The Holmes Archive of Electronic Music

The 2023 US Open Tennis Soundscape

Episode 105
The 2023 US Open Tennis Soundscape
Playlist
This podcast comprises an amorphous blend of sounds of the US Open tennis championships, vintage recordings of tennis instructions, a little electronic music, and lots of audio processing. All the sounds of the US Open grounds were made by me and include crowds, the fountain in front of Arthur Ashe stadium (the largest tennis venue in the world), rain, grounds equipment, jet airplane flyovers, chair umpires delivering scores, and many tennis players hitting, playing, and practicing.
Sounds of the tennis facility and players: Novak Djokovic, Varvara Lepchenko, Alexander Zverev, Andy Murray, Dan Evans, Kwiatkowski, Thai-Son, Stan Wawrinka, Matteo Berrettini, Taylor Fritz, Vasek Pospisil, Ilya Ivashka plus many other unidentified male and female players captured during my walks around the grounds. The ambience of various courts is also present, including Louis Armstrong stadium, the Grandstand, and a variety of outer courts. These all differ in the kind of containing structures, and range from the enclosed (Armstrong) to the wide open (outside courts).
Vintage Instructional recordings used:
Arthur Ashe, Learn Tennis (For Beginners & Advanced Players) (1974 Manhattan Recording Company). Vinyl, 12 ." Arthur Ashe teaches you Tennis. Comes with 8-page black/white instructional booklet.
John Newcombe, Tennis With John Newcombe (1974 K-Tel). Limited Collectors Edition. Vinyl, 12 ." Narrator, unidentified. 12-Page Tennis tips Booklet Enclosed. Promotional item for Rawlings tennis products.
Evonne Goolagong, Tennis Tips By Evonne Goolagong (1975 Fleetwood Records). Vinyl, 7", 33 ⅓ RPM. Narrated with questions by Bud Collins.
Audio processing. I love repetition. Loops are kind of my happy place. I have created many textures around the loops from the vintage recordings, some more dense than others, some with added beats and electronically generated sound. I also did several treatments of audio tracks using MetaSynth CTX 1.2, the Effects Room, particularly the inertia and shuffler features. I also processed some sections of the soundscape in real-time using Virtual DJ and added it to the final mix.
I have developed a technique for processing natural sounds and transforming them into drones. For this soundscape, I did this using the sounds of tennis balls being hit, which accounts for the loud pings that color the drone. There are two sections. They begin around 26:00 and 47:00 of the soundscape. The first is a single drone, the second comprises multiple drones created with different tonal centers and played simultaneously.
While I curate the individual sounds and apply treatments separately, overall the mix is largely based on the chance encounters of different sounds across the soundscape. I generally decide on techniques to apply to given sections and then let the pieces fall where they may to see what happens. I auditioned numerous mixes for the podcast before deciding on this one. This is a mixdown of 33 tracks with over 131 individual sounds included in the mix, which also includes a composite track from Virtual DJ including manipulation of a half dozen tracks recorded in real-time.
Opening background music: Sounds of tennis. Unidentified rally hitters, Stan Wawrinka drone sequence, Vasek Pospisil and Ilya Ivashka gameplay.
Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz.
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.
For additional notes, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.

Experimental Music for Pipe Organ, The Original Synthesizer

Episode 104
Experimental Music for Pipe Organ
Playlist
Bengt Hambraeus, “Doppelrohr II” (1956) from Cologne - WDR: Early Electronic Music (1992 BV Haast Records). All compositions are productions of the 'Studio für elektronische Musik des Westdeutschen Rundfunks Köln.’ The earliest work I can find that combines electronic music on tape with sounds created using a pipe organ. 3:54
Bengt Hambraeus, “Constellations II For Organ Sounds” (1959) from Constellations & Interferences (1968 Limelight). Composed and played on the pipe organ by Bengt Hambraeus. 16:02
Bengt Hambraeus, “Responsorier For Two Organs, Solo Voice, Mixed Choir And Church Bells” (1964, final section) from Max Reger Och Bengt Hambræus (1970 SR Records). Swedish release conducted by Eric Erickson. Composed by, Organ, Bengt Hambræus; Choir, Kammarkören, Radiokören; Organ, Karl-Erik Welin; Tenor Vocals, Christer Solén.11:14
Christian Wolff, “For 1, 2 or 3 People” (1964) from A Second Wind For Organ (1968 Odyssey). Baroque Organ by David Tudor, Liner Notes by Richard Teitelbaum; Produced by David Behrman. 9:37
Hans Otte, “Touches” (1965) from Gerd Zacher, Organ (1970 Heliodor). Composed by Hans Otte; pipe organ, Gerd Zacher. 12:46
Mauricio Kagel, “Improvisation Ajoutée” (1966) from A Second Wind For Organ (1968 Odyssey). Organ by David Tudor; Liner Notes by Richard Teitelbaum; Produced by David Behrman. 13:41
Juan Allende-Blin, “Sons Brisés - In Memoriam Lothar Schreyer” (1967) from Gerd Zacher, Organ (1970 Heliodor). Composed by Juan Allende-Blin; pipe organ, Gerd Zacher. 12:36
György Ligeti, “Etude No. 1 "Harmonies" (1967)” from Aventures - Nouvelles Aventures / Volumina / Etude No. 1 "Harmonies" (1969 Candide). Organ of The Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche, Berlin, Gerd Zacher. 6:51
Morton Feldman, “Intersection 3” (1953/1969) played by Gerd Zacher from Gerd Zacher, Orgel (1970 DGG). Zacher was an accomplished organist who had a reputation for interpreting contemporary works. This work is a realization for organ of a work from 1953, which Feldman offered to Zacher for this project. The work was originally intended for piano and written with David Tudor in mind. The original Intersection was written in 1952 and was created as part of John Cage’s project for works on magnetic tape. 2:36
Gerd Zacher, “Ré” (1969) from Gerd Zacher, Orgel (1970 DGG). Composed and performed by Gerd Zacher; vocals, Juan Allende-Blin. 8:35
Diane Bish, “Laudation” from Bish, Bach & Baroque (1978 Suncoast). Interesting, oddball combination of pipe organ and synthesizer. Ms. Bish was an accomplished American organist, composer, conductor, author, organ designer, television producer and television host. Written by Diane Bish and played on pipe organ (117-rank Ruffatti pipe organ made in Padua, Italy) and ARP Pro Soloist synthesizer mounted above the organ manuals. 5:25
Sarah Davachi, “For Organ” (2015) from All My Circles Run (2017 Students of Decay). Davachi is a Canadian electroacoustic musician based in Los Angeles, primarily working with organ, piano, synthesizer, strings, woodwinds. This work is for solo pipe organ and was recorded live at Knox United Church, Calgary, Alberta, Canada on June 14, 2017. 8:02
Jonas Olesen and Sandra Boss, Teaser (excerpt) from New Works for Organ (2016 private). Work for pneumatic church organ, MIDI controlled pipe organ and prepared pump organ. Premiere at Koncertkirken, Copenhagen DK. Friday May 27th, 2016. 1:43
Opening background music: György Ligeti, “Volumina (Original Version 1961/62)” from Aventures - Nouvelles Aventures / Volumina / Etude No. 1 "Harmonies" (1969 Candide). Organ of The Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche, Berlin, Gerd Zacher. 16:57
Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz.
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.
For additional notes, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.

