# Electronic Music - - - - - - >



## vamos (Oct 9, 2009)

I have been a huge fan of all sorts of electronic music for my entire life. It is one of the few parts of my being that has remained constant all the way through.

This thread will introduce many of you to works you haven't heard. There will be classic electroacoustic recordings, synthesizer work, and classical explorations of sound.

I believe many here are fans of musicians who dabbled in electronics, for instance Varese and Ligeti. I also get the feeling that many here have not yet explored this incredible world of sound. It is the natural progression of music as we know it, in many ways.

Many will probably question whether a discussion of electronic music belongs on this message board - whether it can be considered "classical."

We'll figure it out!

To start the thread:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_music



> Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production.[1] In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology.[2] Examples of electromechanical sound producing devices include the telharmonium, Hammond organ, and the electric guitar. Purely electronic sound production can be achieved using devices such as the Theremin, sound synthesizer, and computer.[3]
> *Electronic music was once associated almost exclusively with Western art music* but from the late 1960s on the availability of affordable music technology meant that music produced using electronic means became increasingly common in the popular domain.[4] Today electronic music includes many varieties and ranges from experimental art music to popular forms such as electronic dance music.





> The 1920-1930s
> This decade brought a wealth of early electronic instruments and the first compositions for electronic instruments. The first instrument, the Etherophone, was created by Léon Theremin (born Lev Termen) between 1919 and 1920 in Leningrad, though it was eventually renamed the Theremin. *This led to the first compositions for electronic instruments, as opposed to noisemakers and re-purposed machines.* In 1929, Joseph Schillinger composed First Airphonic Suite for Theremin and Orchestra, premièred with the Cleveland Orchestra with Leon Theremin as soloist.







(I do not enjoy this whatsoever, just posting it for historical purposes...)

:::



> The modern industrial and, to a certain extent, New Age music scenes attribute much of their influence to musique concrète, the brainchild of Schaeffer himself.[citation needed].As well, Schaeffer is considered by many electronic and experimental musicians to have been a profound part of the development of those musical genres. His contribution has been compared to the likes of Luigi Russolo, Robert Moog, Edgard Varèse and others.[by whom?] Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music features sound samples by Pierre Schaeffer, as well as Iannis Xenakis and the aforementioned Varèse (two of his contemporaries).
> Pierre's aforementiond student in GRM, Jean Michel Jarre, went on to great international success in his own musical career. Jarre's 1997 album, Oxygene 7-13, is dedicated to Schaeffer. Pierre Henry also made a tribute to the man, composing his Écho d'Orphée, Pour P. Schaeffer alongside him for Schaeffer's last work and second compilation, L'Œuvre Musicale. His other notable pupils include Joanna Bruzdowicz, Bernard Parmegiani, Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux, Armando Santiago, and Elzbieta Sikora.







MORE LATER!


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I have no doubt electronic music is classical music, as you may surmise from my avatar. Morton Subotnik and Charles Wuorinen (sp?) are among my favorites. Though I tend to like my electronic music a little more accessible than what is usually considered electronic art music, I am intrigued by the idea you can easily get 24 tone, or microtonal scales with it, something that only fretless string instruments have been able to do until recently.

Thanks for the links and the articles. I will explore them more fully when I get home today


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I went to a concert earlier in the year here as part of the ISCM World New Music Days in Sydney. The acoustic instruments were amplified and electronically 'enhanced' by samples played around the audience by speakers. I really enjoyed it. Now I have been getting into some of this type of music, starting with Cage and Boulez. I also want to explore this genre further, and I am going to buy some of the composer's discs mentioned by the member some guy in some of the lists he's done on other threads. I think that I'll start with Lachenmann, since he seems to be them most reputable living classical composer in this field.

It's not exacly 'electronic,' (using taped 'real life' industrial sounds/noises) but Varese's _Deserts_ is a classic in this field. Premiered in the early 1950's in the same Paris theatre that saw the premiere of Stravinsky's _Rite of Spring _four decades earlier, it also caused a riot. I understand that Schaeffer started the ball rolling with musique concrete, but guys like Varese produced it's most durable compositions. But I can't understand how some conductors have recorded (and perform) this piece without the so-called 'electronic interpolations.' Although Varese authorised the work to be played without the taped interludes, I can't imagine it without them, they are really integral to the whole work...


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

This is an area of music I haven't really explored yet, though I really think i should!


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## JMJ (Jul 9, 2010)

Stockhausen, a crucial pioneering figure in the history of electronic music & surround-sound and remained one of its most accomplished exponents right to the end ... from _Gesang der Junglinge_ (1956) & _Kontakte_ (1959/60) (the first truly significant seminal works in the medium, using electronics with live performers) ...then the steps of experimental impromptu live electronics (transforming & manipulating sounds during performance) with _Mikrophonie I_ & _Mixtur_ (both 1964).. followed by the epic classics _Hymnen_ (1966-67) & _Telemusik_ (1966).

And later, in _Licht_ & _Klang_ containing extraordinary electronic works of power, imagination & creativity.

LICHT cycle electronica
Oktophonie (1990-91)
Elektronische musik mit Tonszenen (1991-94)
Mittwochs-Gruss (1998)
Orchester Finalisten (1995-96)
Mittwochs-Abschied (1996) 
Sonntags-Abschied for 5 synthesizer players (2001/03)
Klavierstücke XV-XIX (for synthesizer) (1991-2003)

KLANG Cycle electronica
Ascension (2004-05) for synthesizer, soprano & tenor
Cosmic Pulses (2006-07)
Klang Hours 14-21 (2007)
(various soloists with layers derived from Cosmic Pulses's 24 electronic melodic layers)

SIRIUS electronic music (4 seasons - Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter) (1975-77)


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## djmomo17 (Aug 12, 2010)

I echo JMJ - Stockhausen Stockhausen Stockhausen. He's like the Beethoven of electronic music. In fact he even remixed Beethoven in "Opus 1970" . Personally I am kind of out of the electronic music scene, but maybe this thread will remind me of some favs....Bernard Parmegiani? Xenakis....Merzbow?


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## JMJ (Jul 9, 2010)

djmomo17 said:


> In fact he even remixed Beethoven in "Opus 1970" .


That was just another of performance of the live electronic improvisation work _Kurzwellen_ (1968) where material is obtained from a regulating system (radio short waves), selected freely by the player and immediately developed. By "developed" is meant: spread, condensed, extended, shortened, differently coloured, more or less articulated, transposed, modulated, multiplied, synchronized. ... and to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's birth .. the players* activate tapes containing abstract fragments of Beethoven's music as they perform and improvise in response, with Stockhausen electronically processing and mixing the group's output ...

*Aloys Kontarsky (piano), Johannes G. Fritsch (electric viola), Harald Bojé (Elektronium early electronic keyboard instrument), and Rolf Gehlhaar (tam-tam).


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## JMJ (Jul 9, 2010)

Linked below is a modern performance of the aforementioned (_Kurzwellen_) by the Dirty Electronics Ensemble... and instead of it being _Kurzwellen mit Beethoven Opus 1970_ ...they're tossing in classic Stockhausen music very much in the same way into the improv ...

so it's _Kurzwellen mit Stockhausen_ >>


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## djmomo17 (Aug 12, 2010)

Here's a recent blog post w audio sample on Stockhausen's "Beethoven" Kurzwellen - 
http://lvbandmore.blogspot.com/2010/08/85-avant-garde-meet-beethoven.html

Thanks for the additional info JMJ, I was too lazy to dig out my vinyl 

I never heard the Dirty Electronics Ensemble before - cool stuff. Apparently they jammed with Merzbow too.... makes me itch to get out my home-mades again....


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## JMJ (Jul 9, 2010)

Another one worth mentioning is the great 2 'ring-modulated' piano work _Mantra_ (1970).


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