| $23.51
back in stock as of
may 1st, 2012
first in stock on
august 31st, 2010
threads:
australia
1960s-electronic
1970s-electronic
digital-musics
electro-acoustic-composition
musique-concrète
analogue-synth
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| | | die schachtel (italy) #ds20 cd pietro grossi “combinatoria” double compact disc set - pietro grossi - pg4 - 1965 (excerpt) (10:42)
- pietro grossi - sp - 1965 (excerpt) (6:44)
- pietro grossi / s 2f m - om - 1966 (excerpt) (11:15)
- vittorio gelmetti - modulazioni per michelangelo - 1965 (8:34)
- riccardo andreoni - studio sugli impulsi - 1968 (excerpt) (6:38)
- albert mayr - proposta sonora viii" - 1968 (excerpt) (6:30)
- aurelio peruzzi - studio 1 - 1967 (4:23)
- smet - el 25 - 1966 (2:50)
- nps - interferenze 2 - 1967 (4:13)
- pietro grossi - create [a] (0:30)
- pietro grossi - sound life 24 (5:17)
- pietro grossi - fuga xii (1:34)
- pietro grossi - sound life 11 (2:10)
- pietro grossi - silencio (0:06)
- pietro grossi - sound life 17 (1:09)
- pietro grossi - fuga xii inversa (1:26)
- pietro grossi - arte della fuga elaborata (1:30)
- pietro grossi - combinatoria 1970 (3:44)
- pietro grossi - monodia 1970 (9:57)
- pietro grossi - create (2:08)
- pietro grossi - silenzio (0:06)
- pietro grossi - sound life 25 (0:56)
- pietro grossi - fuga xiii (1:36)
- pietro grossi - sound life 11 (2:51)
- pietro grossi - fuga xiii inv (1:39)
- pietro grossi - sound life 27 (1:45)
- pietro grossi - arte della fuga elaborata (1:33)
- pietro grossi - sound life 42 (6:38)
- pietro grossi - create (11:24)
- pietro grossi - variazioni su scarlatti sonata 119 (1:35)
- pietro grossi - sound life 11 (3:07)
| march 2010 release ; finally on a proper, replicated cd, the bulk of the pietro grossi “computer music” 2lp (originally issued by “two nuns” in 1972 ; though most of you prob. know it via the creel pone replication) ...
about which ::
historically i’ve never been all that fond of first or even second-tier moog / computer-sploitation lps; i’m talking about “switched on bach” and the flock that followed in its wake - “switched on country” / “everything you always wanted to know about the moog*” / etc... while i’m sure it was all well & good @ the time (as the record-buying public proved in record numbers), but in retrospect it’s not all that interesting to hear mussorgsky’s “pictures at an exhibition” synthesized on a moog 900 series modular, or george jones on a pdp-11 at that...
so... why is this collection of late 60s / early 70s computerized insanity, presented in essentially the same manner (albeit with much nicer artwork), so damn amazing? in the same way that someone like louis wain’s later paintings of cats are so damn amazing when compared to those of his “fruitful” career; he, not unlike grossi here, went through the looking glass and came out the other end with his grand-vision altered beyond recognition...
the first disc/lp offers a 12 minute demo (in italian) of the ibm system/360 software systems (referred to as dcmp* and play1800* throughout...), then 2 bach pieces, then a side of paganini etudes, all realized using the aforementioned software/hardware system... but even here we’re starting to witness signs of grossi’s willingness to roam into “non-musical” territory; parts are sped up and slowed down well beyond recognition, parameters are ruthlessly tweaked into needle-in-the-forehead domains using shrill, generally unpleasant timbres... but that’s not even the weirdest part...
by the second disc/lp, grossi has thrown the notion of realizing “known” music(s) out the window entirely, instead offering up a series of blistering original compositions realized on the same system/software... only these are just fried, buzzing-bee-scapes, on par with with what people like florian hecker are doing with modern machines and software... yet this was back in 1971! by the time the 20-minute “unending music” starts drilling through your cortex, things are already way beyond normal and far into the realms of the unreal... case in point grossi’s own description of said piece in the booklet (also containing an essay entitled “computer and pentagram” (?!?)) ::
| sound agglomerates the elaboration of which, as in the case of «monodia», is virtually unending. in this work, variations in timbre and volume of the sound are added to those of tempo and frequency. the composition of monodic, with the exception of a two voices section from the eleventh to the fifteenth minute. direct bi-channel recording was made possible by the digital-analog converter |
as to the “sound agglomerates” :: anyone’s guess... one can almost witness grossi’s descent into madness as the solo studio hours/tan start piling up; the neat holes in all of those punch cards getting messier and messier (again... ala louis wain; his cats getting more & more angular; their insane eyes eventually taking over the frame...vs. grossi’s transposed classical melodies eventually giving way to a collection of 200mph atonal arpeggiation and raw sawtooth burn...) those wanting to experience the whole range from method to madness can start right at the beginning; others with shorter attention spans and a tendency towards the absurd will want to jump right to the second disc for a veritable mind-fuck that trumps most contemporary computer-skree... just ridiculously noisy/buzzing sawtooth crunch... and again, from the early 70s no less! |
... this is augmented with a disc of music composed at grossi’s s 2f m by a league of composers including vittorio gelmetti, albert mayr, teresa rampazzi, riccardo andreoni, aurelio peruzzi, and others ... all shining examples of 60’s “academic” tape music, in and of itself something of a treasure-trove ... but issued in accord with the aforementioned computer music skronk, this set becomes an essential document of not just italian electronic music, but the entire global early tape/computer music scene ...
highly recommended !!! |
| | die schachtel press release... |
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pietro grossi combinatoria
genre: early electronic, tape music, early computer sounds
format: cd box
description: deluxe silver cd-box, silver-foil design, complete with a 28-pages booklet in italian and english
a comprehensive guide to the core recordings of one of the most visionary and inspiring, subversive and radical musicians from italy, this 2-cd box deluxe edition captures pietro grossi’s original vision, presenting a wide selection of his studio early recordings, beautifully re-mastered to preserve the enduring quality.
pietro grossi used to playfully define himself as pigro [lazy], but he wasn't lazy at all! few musicians have been working everyday at such a cracking pace, creating, teaching and writing, and when we listen to his music we should bear in mind how this complex figure of musician, cellist and composer, and also visual artist, has developed creative thinking in a path where a blend of very different aspects organically cohabited.
since the late '50s grossi was convinced of the potential of the 'new sound' and was totally obsessed with pioneering it, to the point where he would found the s 2f m (studio di fonologia musicale di firenze) in 1963 - which made its headquarters in florence at the conservatorio, and then in his apartment! - spending days and nights on end splicing tapes and working with various modified machines to create his abstract soundscapes. the two cds features his first analogical electronic music, as well as some s 2f m studio works by colleagues such as vittorio gelmetti, gruppo nps (with teresa rampazzi) and albert mayr, while the second disc is focused on the prototype computer generated sound synthesis. |
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