Crosscurrents in Early Electronic Music of Japan

Episode 103
Crosscurrents in Early Electronic Music: Japan
Playlist
Experimental Music of Japan (1968 Victor)
Album produced and recorded at the NHK Electronic Studio and supervised by K. Akiyama and W. Uenami. The tracks have been slightly reordered to represent the correct chronology of the works.
Toshiro Mayuzumi and Makoto Moroi, “Variations Sur” (1956) from (1968 Victor). On this album, this piece was called the first work of electronic tape music produced in Japan. Not so. I know of five earlier works (by the NHK Studio engineers, Mayuzumi, and Shibata) dating back to 1954-1956. This work is also known as “Variations on the Numerical Principle of Seven” and actually dates to 1956, unlike what the liner notes tell us. I have two of those works in the archive and will feature them in a future episode. 14:54
Toru Takemitsu, “Sky, Horse And Death (Concrete-Music)” (1958) from Experimental Music Of Japan (1968 Victor). 3:22
Joji Yuasa, “Projection Esemplastic (For White-Noise)” (1964) from Experimental Music Of Japan (1968 Victor). 7:40
Maki Ishii, “Hamon-Ripples (For Chamber Ensemble, Violin And Taped Music)” (1965) from Experimental Music Of Japan (1968 Victor). 9:53
Toshi Ichiyanagi, “Situation (For Biwa, Koto, Violin, Double Bass, Piano and Multiplier)” (1966) from Experimental Music Of Japan (1968 Victor). 6:31
Toshiro Mayuzumi, “Campanology (For Multi-Piano)” (1967) from Experimental Music Of Japan (1968 Victor). 8:01
 
Group Ongaku (2011 Seer Sound Archive)
Remastered at Inoue Onkyo Kikaku by Kazuya Sakagami, Yukio Fujimoto.
Group Ongaku, “Automatism” (1960) from Music of Group Ongaku (2011 Seer Sound Archive). Japanese pressing, includes English language insert, edition of 300. Recorded on May 8, 1960 at Mizuno’s house. This is the recording of a live performance for which the players used a piano, a pedal organ, a cello, alto saxophone and various everyday objects such as a vacuum cleaner, radio, an oil drum, dolls, and a set of dishes. The music was spontaneously created and recorded in real-time. Performers were Chieko Shiomi, Mikio Tojima, Shukou Mizuno, Takehisa Kosugi, Yasunao Tone, and Yumiko Tanno. 26:20
Group Ongaku, “Object” (1960) from Music of Group Ongaku (2011 Seer Sound Archive). Japanese pressing, includes English language insert, edition of 300. Recorded on May 8, 1960 at Mizuno’s house. Performers were Chieko Shiomi, Mikio Tojima, Shukou Mizuno, Takehisa Kosugi, Yasunao Tone, and Yumiko Tanno. 7:34
Group Ongaku, “Metaplasm 9-15” Parts 1 and 2 (1961) from Music of Group Ongaku (2011 Seer Sound Archive). Japanese pressing, includes English language insert, edition of 300. Recorded on September 15, 1961, at Sogetsu Kaikan Hall, Tokyo. Performers: Cello, Mikio Tojima; Cello, Drums, Tape, Shukou Mizuno; Guitar, Genichi Tsuge; Piano, Chieko Shiomi; Saxophone, Tape, Yasunao Tone; Violin, Saxophone, Tape, Takehisa Kosugi. Part 1, 14:16; Part 2, 11:26.
Opening background music, Makoto Moroi, “Shōsanke” for electronic sounds and Japanese traditional instruments (1968) from Experimental Music Of Japan '69 (no. 2) (1969 Victor). Issued also as part of the Prospective 21e siècle series, both Electronic Panorama: Paris, Tokyo, Utrecht, Warszawa Box-Set and self-contained Japanese Electronic Music LP. 13:20.
Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz.
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.
For additional notes, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.

The BBC Shipping Forecast Soundscape

Episode 102
The BBC Shipping Forecast Soundscape
Playlist
Thom Holmes, “The Shipping Forecast Soundscape” (2023 Thom Holmes). This single soundscape consists of random selections of BBC Shipping Forecasts from the past two years plus electronic sounds and audio treatments. BBC Shipping Forecasts are ©copyright BBC and located at the BBC Radio 4 Website. Electronic sounds, treatments, curating, editing, and mixing by Thom Holmes. 1:38:32
Presenters of the Shipping Forecasts heard in this podcast: Neil Nunes; Tina Ritchie; Lou Tottenham; Helen Willis.
Opening background music: Sounds of the sea from three vintage sound effects records, remixed by Thom Holmes: “At Sea in Foul Weather” from Sounds of the Sea and Ships (1965 Argo Transacord), a monophonic recording from England; “The Sea” (excerpt) from The Sounds of the Storm & the Sea (1974 Bainbridge), a stereophonic recording recorded and produced by Brad Miller; and “The Psychologically Ultimate Seashore” from Environments (1969 SR Records), a stereophonic recording, the first in the Environments series.
 
Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz.
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.
For additional notes, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.
Links for The BBC Shipping Forecast:
Website from BBC Radio 4 for clips of The Shipping Forecast.
From the BBC: What does the Shipping Forecast Mean?
Script Guidelines for the Shipping Forecast from the Met Office

Crosscurrents in Early Electronic Music in Italy—Part 2

Episode 101
Crosscurrents in Early Electronic Music in Italy—Part 2
Playlist
Pietro Grossi, Studio Di Fonologia Musicale Di Firenze (S 2F M)
Pietro Grossi, Marino Zuccheri, “Progetto II e III” (1961) (1961 RAI). Pietro Grossi began experimenting with electronic sound while visiting the RAI in the early 1960s. During this time, he became fascinated with algorithmic manipulations of sine waves and produced the piece Progetto 2-3 (1961) which mathematically managed the slowly intersecting trajectories of six audio signals. This is an excerpt from the original 30-minute work. 2:56
Pietro Grossi, S2 F M: A1, “Primavera,” “Estate,” Autunno,’ “Inverno,’ “Alba,’ “Tramonto,’ “Notte,’ “Temporale,’ “Arcobaleno,” “Suspense N. 1,” “Suspense N. 2,” “Suspense N. 3,” “Suspense N. 4” and “Thrilling” from Electronic Soundtracks (1965 Cooper Recordes). Works composed at the Studio di Fonologia Musicale (S 2F M) in Florence. This is the first example of broadcast library music that Grossi was engaged in for many of the following years, presumably to keep his S2FM Studio funded. 9:24
Pietro Grossi, “Battimenti A Due Frequenze” (1965) from Battimenti (2003 Ants). From the inside cover: "94 sets of beats with 2, 3, 4, 5 frequencies taken from a catalogue of sound events that I and my collaborators have created in the electronic music studio S 2F M around the year 1965. These sound events were meant to be used for various compositional purposes. Each set of beats lasts approximately 30 seconds; they are arranged as follows: 10 sets with two frequencies, 25 with three frequencies, 31 with four frequencies, 28 with five frequencies. Listening at low level is suggested. P.G." Interestingly, this experiment in four parts required about 54 minutes to hear in total. This part is the shortest. 5:50
Pietro Grossi, “Collage” (1968) from Musicautomatica (2003 Die Schachtel). A change of pace from other works at this studio, this collage piece is an electroacoustic work largely based on naturally occuring sounds that have been distorted and modified. 13:52
Pietro Grossi, “Citta' Sommersa,” from Atmosfera & Elettronica (1972 Lupus records). Another broadcast library album of interesting, electronic atmospheres. 2:59
Studio Di Fonologia Musicale Di Firenze, “Mixed Paganini,” “Permutations Of Five Sounds,” “Continuous,” (1967) from GE-115 - Computer Concerto. Imagine hyour surprise if you were a recipient of this 7-inch disc that was distributed in 1967 as a New Year’s gift by Olivetti company. “Transcriptions for the central processor unit of a GE-115 computer of short excerpts of Paganini & Bach music scores and original works as well.” I chose to present side 2 of the disc which features early computer works with a flare for the rapid-fire articulation of notes by the computer. These examples vary significantly from the more traditional classical arrangements found on side 1. Realized at Studio di Fonologia musicale di Firenze (Italy). 5:04
Enore Zaffiri, Studio di Musica Elettronica di Torino (SMET)
Enore Zaffiri, “Musica Per Un Anno”(1968, excerpt) from Musica Per Un Anno (2008 Die Schachtel). Early work from this studio was mostly abstract and experimental. This piece is a terrific representation. All of the frequencies, their amplitude and durations were determined based on the mathematical analysis of 12 geometric figures derived around the 12 hours on a clock face. From the liner notes: “This electronic music is intended as a sound track for ambients. It develops over a duration of one year's time. The sound events change imperceptibly but continuously, in relation to the months, days, hours and minutes. Every instant has its unique music, which merges with the light, and the air of the ambient.” The original is 60 minutes long. 13:41
Lorenzo Ferrero, “Immigrati” (1971) from Musica Elettronica - Computer Music (1972 Compagnia Editoriale Pianeta). The third major Italian electronic music was the Studio Di Musica Elettronica located in Torino and founded in 1964 by Enore Zaffiri. This piece was recorded in 1971 after they had acquired and EMS Synthi. 6:22
Teresa Rampazzi, Gruppo Nuove Proposte Sonore (NPS), Padua
Gruppo NPS (Rampazzi, Marega, Chiggio, Meiners, Alfonsi), “Ricerca 4” (1965) from Nuove Proposte Sonore 1965-1972 (2011 Die Schachtel). Monophonic track revolving around a group of sound objects that were manipulated using tape editing and processing. The reverberation of this work was created by putting a loudspeaker in a stairwell. There is also the unwanted thud of a door still in the work. 5:46
Gruppo NPS (Rampazzi, Marega, Mazurek), “Modulo 4” (1965) from Nuove Proposte Sonore 1965-1972 (2011 Die Schachtel). Monophonic track revolving around a group of sound objects that were manipulated using tape editing and processing. Experiments on signal impulses and their changing attacks and decay. of 3:48
Gruppo NPS (Rampazzi, Marega), “Freq. Mod. 2” (1965) from Nuove Proposte Sonore 1965-1972 (2011 Die Schachtel). Short bands of frequencies modulated by low-level signals abd brief, “violent impulses.” 6:26
Gruppo NPS (Rampazzi, Gracis), “Insiemi” (1965) from Nuove Proposte Sonore 1965-1972 (2011 Die Schachtel). A more lyrical, rather than systematic composition process is shown in this work. Adjectives such as calm, cathartic, and conflict were used to describe the outcome. 7:33
Opening background music: Pietro Grossi, “Unicum” from Musicautomatica (2003 Die Schachtel), excerpt.
 
Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz.
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.
For additional notes, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.

Crosscurrents in Early Electronic Music: Italy—Part 1

Episode 100
Crosscurrents in Early Electronic Music: Italy—Part 1
Playlist
Berio, Maderna, Nono, Zuccheri, RAI Studio di Fonologia Musicale (RAI), Milan
Luciano Berio, “Mutazioni” (1955) from Prospettive Nella Musica (1956 RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana). The first complete tape work by Berio at the newly founded RAI studio, which he was running with composer Bruno Maderna. Sound engineering by Marino Zuccheri. Berio and Maderna kept an open mind about the music that would be produced under its roof. They did not align themselves aesthetically with either the musique concrète approach taken in Paris or the serialist, rules-based composing style of Cologne. “Bruno and I immediately agreed,” explained Berio, “that our work should not be directed in a systematic way, either toward recording acoustic sounds or toward a systematic serialism based on discrete pitches.”[1] As a consequence, Alfredo Lietti Marino Zuccheri, engineers for the studio, filled it with equipment that appealed to a wide spectrum of compositional needs. In 1956, studio no. 3 at RAI had a custom-built cabinet with six vertical racks consisting of audio generators (9 sine wave oscillators, 1 white noise generator, 1 pulse generator), sound modifiers (plate reverb, octave filter, high pass filter, low-pass filter, variable band-pass filter, third-octave filter, ring and amplitude modulators), and a mixing panel. Several tape recorders were available mix and match sounds. You can almost sense the excitement of the creation of these foundational works as each composer brought their own individualism to the sound a translated that into electronic music. 3:36
Berio & Maderna, “Ritatto di Città (poema radiofonico)” (1955) (1955 RAI). File from the RAI Archives. This is an excerpt from a radiophonic production that was 26’ long. 6:05
Bruno Maderna, “Notturno” (1956) from Prospettive Nella Musica (1956 RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana). Maderna’s first official solo tape work produced at the RAI studio. From an original disc released by the RAI in 1956. 3:24
Luciano Berio, “Perspectives” from Prospettive Nella Musica (1956 RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana). An eight-part work of experiments in transforming musical sounds and rhythms with electronic manipulation. 6:36
Bruno Maderna, “Música su Due Dimensioni” from História da Música Eletroacústica (1958). 7:10
Luciano Berio, “Momenti”(1960) from Images Fantastiques (Electronic Experimental Music) (1968 Limelight). This release was an American collection of European electronic music released on the Limelight label, a subsidiary of Philips. Although released a few years after “Momenti” was available elsewhere, this was an album that captivated my imagination at the time. You hear Berio’s innate sense for fashioning unique sounds and rhythms with this sound material, adding some reverb to give it depth, producing audio that is reminiscent of natural sounds, but transformed to give it an other-worldly quality. 7:02
Bruno Maderna, “Dimensioni II (Inventione su Una Voce)” from Musica Elettronica / Electronic Music (1994 Stradivarius). Anyone familiar with Italian new music will know the name of Cathy Berberian. She was an American operatic mezzo-soprano and for a time (1950-64) was married to Luciano Berio. She was a kind of muse for the modern composers at the Milan studio, lending her incredible vocal capabilities to tracks that could then be transformed into electronic music. One such famous piece, not included here because it is so familiar, is “Thema (Omaggio a Joyce)” by Berio. Instead, I wanted to feature another tape piece, this one by Maderna, because he not only transforms Berberian’s voice using electronic techniques but allows her to express herself as well in some unmodified sections. This marks a period where Maderna was longer magnetic tape pieces, ten minutes or more each. Unlike his shorter, more frenetic works, these longer pieces gave him time to develop themes, apply long silences, and structure his works around variations on his audio materials. 10:52
Luigi Nono, “Omaggio a Vedova” (1960) (1976 Wergo). A magnetic tape work by another outstanding contributor to electronic music in Italy, Luigi Nono. Like Berio, Nono went on to be better known for his instrumental and vocal compositions. This work is an homage to artist Emelie Vedova. Note that we feature another homage to Vedova from 1967 later in the podcast, “Parete 1967 _1” by Marino Zuccheri. 4:52
Niccolò Castiglioni, “Divertimento” (1960) from Elektron 3 (1967 Sugar Music). Produced at the Studio di Fonologia Musicale di Milano. Castiglioni was an Italian composer, born in Milan who later came to the United States to teach composition at the University of Michigan. This work sounds a bit like chirping insects and is the only tape piece he produced at the RAI. 2:38
Bruno Maderna, “Le Rire” (1962)” from Musica Elettronica / Electronic Music (1994 Stradivarius). Another long-form tape piece by Maderna. The voices heard and processed are those of Maderna, Cathy Berberian, and the sound designer Marino Zuccheri. The sounds in the beginning are modulated by sine waves and filters, plus some occasional ambient sounds like footsteps and rain. The second part of the work, beginning around the 11-minute mark, switches to more traditional musique concrete sounds reminiscent of drums, flutes, as well as white noise. 15:53
Luigi Nono, “La Fabbrica Illuminata” for voice and magnetic tape (1964) from Luigi Nono La Fabbrica Illuminata (1968 Wergo). Nono was also expanding his use of electronic sounds and wrapping them in vocal music. This work combines sounds created at the RAI with vocals written for a choir ( Chor Der RAI Mailand) and sopranos (Carla Henius). Marino Zuccheri helped Nono with the tape music. 16:28
Jon Hassell, “Music for Two Vibraphones” (1965) (1965 RAI). Yes, this is the Jon Hassell, the American composer and trumpeter. I know he is American, but I couldn’t resist including this brief track that he recorded while in Milan in 1965. To my ears, this has an especially digital sound, especially when you consider how time consuming it must have been to assemble the opening sequence using tape editing. It is also a work of contrasts, with the explosive opening section giving way to about a minute of extremely quiet, almost ambient sound to close the work. 2:43
Marino Zuccheri, “Parete 1967 _1” (1967) from Parete '67 Per Emilio Vedova (2018 Die Schachtel). The sound mixer and designer at the RAI studio, Zuccheri often appears as a credit on works created in the studio. Working as a sound technician after World War II, Zuccheri was transferred to the RAI headquarters in Milan where he met Luciano Berio. He was instrumental in developing the system and layout of the Studio di Fonologia Musicale, where he worked until 1983. His close collaboration with the composers working at the Studio, above all Berio, Maderna and Nono, gave rise most of their notable tape pieces. Visitors, such as John Cage, were quick to acknowledge his steady hand as chief orchestrator of sound and engineering at the studio. He was often asked to provide electronic music for broadcast and film productions, of which this is one, a collaboration with Emilio Vedova for the preparation of the Italian pavilion of the Montreal Expo. 15:03
Luigi Nono, “Contrappunto Dialettico Alla Mente” (For Magnetic Tape)(1968) from Roland Kayn / Luigi Nono – Cybernetics III / Contrappunto Dialettico Alla Mente (1970 DGG). Another one of Nono’s exquisite works combining vocals and electronic music on magnetic tape, recorded at RAI. In this work you can see how Nono complements the sound palette of the usual RAI sounds with sounds that are uniquely presented by human voices. Chorus, Coro Da Camera Della RAI; Conductor, Nino Antonellini; Soprano Vocals, Liliana Poli; Other Voices, Cadigia Bove, Elena Vicini, Marisa Mazzoni, Umberto Troni. 19:48
Opening background music: Bruno Maderna, “Serenata III” (1962)” from Musica Elettronica / Electronic Music (1994 Stradivarius). 11:20
Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz.
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.
For additional notes, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.
 
[1] Joel Chadabe, Electric Sound: The Past and Promise of Electronic Music (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997), 48

Crosscurrents in Electronic Tape Music in the United States

Episode 99
Crosscurrents in Electronic Tape Music in the United States
Playlist
Louis and Bebe Barron, “Bells of Atlantis” (1952), soundtrack for a film by Ian Hugo based on the writings of his wife Anaïs Nin, who also appeared in the film. The Barrons were credited with “Electronic Music.” The Barrons scored three of Ian Hugo's short experimental films and this is the earliest, marking an early start for tape music in the United States. Bebe told me some years ago about a work called “Heavenly Menagerie” that they produced in 1950. I have written before that I think this work was most likely the first electronic music made for magnetic tape in the United States, although I have never been able to find a recording of the work. Bells of Atlantis will stand as an example of what they could produce in their Greenwich Village studio at the time. They were also engaged helping John Cage produce “Williams Mix” at the time, being recordists of outdoor sounds around New York that Cage would use during the process of editing the composition, which is described below. The Forbidden Planet soundtrack, their most famous work, was created in 1956. 8:59
John Cage, “Williams Mix” (1952) from The 25-Year Retrospective Concert Of The Music Of John Cage (1959 Avakian). Composed in 1952, the tape was played at this Town Hall concert a few years later. Premiered in Urbana, Ill., March 22, 1953. From the Cage database of compositions: “This is a work for eight tracks of 1/4” magnetic tape. The score is a pattern for the cutting and splicing of sounds recorded on tape. Its rhythmic structure is 5-6-16-3-11-5. Sounds fall into 6 categories: A (city sounds), B (country sounds), C (electronic sounds), D (manually produced sounds), E (wind produced sounds), and F ("small" sounds, requiring amplification). Pitch, timbre, and loudness are notated as well. Approximately 600 recordings are necessary to make a version of this piece. The compositional means were I Ching chance operations. Cage made a realization of the work in 1952/53 (starting in May 1952) with the assistance of Earle Brown, Louis and Bebe Barron, David Tudor, Ben Johnston, and others, but it also possible to create other versions.” This was a kind of landmark work for John as he explored the possibilities of working with the tape medium. It is the only work from this period, created in the United States, for which there is an original recording of a Cage realization. He also composed “Imaginary Landscape No. 5” in 1952 for 42-disc recordings as a collage of fragments from long-playing records recorded on tape (he preferred to use jazz records as the source), put together with the assistance of David Tudor. Though some modern interpretations exist, there is no recording from the 1950s of a Cage/Tudor realization so I am unable to represent what it would have been like at that time. 5:42
Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky, “Moonflight” (1952) from Tape Music An Historic Concert (1968 Desto). This record documents tape pieces played at perhaps the earliest concert of American tape music at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, October 28, 1952. Realized at the composer’s Tape Music Center at Columbia University, the precursor of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 2:54
Otto Luening, “Fantasy in Space” (1952) from Tape Music An Historic Concert (1968 Desto). Realized at the composer’s Tape Music Center at Columbia University, the precursor of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 2:51
Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky, “Incantation” (1953) from Tape Music An Historic Concert (1968 Desto). This record documents tape pieces played at perhaps the earliest concert of American tape music at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, October 28, 1952. Realized at the composer’s Tape Music Center at Columbia University, the precursor of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 2:34
Henry Jacobs, “Sonata for Loudspeakers” (1953-54) from Sounds of New Music (1958 Folkways). “Experiments with synthetic rhythm” produced by Henry Jacobs who worked at radio station KPFA-FM in Berkeley. Jacobs narrates the track to explain his use of tape loops and recorded sound. 9:29
Jim Fassett, track “B2” (Untitled) from Strange To Your Ears - The Fabulous World of Sound With Jim Fassett (1955 Columbia Masterworks). “The fabulous world of sound,” narrated with tape effects, by Jim Fassett. Fassett, a CBS Radio musical director, was fascinated with the possibilities of tape composition. With this recording, done during the formative years of tape music in the middle 1950s, he took a somewhat less daring approach than his experimental counterparts, but a bold step nonetheless for a national radio audience. He hosted a weekend program called Strange to Your Ears to showcase these experiments and this album collected some of his best bits. 8:15
Harry F. Olsen, “The Well-Tempered Clavier: Fugue No. 2” (Bach) and “Nola” (Arndt) and “Home, Sweet Home” from The Sounds and Music of the RCA Electronic Music Synthesizer (1955 RCA). These “experimental” tracks were intended to demonstrate the range of sound that could be created with RCA Music Synthesizer. This was the Mark I model, equipped with a disc lathe instead of a tape recorder. When it was upgraded and called the Mark II in the late 1950s, it became the showpiece of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. Here we listen to three tunes created by Harry F. Olsen, one of the inventors, in the style of a harpsichord, a piano, and “an engineer’s conception of the music.” 5:26
Milton Babbitt, “Composition For Synthesizer” (1960-61) (1968 Columbia). Babbitt was one of the only composers at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center who composed and produced works based solely on using the RCA Music Synthesizer. Most others took advantage of other tape processing techniques found in the studio and not controlled by the RCA Mark II. It took him quite a long time to work out all of the details using the synthesizer and his meticulous rules for composing serially. On the other hand, the programmability of the instrument made it much more possible to control all the parameters of the sound being created electronically rather than by human musicians. This work is a prime example of this kind of work. 10:41
