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june 22nd, 2009
threads:
electro-acoustic-composition
musique-concrète
1980s-electronic
analogue-synth
minimalism-drones
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| | | ina-grm (france) #ina c 1017 cd michel zbar “novum organum • liber duodecim portarum • la nuit d’hermès” compact disc - novum organum (22:15) 1983
- liber duodecim portarum (19:25) 1983
- la nuit d'hermes (25:32) 1981
| 1994 release ; a trilogy of early 80s electro-acoustic works from one of the more time-obscured figures at the ina-grm, michel zbar ...
while “la nuit d'hermes” works in traditional “electronic opera” modes (crowded voices chatter on over a subtle tape backing) ; the two other pieces on this disc are sublime concotions of variable-sequenced analogue synth scree & deftly constructed, heavy-stereo tape effects, recalling even the most transcendent of françois bayle’s 70s work ...
another one you may have missed out on ; please give it a look / listen ... |
| | novum organum
(or le mouvement des graves)
1993 - commissioned by the ina-grm
specialists in the history of ideas suggest that, when the renaissance was at its height, magicians were beginning to objectively connect knowledge with action, explanation with operation, thus tending to rationalize a discipline contradictorily fed by empiricism and experimental logic, thus approaching the steps leading to what was later to become the scientific mind.
amidst the 17th century, francis bacon is perhaps the man who was at the tuming point in this development of thought and behaviour. but (still according to those same learned historians) there are some shadowy areas in his thinking, with mood struggling against reason. an interesting example for the musician, who, trying to organize his thoughts, nevertheless confusedly feels their relative inconsequence as he weighs, counts and administers, using a logic with premises he guesses to be sidestepping the issue, but whose use proves to be buoyant and their relinquishment virtually painless.
a good reason, therefore, to pay tribute to him with this piece, and, to do so, borrow the title of his most famous work. ..
as for the 'mouvement des graves' in the subtitle, we must understand by that, following the terminology of the time, not movement affecting a particular region of the sound spectrum ('graves': low notes), but one inescapably leading - in an assimilation full of imagery - massive, sensitive bodies towards gravity, towards another, the nature of which makes this attraction irrepressible. |
...
liber duodecim portarum
1983 - commissioned by the ina-grm
it really is becoming an obsession!
after - amongst others - 'le voyage', 'la lumiere sortant par soi-mesme des tenebres', 'solve et coagula', here is another title fraught with esotericism. so beware! danger of an avalanche of cliches!
... (mysterious) alchemy of sounds ... musician working (subtly) in his 'laboratory' ... in the solitude (fascinating, of course) of the creator ... etc ...
junk romanticism is still alive!
what is he going to bring out of the hat? the 'materia prima' of sound, gathered here and there and transmuted into gold (no less) ; or a modification of the imprudent operator working on that very matter?
that the great work may be accomplished, georges ripley, the author of this liber, describes in minute detail the action of these twelve symbolic doors:
calcination solution separation
conjunction putrefaction congealing
cibation sublimation fermentation
exaltation multiplication and [mally,
projection (!)
... and which must be traversed by base matter in order to reveal its nature. and as, in any case, he is no longer there to claim that this materia cannot be essentially one of sound, the temptation for the musician becomes urgent... |
...
la nuit d'hermes
commissioned by radio france
italia prize 1981
with
michael lonsdale hermes
jean marie gouelou the follower
catherine salviat
and
maria theresa de bellis the magician
soloists from the atelier vocal des chreurs de radio france :
bernard dehont - nicole lequette
liliane mazeron - regis oudot
nicole oxombre - michel richez
orchestra and instrumental ensembles of the
nouvel orchestre philharmonique de radio france
conductor
guy reibel
head of sound
claude armand
production assistant
daniele bajoue
mixing carried out at the grm
with the assistance of
christian zanesi |
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