Thread: favorite electronic compositions?

Every suggestion is welcome, but i'm particularly interested by those piece that are not concentrated only on sound. Practically i'd like to hear electronic music used in a orchestral way, and if i don't consider the inteprations of Isamu Tomita (cosidered tawdry by many) of Holst and Debussy i don't really know where to look.

Originally Posted by norman bates

Every suggestion is welcome, but i'm particularly interested by those piece that are not concentrated only on sound. Practically i'd like to hear electronic music used in a orchestral way, and if i don't consider the inteprations of Isamu Tomita (cosidered tawdry by many) of Holst and Debussy i don't really know where to look.

OK, who is the guy who did the whale song?

(I really can't pull his name out of the murk.)

Originally Posted by Hilltroll72

OK, who is the guy who did the whale song?

(I really can't pull his name out of the murk.)

i don't know, i'm thinking of Vox balenae of George Crumb but clearly is not what you have in mind (also because is not an electronic piece at all)

Originally Posted by Hilltroll72

OK, who is the guy who did the whale song?

(I really can't pull his name out of the murk.)

Are you thinking of "And God Created Whales" by Alan Hovhannes?

Probably the Crumb - which I thought had electronic elements. But, Wourinen, maybe?

I have a lot of electronic favorites. These ones are not avant-garde experiments, but incorporate electronics into traditional forms.

Philomel by Milton Babbitt is a soprano/synthesizer composition that has a dreamy, poetic, digital-Chagall atmosphere. La legende d'Eer by Xenakis is an electronic tone-poem, by turns beautiful and harrowing. Leon Kirchner's moody String Quartet #3 is scored for string quartet and electronic tape. Boulez uses electronics in his chamber work Repóns. Stockhausen's Mantra is a composition for two pianos and electronics.

-Vaz

Originally Posted by Vazgen

I have a lot of electronic favorites. These ones are not avant-garde experiments, but incorporate electronics into traditional forms.

Philomel by Milton Babbitt is a soprano/synthesizer composition that has a dreamy, poetic, digital-Chagall atmosphere. La legende d'Eer by Xenakis is an electronic tone-poem, by turns beautiful and harrowing. Leon Kirchner's moody String Quartet #3 is scored for string quartet and electronic tape. Boulez uses electronics in his chamber work Repóns. Stockhausen's Mantra is a composition for two pianos and electronics.

-Vaz

do you really consider those pieces as "traditional" music?

i don't think it's clear what i have in mind, if you consider Wuorinen, Crumb, Xenakis, Stockhausen, Babbitt as traditional composers (to me they are some of the most extreme avantgarde composers ever lived, i feel myself as a martian)

Originally Posted by norman bates

Every suggestion is welcome, but i'm particularly interested by those piece that are not concentrated only on sound.

I don't understand what else they can be concentrated on, unless you mean music where the compositional process is more important to the composer than the resulting sound. I'm sure those Darmstadt geeks probably thought like this at times.

Anyway, I have a lot of favourite electronic pieces, because I ******* love synths (specifically analogue synths that don't try to emulate acoustic instruments). I'll limit myself to classical/quasi-classical stuff or I'd go on and on:

Ingram Marshall - Gradual Reuiem - a mix of acoustic and electronic

Terry Riley - A Rainbow in Curved Air and Poppy Nogood - one is wholly electronic and kinda raga-esque, the other is more involved with tape loops.

David Behrman - On the Other Ocean

Alvin Curran - Canti Illuminati

Joji Yuasa - Projection Esemplastic for White Noise

Morton Subotnick - Silver Apples on the Moon

Generally speaking I prefer when electronics got out of the laboratory and into the hands of people who weren't just interested in making experimental music. I'll take the Berlin School over the Darmstadt School any day of the week.

Originally Posted by Argus

I don't understand what else they can be concentrated on, unless you mean music where the compositional process is more important to the composer than the resulting sound.

i'd like to hear something like an electronic symphony. Something like Wellesz, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Ives, Bartok, Mahler, Vaughan Williams, Hartmann, Berg or whoever you want using electronic sounds. To me some of the pieces listed above are avantgarde pioneristic music that concentrate on sounds (that today often is a bit dated, after all the sixties were almost the stone age of the electronic music) more than structure, harmony etc. And if it's a tonal work there's absolutely no problem. I know that there are pieces of Hindemith and Messiaen in the thirties and forties using electronic devices, but clearly a trautonium is even more dated.

Originally Posted by Argus

Terry Riley - A Rainbow in Curved Air and Poppy Nogood - one is wholly electronic and kinda raga-esque, the other is more involved with tape loops.

David Behrman - On the Other Ocean

Morton Subotnick - Silver Apples on the Moon

i know those works, i like all three, especially poppy nogood but again is not what i was thinking about (but it's not a problem, i will listen all pieces). Subotnik is the opposite of what i'm looking for now. I hope it's a bit more clear

Originally Posted by norman bates

To me some of the pieces listed above are avantgarde pioneristic music that concentrate on sounds (that today often is a bit dated, after all the sixties were almost the stone age of the electronic music) more than structure, harmony etc.

Gotcha. You mean those avant garde composers focussed on the timbre of the electronic sounds because they were novel and exciting a the expense of structure, clear melody etc. That's difficult.

Not exactly what you mean but maybe Klaus Schulze's more symphonic allusions might be along those lines:



Although I prefer his more raw stuff.

Then if you like a bit of cheddar there's Wendy Carlos (maybe too close to Tomita):



To be honest, an orchestral style electronic piece doesn't sound like it'd work. Trying to find enough usable synth timbres to cover the palette of the orchestra would be hard enough but managing to stay away from corniness would be even more difficult. Unless, you use higly realistic electronic sounds that resemble acoustic instruments, but that'd negate the purpose of using electronics in the first place.

Originally Posted by Argus

Gotcha. You mean those avant garde composers focussed on the timbre of the electronic sounds because they were novel and exciting a the expense of structure, clear melody etc. That's difficult.

exactly

Originally Posted by Argus

To be honest, an orchestral style electronic piece doesn't sound like it'd work. Trying to find enough usable synth timbres to cover the palette of the orchestra would be hard enough but managing to stay away from corniness would be even more difficult. Unless, you use higly realistic electronic sounds that resemble acoustic instruments, but that'd negate the purpose of using electronics in the first place.

I confess that i find some of Tomita pieces well done. Some sounds dated, but there are very interesting episodes like Neptune, at least for me (i do know that Holst's relatives totally hated the result). I think also that now that the technology is much more developed than in the sixties/seventies it would be possible to achieve great results (orchestral does not mean to imitate perfectly the sound of a violin or of a cello). Do you know musicians like Fennesz or Vladislav Delay? I'd like to hear those kind of sounds in a classical context for example.
Oh, i know Schulze and i agree with you (my favorite of him is probably Cyborg, but after all he's not a classical composer), but you are in the right direction

Originally Posted by norman bates

Do you know musicians like Fennesz or Vladislav Delay? I'd like to hear those kind of sounds in a classical context for example.

Yeah, I like Fennesz and have listened to most of his albums, and what little of Vladislav Delay I've heard, I have liked. Maybe film scores might contain some of the stuff you mean. They seem to contain a good mix of various styles, although it's also more a mix of acoustic and electric not solely focussed on one. Either that or some New Age style music.

Oh, i know Schulze and i agree with you (my favorite of him is probably Cyborg, but after all he's not a classical composer), but you are in the right direction

Mine's probably Timewind but In Blue is good too.

I've always liked the symphonic expansiveness of Zeit-era Tangerine Dream:



I agree with Argus' recommendation of Ingram Marshall:



-Vaz

i've never heard before of marshall, thank you. I don't know if it's what i'm looking for but i will listen something of him.
Though is not what Sorabji intended and the sounds are not the best, i find this provisory execution with Finale of his Jami fascinating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjTIY210PB8
Just an assay because it's near to my idea, the piece lasts 4 hours