Electronic Literature

Episode 31

Electronic Literature

The Marriage of Electronic Music, Poetry, and Literature

 

Playlist

1. Luciano Berio, "Thema (Omaggio A Joyce)," from Orient-Occident/Momenti-Omaggio A Joyce/Continuo/Transition 1 (1967 Philips). Composed by Luciano Berio at the RAI studio in Milan. Vocals, Cathy Berberian. The piece dates from 1958-59. An exploration of editing and tape composition with the voice as a key source of audio material. This is an interpretative reading of the poem "Sirens" from chapter 11 of the novel Ulysses by James Joyce. This release on the Philips Prospective 21e Siècle is shorter than the one released around the same time on the Turnabout label in America. It omits the spoken sequence at the beginning where Berberian recites the words prior to them being manipulated on tape.
2. John Cage/David Tudor, "Side 3" excerpt from Indeterminacy: New Aspect of Form in Instrumental And Electronic Music (1959 Folkways). John Cage reads previously prepared stories and anecdotes, David Tudor performs electronic music at the same time with no Earthly connection between the two. This was a long-standing performance practice of theirs and I saw them do this several times.
3. John Cage, "Part One (To Line 220)" from Roaratorio: An Irish Circus On Finnegans Wake (1992 Mode), excerpt, for speaker, Irish musicians and 62-track tape. Speaker, John Cage. Production: WDR, Köln; Süddeutscher Rundfunk, Stuttgart; Katholieke Radio Omroep, Hilversum; Technical cooperation: IRCAM, Paris. First transmission: 22 October 1979, WDR3-Hörspielstudio. This score is a means for translating any book into a performance without actors, a performance which is both literary and musical or one or the other. In this case, the book was Finnegans Wake by James Joyce. The text of Roaratorio was published separately as Writing for the Second Time Through Finnegans Wake. This was part of the evolution of Cage's interest in creating works of text for performance with music and other activities. It further evolved into his use of texts by Henry David Thoreau for which he used chance processes to derive a text for solo vocal performance.
4. Shakespeare, excerpt, (1962 Odhams Books Ltd.). BBC radioplay production with musique concrète by Desmond Leslie. King Henry is played by Richard Burton. Electronic music provided on tape for a set of Shakespeare play productions. This short. 2 and a half-minute segment is from Act IV, Scene 3 and gives you an idea of how the sound effects was joined with the dialog. This was a common outlet for electronic music in the UK.
5. Shackleton, “Music For The Quiet Hour, Part 2,” excerpt, from Music For The Quiet Hour (2012 Woe To The Septic Heart!). Vocals, words (poetry), Vengeance Tenfold; Composer, producer, A. Gerth, K. Biswas, Sam Shackleton. A collaboration between producer Shackleton and vocalist Vengeance Tenfold. Beats, bass and rhythm patterns provide a backdrop for some stark poetry. This is a portion of a longer work that whose overall length is about an hour.
6. Lily Greenham, “Traffic” from Lingual Music (2007 Paradigm Discs). Reissue of text-sound works made by Danish concrete poet Lily Greenham, probably between 1972-75. Hugh Davies is credited with assisting on the electronics for this work. Voice: Lily Greenham.
7. Anne Clark, "Swimming" and "An Ordinary Life" from The Sitting Room (1982 Red Flame). Clark is a foremost British poet who fuses her texts with electronic music. This was the first of her albums. Words, Keyboards, Electronic Percussion, Water Percussion, Anne Clark; Guitar, Effects, Voice, Gary Mundy; Keyboards, Domonic Appleton, Patrik Fitzgerald; Keyboards, Electronic Percussion, Andrea Laschetti.
8. Rick Wakeman, “The Journey,” excerpt, from Journey to the Center of the Earth (1974 A&M). Recorded in concert at The Royal Festival Hall London on Friday January 18th 1974. Synthesizers and other keyboards, Rick Wakeman; Narrator, David Hemmings; drums, Barney James; guitar, Mike Egan; accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Measham.
9. Alan Parsons Project, "The Raven" from Tales of Mystery and Imagination - Edgar Allan Poe (1976 Charisma). Words from the tale of the same name by Poe. The Harmony Vocoder heard on "The Raven" was invented and built by EMI Central Research Laboratories.Keyboards, Alan Parsons, Andrew Powell, Billy Lyall, Christopher North, Eric Woolfson, Francis Monkman; Composed by Alan Parsons, Andrew Powell, and Eric Woolfson.
10. Silver Apples, "Dust" from Silver Apples (1968 Kapp). "INSTRUCTIONS: Play Twice Before Listening." Composed and Arranged by Dan Taylor and Simeon; Percussion, Dan Taylor; Oscillators, mixers, electronic gear (The Simeon), Simeon; Vocals, Dan Taylor, Simeon.
11. Alice Shields, " Study For Voice And Tape" from Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center 1961-1973 (1998 New World Records). Recorded Voice, Buchla synthesizer, poem by Alice Shields.
12. Ronald Perera, "Three Poems of Gunter Grass," part 1, “Gleisdreieck" from Music And Words (1980 CRI. Ronald Perera, electronic music on tape created in the Smith College Electronic Music Studio; soprano, Elsa Charlston; Conductor, Richard Pittman.
13. John Hill, "Europa" from Six Moons Of Jupiter (2009 Finders Keepers). Recorded at Sigma Sound, Philadelphia, January-August 1970, but I don't think it was ever released. Uses a Moog Modular synthesizer programmed by Walter Sear. Composed, arranged produced, Moog Modular Synthesizer, Guitar, Bass, Flute, Recorder, Hammond organ, John Hill; Drums, Percussion, Jimmy Valerio; Performer (Poetry), Susan Christie; poetry, Ian Michaels.
14. Ruth White, "The Clock," "Evening Harmony," "Lover's Wine," Owls," from Flowers of Evil (1969, Limelight). Composer, vocals, electronics (Moog Synthesizer), Ruth White; based on poetry by Charles Baudelaire, translated by Ruth White. Fantastic music from this singular composer who owned a Moog Modular Synthesizer. Her other music was often composed for media, television, and children’s records.

 

 

Archive Mix

In which I play two records at the same time to see what happens. The recordings were:

• Lily Greenham, “ABC in Sound” from Lingual Music (1968/2007 Paradigm Discs). Recording from 1968 and includes the words of poet Bob Cobbing.
• Arif Mardin, “The Prophet,” excerpt from side 1, from The Prophet (1974 Atlantic). Narrator Richard Harris; keyboards, Bob James, Pat Rebillot, and Ken Bichel (ARP 2600). Poetry by Kahlil Gibran.

 

 

The opening montage consists of excerpts from Milt Gabler and a reading of “The People Yes (Excerpt)” by Carl Sandburg and some saxophone music from Avant Slant (1968 Decca); James Joyce reading “Anna Livia Plurabelle” (1929 The Orthographic Institute); John Cage and David Tudor, Indeterminacy (1959 Folkways); Alice Shields, Dance Piece No. 3 from Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center 1961-1973 (1998 New World Records); Luciano Berio, "Thema (Omaggio A Joyce)," from Electronic Music III (1967 Turnabout);  Anne Clark, "The Sitting Room " from The Sitting Room (1982 Red Flame); Arif Mardin, “The Prophet,” excerpt from The Prophet (1974 Atlantic); Ruth White, "Owls" from Flowers of Evil (1969, Limelight).

 

Background music is excerpted from Shackleton, “Music For The Quiet Hour, Part 2,” from Music For The Quiet Hour (2012 Woe To The Septic Heart!).

 

Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz.