Agreed. I just wanted to post my contempt for detritus they’ve produced since 1974…
I generally like the stuff (much of it electronic, funnily enough) before they jumped the minimalist shark
Electronic Composers
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I generally like the stuff (much of it electronic, funnily enough) before they jumped the minimalist shark
I like Reich before he went orchestral. I think his stuff works best in the percussion medium though 18 Musicians is one of my favorite works.
There's a great deal of Glass I admire but he made way too much music. Certainly paid his bills (especially when he was an in-demand film composer) but it means I have to sort out a lot of wheat from chaff.
There's a great deal of Glass I admire but he made way too much music. Certainly paid his bills (especially when he was an in-demand film composer) but it means I have to sort out a lot of wheat from chaff.
18 Musicians is certainly Reich’s greatest piece and I love the earliest tape stuff: “bruise blood to come out at show dem”. He just sold out for money.
Glass, similarly, wrote some excellent keyboard works early on and his work up to the fist two parts of Music in 12 Parts is very impressive. Again though, he sold out for money.
Glass, similarly, wrote some excellent keyboard works early on and his work up to the fist two parts of Music in 12 Parts is very impressive. Again though, he sold out for money.
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while the op clearly mentions electronic composers and i also enjoyed tangerine dream and their colleagues, these are not classical composers. reich and glass hardly produced any electronic music. in my book i only list ligeti, stockhausen, koenig, kagel, berio, maderna, xenakis and oliveros as classical electronic composers. I would be grateful to hear from our members if they agree and if they can add suitable composers to this list.
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Old-style "electro-acoustic music"
Tho this stuff is no more "classical" than modern synthesizer composers like David Helpling, Ron Jenkins, Greg Klamt or Deborah Martin.
I would agree with all of the above. I think there is a fine line between composition and improvisation, especially when it comes to electronic works, as it is often not apparent to the audience, listener or even reader (depending on how it is scored), if individual electronic sounds are being produced manually or processed electronically.
While my preference is more for the hinterland of electro-acoustic, classical forms such as spectralism (Grisey, Murial, Levinas, Dufourt, et al.), I do enjoy individual pieces by more purely electronic composers, like Paul Lansky (Night Traffic, Ride), and musique concréte pieces by Luc Ferrari (Presque Rien) and Bernard Parmegiani (Die Natura Sonorum)…
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Your book may need another chapter.
Pierre Schaeffer (founder of Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète), Pierre Henry, Luc Ferrari, Varèse, Otto Luening, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Tristram Cary, Arne Nordheim, Toshiro Mayuzumi [UbuWeb Sound - Early Japanese Tape Music (1953-1956)], Takemitsu, Gino Marinuzzi jr [(PDF) Gino Marinuzzi Jr: Electronics and Early Multimedia Mentality in Italy | Maurizio Corbella - Academia.edu], Henk Badings, Olli Kortegangas, etc.
I should mention my fellow countrymen Bülent Arel and İlhan Mimaroğlu. Former worked with Varèse and latter with Ussachevsky. Mimaroğlu in particular is quite good.
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i am grateful for your answer which corresponds to my request. my book is just a figure of speech of course and my endeavour is to identify purely electronic composers (with a significant body of works). luc ferrari is one of those and i have his major works. musique concrète is often termed as electro-acoustic music, so i have my doubts as to whether this is electronic music.i am familiar with varese's poème electronique but am not aware of other significant electronic works in his oeuvre. henk badings is a prolific composer with 15 symphonies and a lot of concertante pieces as well as some electro-acoustic works, but may have composed electronic pieces. i also believe the like of takemitsu have tried the medium but have not composed many works .i suspect the same is true for nordheim. i might be entirely wrong because i do not have access to the same sources as you.the italian school is another mystery to me.would you be so kind to share some of your knowledge.Your book may need another chapter.
Pierre Schaeffer (founder of Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète), Pierre Henry, Luc Ferrari, Varèse, Otto Luening, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Tristram Cary, Arne Nordheim, Toshiro Mayuzumi [UbuWeb Sound - Early Japanese Tape Music (1953-1956)], Takemitsu, Gino Marinuzzi jr [(PDF) Gino Marinuzzi Jr: Electronics and Early Multimedia Mentality in Italy | Maurizio Corbella - Academia.edu], Henk Badings, Olli Kortegangas, etc.
Two Italian musicians who interest me immensely and existed in that gnarly hinterland between electronic composition and prog/industrial music are Franco Battiato and Maurizio Bianchi. Franco sold his sold to the Devil (Manna), while Maurizio because a Jehovah’s Witness and disappeared off the grid. Check out these absolutely stone cold classics from 1977 & 1983:
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thks for sharing this fascinating music
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I'd estimate around one-third of Arne Nordheim's output is for magnetic tapes & electronic music (a significant portion of his discography is such).
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My understanding is that Tristram Cary was involved (in 1967) with the earliest usage of sequencers in music.
The late '60s had the 'moog' and by the early '70s there were ARP synthesizers.
Prior to '67, electronic music was typically magnetic tape splicing and mechanically altered recorded sounds.
From the earliest mag tapes by Mayuzumi ('53) and Varèse ('54) through the late '60s, electronic music was not synthesizers, per se, but permutations of electronically altered acoustic recorded sounds and/or electronic musical instruments like Ondes Martenot, Theremin, Novachord, SoloVox, ... Jack Cookerly's electric Organ or electric violin, etc.
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The late '60s had the 'moog' and by the early '70s there were ARP synthesizers.
Prior to '67, electronic music was typically magnetic tape splicing and mechanically altered recorded sounds.
From the earliest mag tapes by Mayuzumi ('53) and Varèse ('54) through the late '60s, electronic music was not synthesizers, per se, but permutations of electronically altered acoustic recorded sounds and/or electronic musical instruments like Ondes Martenot, Theremin, Novachord, SoloVox, ... Jack Cookerly's electric Organ or electric violin, etc.
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Regarding IX's Kraanerg, this utilizes quadrophonic/4-channel tape which alters the sounds of the acoustic instruments. Xenakis subsequently wrote computer music later in his life, but pre-synthesizer works (I think) shouldn't be summarily excluded from under the umbrella of electronic music just because they contain acoustic elements or are not deemed 100% synthetic by current-day standards. When evaluating music written before we were born, an understanding of whichever technology was available during any given decade is beneficial for assessing its merits.
Varèse was involved with many projects, but few of them witnessed actual completion. Varèse may have been toiling further upon ultimately unrealized electronic music, but his death in 1965 precluded any potential opus for non-acoustic electronics.
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thks for these precious comments concerning xenakis. kraanerg mixes tape (altering acoustic music, like you mention and orchestral music) and is therefore a hybrid work. james harley's excellent book on xenakis describes the development of the piece. i think persepolis qualifies more as an electronic piece. regarding varese he was a genius but his projects did not come to fruition because he did not have the necessary technology available during his lifetime. i listened to the electronic works by nordheim in my collection and am not impressed by his early tape works, but on the other hand like Warszawa and Poly-Poly from the late sixties.
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