Ohm: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music Special Edition 3CD + DVD
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Composer: Pyotr Il'yich TchaikovskyComposer: Olivier Messiaen
Composer: Pierre Schaeffer
Composer: John [1] Cage
Composer: Herbert / Beyer, Robert Eimert
Composer: Otto Luening
Composer: Hugh Le Caine
Composer: Louis and Bebe Barron
Composer: Oskar Sala
Composer: Edgard Varese
Composer: Richard Maxfield
Composer: Tod Dockstader
Composer: Karlheinz Stockhausen
Composer: Vladimir Ussachevsky
Composer: Milton Babbitt
Composer: Musica Elettronica Viva
Composer: Raymond [Jazz] Scott
Composer: Steve Reich
Composer: Pauline Oliveros
Composer: Joji Yuasa
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2005-10-25
Music Label: Ellipsis Arts
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Valse Sentimentale - Clara Rockmore
- Oraison - Ens D'Ondes De Montreal
- Etude Aux Chemins De Fer - Pierre Schaeffer
- Williams Mix - John Cage
- Klangstudie II - Herbert Eimert/Robert Beyer
- Low Speed - Otto Luening
- Dripsody - Hugh Le Caine
- Forbidden Planet: Main Title - Louis Barron/Bebe Barron
- Elektronische Tanzste: Concertando Rubato - Oskar Sala
- Poem Electronique - Edgard Varese
- Sine Music (A Swarm Of Butterflies Encountered Over The Ocean) - Richard Maxfield
- Apocalypse-Part 2 - Tod Dockstader
- Kontakte - James Tenney/William Winant
- Wireless Fant - Vladimir Ussachevsky
- Philomel - Milton Babbitt
- Spacecraft - MEV
- Cindy Electronium - Raymond Scott
- Pendulum Music - Sonic Youth
- Bye Bye Butterfly - Pauline Oliveros
- Projection Esemplastic For White Noise - Joji Yuasa
- Silver Apples Of The Moon, Part 1 - Morton Subotnick
- Rainforest Version 1 - David Tudor
- Poppy Nogood - Terry Riley
- Boat-Woman-Song - Holger Czukay
- Music Promenade - Luc Ferrari
- Vibrations Composees: Rosace 3 - Francois Bayle
- Mutations - Jean-Claude Risset
- Hibiki-Hana-Ma - Iannis Xenakis
- Map Of 49's Dream The Two Systems Of Eleven Sets Of Galactic Intervals: Drift Study '31/69 c.... - La Monte Young
- He Destroyed Her Image - Charles Dodge
- Six Fants On A Poem By Thomas Campion: Her Song - Paul Lansky
- Appalachian Grove - Laurie Spiegel
- En Phase/Hors Phase - Bernard Parmegiani
- On The Other Ocean - David Behrman
- Stria - John Chowning
- Living Sound, Patent Pending Music For Sound-Joined Rooms Series - Maryanne Amacher
- Automatic Writing - Robert Ashley
- Canti Illuminati - Alvin Curran
- Music On A Long Thin Wire - Alvin Lucier
- Melange - Klaus Schulze
- Before And After Charm (La Notte) - Jon Hassell
- Unfamiliar Wind (Leeks Hills) - Brian Eno
Music reviews of Ohm: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music Special Edition 3CD + DVD
Music Review: Not your grandson's electronic music.
Rating: 5 Stars
For those who are unacquainted, this set is the gateway into an entirely new experience of sound. Few listeners, and likely not many practitioners, for that matter, of dance, techno, and trance fully appreciate the extent to which "electronic music," as we know it, was borne from the world of avant-garde classical music...
...and don't expect a killer drum and bass rhythm section on any of these pieces. As you'll soon learn from listening to this box set and reading the ample liner notes (with intro by Brian Eno, no less), the origins of electronic music were anything but simple, or dull. The set takes off by introducing a couple standard-ish classical pieces which put to use some of the first electronic instruments invented. The theremin and ondes martinot (a small keyboard-based instrument which was a distant precursor to the synth) are featured in the first two tracks, respectively, and after that the set moves into some of the different movements and styles developed throughout the middle part of the 20th Century.