Tod Dockstader, “Drone” (1962) from Drone; Two Fragments From Apocalypse; Water Music (1966 Owl Records). Self-produced album by independent American composer Dockstader. This came along at an interesting period for American elecgtronic music, sandwiched between the institutional studio work being done at various universities and the era of the independent musician working with a synthesizer. Dockstader used his own studio and his own devices to make this imaginative music. This was one of a series of four albums featuring Dockstader’s music that were released on Owl in the 1966-67 timeframe. They have all been reissued in one form or another. Here is what Dockstader himself wrote about this piece: “Drone, like many of my other works, began life as a single sound; in this case, the sound of racing cars. But, unlike the others, the germinal sound is no longer in the piece. It's been replaced by another a guitar. I found in composing the work that the cars didn't go anywhere, except, seemingly, in circles. The sound of them that had interested me originally was a high to low glissando the Doppler effect. In making equivalents of this sound, I found guitar glissandos could be bent into figures the cars couldn't. . . . After the guitar had established itself as the base line of the piece, I began matching its sound with a muted sawtooth oscillator (again, concrete and electronic music: the guitar being a mechanical source of sound, the oscillator an electronic source). This instrument had a timbre similar to the guitar, with the addition of soft attack, sustained tones, and frequencies beyond the range of the guitar. . . . The effect of the guitar and the oscillator, working together, was to produce a kind of drone, with variations something like the procedure of classical Japanese music, but with more violence. Alternating violence with loneliness, hectic motion with static stillness, was the aim of the original piece; and this is still in Drone, but in the process, the means changed so much that, of all my pieces, it is the only one I can't remember all the sounds of, so it continues to surprise me when I play it.” (From the original liner notes by Dockstader). 13:24
Wendy Carlos, “Dialogs for Piano and Two Loudspeakers” (1963) from Electronic Music (1965 Turnabout). This is an early recording of Wendy, pre-Switched-on Bach, from her days as a composer and technician. In this work, Carlos tackles the task of combining synthesized sounds with those of acoustic instruments, in this case the piano. It’s funny that after you listen to this you could swear that there were instruments other than the piano used, so deft was her blending of electronic sounds with even just a single instrument. 4:00
Gordon Mumma, “Music from the Venezia Space Theater” (1963-64) (1966 Advance). Mono recording from the original release on Advance. Composed at the Cooperative Studio for Electronic Music in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This was the studio created by Mumma and fellow composer Robert Ashley to produce their electronic tape works for Milton Cohen’s Space Theater on Ann Arbor, which this piece tries to reproduce. The original was a quad magnetic tape. It was premiered at the 27th Venezia Bianale, Venice, Italy on September 11, 1964 and comprised the ONCE group with dancers. 11:58
Jean Eichelberger Ivey, “Pinball” (1965) from Electronic Music (1967 Folkways). Realized at the Electronic Music Studio of Brandeis University. This work was produced in the Brandeis University Electronic Music Studio and was her first work of electroacoustic music. In 1964 she began a Doctor of Musical Arts program in composition, including studies in electronic music, at the University of Toronto and completed the degree in 1972. Ivey founded the Peabody Electronic Music Studio in 1967 and taught composition and electronic music at the Peabody Conservatory of Music until her retirement in 1997. Ivey was a respected composer who also sought more recognition for women in the field. In 1968, she was the only woman composer represented at the Eastman-Rochester American Music Festival. Her work in electronic music and other music was characteristic of her general attitude about modern composing, “I consider all the musical resources of the past and present as being at the composer’s disposal, but always in the service of the effective communication of humanistic ideas and intuitive emotion.” 6:12
Pauline Oliveros, “Bye Bye Butterfly” (1965) from New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media (1977 1750 Arch Records). This was composed at the San Francisco Tape Music Center where so many west coast composers first found their footing: Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Jon Gibson, Pauline Oliveros, Stuart Dempster, Morton Subotnick, Ramon Sender all did work there around this time. Oliveros was experimenting with the use of tape delay in a number of works, of which “Bye Bye Butterfly” is a great example. 8:05
Gordon Mumma, “The Dresden Interleaf 13 February 1945” (1965) from Dresden / Venezia / Megaton (1979 Lovely Music). Composed at the Cooperative Studio for Electronic Music (Ann Arbor, Michigan). Remixed at The Center for Contemporary Music, Mills College (Oakland, California). This tape piece was premiered at the sixth annual ONCE Festival in Ann Arbor where Mumma configured an array of sixteen “mini speakers” to surround the audience and project the 4-channel mix. The middle section of the piece contains the “harrowing roar of live, alcohol-burning model airplane engines.” (Mumma) This anti-war piece was presented in the 20th anniversary of the Allied fire-bombing of Dresden near the end of World War II. 12:14
Kenneth Gaburo, “Lemon Drops (Tape Alone)” (1965) from Electronic Music from the University of Illinois (1967 Heliodor). From Gaburo: “Lemon Drops” is one of a group of five tape compositions made during 1964-5 referencing the work of Harry Partch. All are concerned with aspects of timbre (e.g., mixing concrete and electronically generated sound); with nuance (e.g., extending the expressive range of concrete sound through machine manipulation, and reducing machine rigidity through flexible compositional techniques); and with counterpoint (e.g., stereo as a contrapuntal system).”(see). 2:52
