BVHaast
V.A. : His Master's Noise -The institute of Sonology- -2CD- (NL,2001)****°
The Institute of Sonology, (first called STEM or -Studio for Electronic Music-) was founded in 1960, while taking over all the tapes and machines who came from the “Laboratory of natural Sciences” in Eindhoven which had shut down after 8 years. Some of these tapes included Varèse’s “Poem Électronique”, and a short piece by Xenakis and Ligeti (I hope I don’t need to mention how these three composers are some of the most important classic contemporary composers). The studio was the equivalent and alternative to the more famous BBC studios (Radiophonic Workshop) and the studios in Köln, Germany (where Stockhausen worked from very early stage) to name a few. It was Michael Koenig who had worked in the Köln studio of Electronic Music for ten years now came to work in the Dutch studios in 1964. Many composers were invited to record compositions, but also painters like Karel Appel and writers. Another memorable moment was when Dick Raaijmakers was asked to make popular music with electronic music, which resulted in 'Song of the second Moon' (1957), not included, perhaps the first attempt of popular music this way. The studio had their first computer in 1971. There also existed a “Sonology Course” since 1967 and established by Stan Tempelaers, which attracted many students and still does. The research department however was cut down by Cultural policy. After some pushes the studio moved to the Conservatory of Music in the 80s and grew only sporadically in its possibilities. Successor Konrad Boehmer, after Tempelaers, emphasized again on new composers, of which the best final exams commissions are also included on this compilation.
CD1
* The first piece by Xenakis sounds like a rhythmically and harmonically well organised collection of rumble of softly rambling pitches, like some vibrating soft harmonic noise, with a certain vibrating, vividly moving intensity. If I listen closer the collected material surely sounds stone/crystal like. Only afterwards I read that he created the piece from recorded burning charcoal, which he transformed through various tape machine manipulations. Now, knowing this, this reminds me very much of a full CD based upon sound manipulation of stone sounds, called “Stone” by Lilith (Sub Rosa, 1992)****°. * The same year Xenakis had developed with the famous architect Le Corbusier the Philips Pavilion for the World's Fair in Brussels 1958 an electronic-spatial environment to combine architecture, film, light and music for a total experience. Edgard Varèse composed the piece “Poème Électronique” for it, which is also remastered and included here. Varèse had been one of the first with plans for electronic music and electro-acoustic music. It was with the plans of this pavilion that some of his plans finally became concrete. Philips however was shocked by the results and closed down their electronic music studio (so that’s how the Institute of Sonology came to birth). The composition consists of three simultaneously played tracks. It is a collage of partly electro-acoustic (you can recognise a church bell, percussion instruments, voice), but also electronically produced sounds. The sounds are surprising, have remarkable pitches and have interesting spatial movements, crawling forward like waves, but appearing like percussion sometimes. This sounds fine in head phones. Originally 350 loudspeakers moved the sounds into clusters and leaping routes.
* The third track is by Gottfried Michaek Koenig who had worked at Cologne Radio WDR until 1964, and was artistic director and researcher in the Dutch institute until 1986. This piece was composed for automatic music and used a ring-modulator to render colours of sequences. You can hear two layers of sonic vibrations, paintings of sound and noise moving in an organised way in space, showing tensions in space, reappearing sounds like doors that open more and less, releasing different pitches and colours.
* The piece by Kees Tazelaar sounds immediately darker, at times sharper, more modern. You can hear electronic sound movements and some use of breathing. Also this sounds visual, somewhat, a bit frighteningly cold.
* The piece by Johan van Kreij instead of using electronic sounds with the sonic colours of electronic sounds, more seems to paint differently with sound. It seems as if his sound collections (voice and such) are moving, swirling in wind, very physical. It is as if clouds of sounds here and there release some of its hidden sonic messages.
* The piece by Richard Barrett has some parts of music pressed to a collection of pitches. The music evolves from a more computerised tape-collage nature to electro-acoustic music, from electronic nature to acoustic. It is a bit nervous like fastened music with not too many directions except being in its own nature.
* Much more special is Konrad Boehmer’s piece, a theatre play collage of voice with sounds of natural elements, and where the sonic nature of voices and its surround wind seems to take over the world. In the meanwhile baby like background sounds become to sound like insects, birds begin to sound like nature elements and human voices and so on. A convincing evolution.
CD2
* The piece by Ligeti was written in 1958 too. It has cooperative harmonies, pitches, vibrations, and sounds like artificial intelligence from a space station (-remember the first movie with electronic music, “Forbidden Planet”, from 1956, where they had developed the music by thinking over theories of cognitive intelligence or how this could be translated into electronic music- ; this piece could have been a next, further developed chapter to this). The piece could only be realised in 1996 thanks to more advanced computer techniques.
* The colours of electronic sounds by Wouter Snoei are again different from the other composers. It sounds as if he electrified certain strings inside a piano, and followed its moving development with different tensions of magnetic and electric tension, with harmonic sound waves in space. A great piece with a rich and complex simplicity and very natural feeling.
* Jorrit Tamminga’s sounds like carillon and some voice mixed with electronic processing. It is very filmic and reminds me at a certain stage of Art Zoyd’s soundtrack for Faust (or Nosferatu).
* Olivier Hijmans composition has its own sort of sonic sculptures, which moves like and through machinery. At times it seems as if it’s about the fast movements of clustered sounds through plastic wires, remembering some of the fiddling with wires, the movements of its wires and so on. This is a very visual spectacle.
* Laurens Kagenaar’s piece sound more like a visual view with a distance over a natural, but nightmarish situation, like the decomposition of garbage with bees, like a self-preparing natural disaster in creation, with speeding up heat and wind and magnetic resonance. The noise is intelligent, but various evolving processes seems to destruct and fold into one another, like a stable situation with much natural instability. According to the liner notes this seems to be the intended effect. The situation luckily seems to devolve into softer tensions of white noise, and wind.
* I prefer for now, not to review the more chaotic theatrical piece by Xavier van Wersch.
Considering this double album is now being sold for 10 euros only, any potentional listener should not hesitate one moment. There are several works of historical importance compiled here, and nearly every piece if not all oieces for me have qualities of visual spectacle.
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About the composers and pieces :