Track three is by Pierre Schaeffer. For all you dance and techno buffs out there, this was the first man ever to loop a track, play a track back in reverse, or use a host of other effects which are all common tools for musicians of today. His "Etude Aux Chemins de Fer," or "Railroad Study," is a field recording of various train sounds which was manipulated by Schaeffer in his Paris studio. He developed this method of documenting found sounds and applying various effects to them, dubbing it "Musique Concrete." The process caught on fast. John Cage uses the same method in "Williams Mix," but organizes the sounds in random, rapid succession according to complex principles of chance. This piece is absolutely jarring. Another amazing example of musique concrete is Hugh le Caine's "Dripsody," a virtuosic piece composed from the repetition and manipulation into different pitches of the sound of a single drop of water.
Before entering the age of synthesizers, there is some fine tape-music in the form of Varese's "Poeme Electronique," a fantastically subtle blend of found sounds and instruments grossly manipulated by tape cuts, as well as Richard Maxfield's "Sine Music," a sort of pointillist tape piece which rearranges the sound of a sine wave.
Shortly following the era of musique concrete, synthesizers were being brought into development. One of the first synth pieces on the Ohm set is an excerpt from Milton Babbitt's "Philomel," a complex serialist work scored for female voice and the Mark II synthesizer, (one of the earliest ever developed, to which Babbitt had sole access for a time). "Cindy Electronium" by Raymond Scott is another highlight, which uses Scott's own "Electronium," a "spontaneous composing and performing machine," as he described it, developed half a century ago. As you will notice when hearing this track, the Electronium was capable of producing electronic sounds which sounded as modern as anything churned out by the electronic musicians of today. Also provided in the synth category is a sample of Morton Subotnick's infamous "Silver Apples of the Moon," one of the most popular electronic pieces ever recorded.
The later tracks on this box set delve into digital computer pieces and soundscapes. Paul Lansky's "Six Fantasies" is a rather haunting piece for robotic-sounding voices harmonically enriched using early computer technology, and David Behrman's "On the Other Ocean," is a brilliantly thought-out improvisation between a solo cellist and a computer program written by Behrman himself, which reacts to the soloist's performance. The four or five tracks rounding out the set can be considered some of the earliest forms of New Age, as these artists used combinations of the earlier techniques to make some of the first intentionally ambient and hypnotic music.
The DVD included in this box is a nice supplement to the musical content. One can actually see a few of these artists at work, or being interviewed in person. The vintage Behrman performance, as well as an edit of the stunning light and dance piece by Max Mathews (which I really wish was longer) are two of the best segments.
To me, the most fascinating aspect of all of this music is not only the lack of conventionally-produced sound, but also in many cases the complete abandon of traditional compositional form. In 90-95% of the pieces, there exists either no recurring themes, introductions, crescendos, counterpoint, etc., or there exists merely a complete distortion of these standards. This music truly represents everything new and revolutionary we have come to expect from the beginnings of the postmodern era.
The Ohm box set serves as a fantastic historical document and THE definitive entrance point for anyone interested in the origins of electronic music. The fact that edits are occasionally used can be a bit frustrating (the original versions of many of these pieces are loooooong), but some of this music is not available anywhere else, and let's face it: after being infected by the incredible sounds encased here, you'll be searching for all of the artists' original albums, anyway.
Description of Ohm: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music Special Edition 3CD + DVD
OHM+ : the early gurus of electronic musicSpecial Edition 3CD + DVD
Leaps in technology: oscillators, generators, vacuum tubes, amplifiers, transistors, magnetic tape, integrated circuits, and the microchip? inspired new instruments: the telharmonium, theremin, ondes martenot, electronic sackbut, clavivox, electronium, moog synthesizer, and computers? and artists everywhere hungry for new modes of expression.
This collection is a humble but bold attempt to give form to the wonderful, multi-directional, inevitable birth of electronic music.
"Many of the ideas in this collection have now been so completely assimilated into popular listening that it may sometimes be hard to remember how surprising it all was on first outing. Some of it still sounds pretty exotic. These CDs are important as part of the story of how we got to where we are now?the cultural conversation so far?and as a still fruitful repertoire of future possibilities." ?from the Foreword by Brian Eno
Three CDs?42 original music tracks from 1948?1980 112 Page Book?extensive artist interviews, commentaries, and archival photographs Special Edition DVD?over two hours of rare performances, interviews, animations, and experimental video.
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