Steve Reich, “Melodica” (1966) from Music From Mills (1986 Mills College). This is one of Reich’s lesser-known phased loop compositions from the 1960s. It is “composed of one tape loop gradually going out of phase with itself, first in two voices and then in four.” This was Reich’s last work for tape before he transitioned to writing instrumental music. 10:43
Pril Smiley, “Eclipse” (1967) from Electronic Music, Vol. IV (1969 Turnabout). The selections are works by the winners of the First International Electronic Music Competition - Dartmouth College, April 5, 1968. The competition was judged by composers Milton Babbitt, Vladimir Ussachevsky, and George Balch Wilson. The winner was awarded a $500 prize. Pril Smiley was 1st finalist and realized “Eclipse” at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. Smiley had this to say about the work: “Eclipse” was originally composed for four separate tracks, the composer having worked with a specifically-structured antiphonal distribution of compositional material to be heard from four corners of a room or other appropriate space. Some sections of “Eclipse” are semi-improvisatory; by and large, the piece was worked out via many sketches and preliminary experiments on tape: all elements such as rhythm, timbre, loudness, and duration of each note were very precisely determined and controlled. In many ways, the structure of “Eclipse” is related to the composer’s use of timbre. There are basically two kinds of sounds in the piece: the low, sustained gong-like sounds (always either increasing or decreasing in loudness) and the short more percussive sounds, which can be thought of as metallic, glassy, or wooden in character. These different kinds of timbres are usually used in contrast to one another, sometimes being set end to end so that one kind of sound interrupts another, and sometimes being dovetailed so that one timbre appears to emerge out of or from beneath another. Eighty-five percent of the sounds are electronic in origin; the non-electronic sounds are mainly pre-recorded percussion sounds–but subsequently electronically modified so that they are not always recognizable.” (From the original liner notes by Smiley.) 7:56
Olly W. Wilson, “Cetus” (1967) from Electronic Music, Vol. IV (1969 Turnabout). The selections are works by the winners of the First International Electronic Music Competition - Dartmouth College, April 5, 1968. The competition was judged by composers Milton Babbitt, Vladimir Ussachevsky, and George Balch Wilson. The winner was awarded a $500 prize. Olly W. Wilson was the competition Winner with “Cetus.” It was realized in the studio for Experimental Music of the University of Illinois. Olly Wilson wrote about the work: “the compositional process characteristic of the “classical tape studio” (the mutation of a few basic electronic signals by means of filters, signal modifiers, and recording processes) was employed in the realization of this work and was enhanced by means of certain instruments which permit improvisation by synthesized sound. Cetus contains passages which were improvised by the composer as well as sections realized by classical tape studio procedures. The master of this work was prepared on a two channel tape. Under the ideal circumstances it should be performed with multiple speakers surrounding the auditor.” (Olly Wilson. The Avant Garde Project at UBUWEB, AGP129 – US Electronic Music VIII | Dartmouth College Competition (1968-70). 9:18
Alice Shields, “The Transformation of Ani” (1970) from Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center Tenth Anniversary Celebration (1971 CRI). Composed at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. Alice Shields explained, “The text of “The Transformation of Ani” is taken from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, as translated into English by E. A. Budge. Most sounds in the piece were made from my own voice, speaking and singing the words of the text. Each letter of the English translation was assigned a pitch, and each hieroglyph of the Egyptian was given a particular sound or short phrase, of mostly indefinite pitch. Each series, the one derived from the English translation, and the one derived from the original hieroglyphs, was then improvised upon to create material I thought appropriate to the way in which I wanted to develop the meaning of the text, which I divided into three sections.” (see). 8:59
Opening background music: John Cage, Fontana Mix (1958) (1966 Turnabout). This tape work was composed in 1958 and I believe this is the only recorded version by Cage himself as well as the only Cage version presented as a work not in accompaniment of another work. An earlier recording, from the Time label in 1962, feature the tape piece combined with another Cage work, “Aria.” This version for 2 tapes was prepared b Cage in February 1959 at the Studio di Fonologia in Milan, with technical assistance from Mario Zuccheri. From the Cage Database website. “This is a composition indeterminate of its performance, and was derived from notation CC from Cage’s Concert for Piano and Orchestra. The score consists of 10 sheets of paper and 12 transparencies. The sheets of paper contain drawings of 6 differentiated (as to thickness and texture) curved lines. 10 of these transparencies have randomly distributed points (the number of points on the transparencies being 7, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 22, 26, 29, and 30). Another transparency has a grid, measuring 2 x 10 inches, and the last one contains a straight line (10 3/4 inch). By superimposing these transparencies, the player creates a structure from which a performance score can be made: one of the transparencies with dots is placed over one of the sheets with curved lines. Over this one places the grid. A point enclosed in the grid is connected with a point outside, using the straight line transparency. Horizontal and vertical measurements of intersections of the straight line with the grid and the curved line create a time-bracket along with actions to be made.”
Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz.
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.
For additional notes, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.

