Nurse With Wound, Christian Marclay, Otomo Yoshihide, Martin Tetreault, Erik M, Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, and Merzbow. Henry studied under Nadia Boulanger and Olivier Messiaen, worked with Nicolas Schoffer, Urban Sax, Spooky Tooth, Coldcut, DJ Vadim, William Orbit, Fatboy Slim, and Funki Porcini, and his groundbreaking work in experimental and pop electronic music would influence contemporaries like Cecil Leuter, Mort Garson, Bruce Haack, Paul Beaver, Bernie Krause, Claude Denjean, Dick Hyman, Electrosoniks/Electrosonicks, Dick Raaijmakers, Gershon Kingsley, Kraftwerk, and Piero Umiliani. Check out my other auctions for more avant garde, experimental, electronic/electroacoustic, free jazz/improv, spoken word, field recordings/sound effects, and sound art lps. US Shipping - Media Mail is 5.00 for 1-2 single records, then 0.65 for each additional; Priority Mail is also available but pricing depends on zipcode and will be calculated after auction closes (or you can email me with your address for a quote); other expedited shipping options and insurance are all available on request. Combine multiple items to save on shipping.
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