Electronic Music

[Quarky]

In the 1950s Stockhausen understood the nature and potential of this new medium arguably to a greater extent than anyone else. There will always be arguments about whether his later music stands up to the ground-breaking work he was doing between say 1950 and 1970, but one of the things I most admire about his approach is that right up until the end he was still exploring new areas and taking risks, as can be heard in his last electronic piece Cosmic Pulses, completed a few months before his death. (The same could be said about Xenakis and Nono, but perhaps not really about Boulez and Berio, to cite a few other composers of that generation.) You might be interested to read this https://richardbarrettmusic.com/Stockhausen2012.html

Yes, I will be. Many thanks indeed Richard.

[Serial_Apologist]

I don't know - I was listening to it on a radio streaming service, and it passed into the aether without commentary.

Prior to that I was listening to a piece in a similar vein by the current composer Jörg Widmann.

I'm only aware of two versions of Kontakte - the tape alone one and the one I have with piano and percussion.

[Quarky]

I'm only aware of two versions of Kontakte - the tape alone one and the one I have with piano and percussion.

It was certainly the tape version, "pure" electronics.

[Quarky]

Again, courtesy of France Musique:: Richard Barrett ::

NACHT UND TRÄUME : I-III - POUR VIOLONCELLE PIANO ET TRAITEMENT ÉLECTRONIQUE EN TEMPS RÉEL

[Quarky]

Listening again to Gabriel Prokofiev's The Electronic Century, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000rmkx ,

I found myself enjoying it much more than when it was first broadcast, and appreciating much more his view of the music as a Composer in the field.

Obviously not a completely objective view (but that would require many more episodes), but he did manage a reference to Stockhausen, and one of my current favourite Composers, Kaija Saariaho.

[RichardB]

he did manage a reference to Stockhausen

In a programme about electronic music - wow! he deserves a Nobel Prize at the very least for that.

[Joseph K]

In a programme about electronic music - wow! he deserves a Nobel Prize at the very least for that.

'A' reference - indeed.

[RichardB]

'A' reference - indeed.

It's a bit like doing a History of the Symphony and squeezing in one reference to Haydn.

[Serial_Apologist]

It's a bit like doing a History of the Symphony and squeezing in one reference to Haydn.

That would be a "Surprise"!

[Joseph K]

Listening now:

[RichardB]

I see the new CDs of Xenakis's electronic music have now appeared on Qobuz. So far I've listened to Orient-Occident (because I have to give a talk about it later in the week) - sounds pretty good, at least as good as any release I can remember hearing - and I'm a few minutes into the much later Voyage des Unari vers l'Andromède, one of his least known electronic compositions and generally considered not to be in the same league as things like Bohor and La légende d'Eer, but actually here it comes across as completely convincing in both sound and form. The pervasive glissandi and mostly sustained sounds are idiomatic features of most music produced with the UPIC system, as this was, but once you get used to its relatively restricted soundworld there is much interesting detail and development to follow. ("Unari" are Japanese kites by the way.)

[Joseph K]

I see the new CDs of Xenakis's electronic music have now appeared on Qobuz. So far I've listened to Orient-Occident (because I have to give a talk about it later in the week) - sounds pretty good, at least as good as any release I can remember hearing - and I'm a few minutes into the much later Voyage des Unari vers l'Andromède, one of his least known electronic compositions and generally considered not to be in the same league as things like Bohor and La légende d'Eer, but actually here it comes across as completely convincing in both sound and form. The pervasive glissandi and mostly sustained sounds are idiomatic features of most music produced with the UPIC system, as this was, but once you get used to its relatively restricted soundworld there is much interesting detail and development to follow. ("Unari" are Japanese kites by the way.)

Agreed. You've prompted me to give Voyage another listen. I intend to give all the Xenakis I have in my collection another spin round what would have been his 100th birthday...

[mahlerfan]

Just gave a listen to Orient-Occident on Qobuz. What a horrible noise, I thought.

Is there really a market for this sort of music, in terms of CDs etc and concert tickets?

I know certain modern/contemporary composers like Mark Anthony Turnage, David Matthews and Robert Simpson have had the thumbs down on here from some, but I can understand why people might buy their recordings and concert tickets.

[Bryn]

Just gave a listen to Orient-Occident on Qobuz. What a horrible noise, I thought.

Is there really a market for this sort of music, in terms of CDs etc and concert tickets?

I know certain modern/contemporary composers like Mark Anthony Turnage, David Matthews and Robert Simpson have had the thumbs down on here from some, but I can understand why people might buy their recordings and concert tickets.

Indeed there is. I, for instance, have three different masterings of the work on CDs from different labels. However, I don't think Xenakis's works go down too well with Rollo and his like.

I have just checked out the "Brain Discos" version on QOBUZ. Not up to the standard of that in the Karl Records set referred to by RichardB and Joseph K. The Brain Discos transfer lacks much spacial information.

[RichardB]

Is there really a market for this sort of music, in terms of CDs etc and concert tickets?

Where are you writing from, the 19th century? And did you consider for one moment that some of us here have dedicated our lives to "this sort of music"? If you have a problem with it you might think it was worth a question or two, rather than a tiresome dismissal.