Women in Synthesis, Part 1: Managing Their Musical Identities

Episode 98
Women in Synthesis, Part 1: Managing their Musical Identities
Playlist
Daphne Oram, “Four Aspects” from Oramics (2007 Paradigm Discs). This piece was composed in 1960 after Oram left the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and was running her own start-up. Four Aspects uses the Oramics instrument that she invented. It demonstrated her interest in creating works that were longer than the short snippets of music that she had produced for radio and television themes. The piece was patiently crafted and is strikingly harmonic, exploring a rich tone field that lacked the herky-jerky nature of other tape music of the time. You will hear the development of musical chords and harmonic fields from monophonic tone generators that she combined during mixing, developing gradually shifting texture employing filtering and loops. 8:06
Daphne Oram, “Pulse Persephone” (1965) from Oramics (2007 Paradigm Discs). Composed, realized, and produced by Daphne Oram. This was produced for the Treasures of the Commonwealth exhibition at the Royal Academy of the Arts. 4:03
Daphne Oram, “Costain Suite” (1965) from Oramics (2007 Paradigm Discs). Composed, realized, and produced by Daphne Oram. Music for a film production, circa 1970. 13:17
Teresa Rampazzi, “Immagini Per Diana Baylon” side a (1972), from Immagini Per Diana Baylon (2016 Die Schachtel). Music realized using analogue equipment, Teresa Rampazzi. One of her three known soundtracks for art installations. The analog work she completed at her Nuove Proposte Sonore (NPS) studio had striking parallels to the work of Daphne Oram in the UK. This piece was intended to be looped for 180 minutes while visitors perused an exhibit of abstract sculptures by Diana Baylon. 16:15
Teresa Rampazzi, “With the Light Pen” (1976) from Musica Endoscopica (2008 Die Schachtel). Composed and realized by Teresa Rampazzi at the Centro di Calcolo di Ateneo, Università di Padova. This was the first work realized with the Interactive Computer Music System (ICMS), in real-time. “The timbre, made by additive synthesis, adding frequencies in algebraic sequence, was sometimes acoustically harsh. On the other hand train pulses with regular rhythms were sweetened by long harmonic, dissolving tails.” (Rampazzi). 8:43
Teresa Rampazzi, “Atmen Noch”(1980) from Musica Endoscopica (2008 Die Schachtel). Stereophonic version (quadraphonic original) realized at the CSC (Centro di Sonologia Computazionale dell'Università di Padova). Composed in 1980 at the CSC Computer Music Center in Padova. Winner of the second prize at the VIII Concours International de Musique Électroacoustique, Bourges. Based on the mathematical analysis of “intersection sets, the elements of which were timbres. It was preceded by five months of research on timbres that were obtained from multitudinous ratios between the carrier and the modulating signals and inverted relationships with the ICMS program by Graziato Tisato.” (Rampazzi). This work will not immediately strike you as computer music, which is part of its beauty and uniqueness for all time. 15:16
Ruth White, “Wings Clipped (Too Many External Involvements / Flight Stopped” from 7 Trumps From The Tarot Cards And Pinions (1969 Limelight). Produced and realized by Ruth White. Clavichord, Harpsichord, Organ, Piano, Moog Modular Synthesizer, tape operations, Ruth White. 6:04
Ruth White, “Wanting Wings (Limited Capacity / No Flight Possible” from 7 Trumps From The Tarot Cards And Pinions (1969 Limelight). Produced and realized by Ruth White. Clavichord, Harpsichord, Organ, Piano, Moog Modular Synthesizer, tape operations, Ruth White. 3:42
Ruth White, “Love Gives Wings (With Wings)” from 7 Trumps From The Tarot Cards And Pinions (1969 Limelight). Produced and realized by Ruth White. Clavichord, Harpsichord, Organ, Piano, Moog Modular Synthesizer, tape operations, Ruth White. 8:48
Opening background music: Daphe Oram, “Introduction” and “Power Tools” from Oramics (2007 Paradigm Discs). Voice and electronic realization, Daphne Oram. Ruth White, “The Litanies Of Satan” from Flowers of Evil (1969 Limelight). Ruth White, all instruments including the Moog Modular Synthesizer. Realized by Ruth White. 6:56
Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz.
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.
For additional notes, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.