INA-GRM

The French electronic composer Bernard Parmegiani, one of the most important figures of the French music research group [INA-GRM] founded by Pierre Scheffer, has influenced Aphex Twin, Autechre and Keith Fullerton Whitman. In 2008, to celebrate GRM's 50th anniversary, compiled with 12-CD collection of electronic music works that became very popular and is now hard to find. Winner of the President of the Republic Award at the French ACC Disc Awards(!) A 92-page booklet (in both English and French) is included. This is a must-have for all fans of electronic and experimental music.

A 14-disc box set tracing the discography of Eliane Radigue, the Tibetan-meets-electronic music guru, is now available Box with a gorgeous booklet! Having studied at RTF Studios in France under music concretists such as Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry, Eliane Radigue has been creating profound electronic music for decades, and now her historical archive is here! This 14-disc box contains many of her masterpieces released in CD format, including some that are now hard to find, and even includes Metamkine's mini-CD "Biogenesis.

“François Bayle’s itinerary spans over five decades through which music was able to renovate its material through a sensible use of technology. The terms of Musique Concrète, Electroacoustics or Acousmatics, as conveniently proposed by François Bayle, ultimately explore a similar artistic approach: a creative and expressive work on recorded sound. This last half-century saw many major technical mutations and François Bayle – in the fertile context of the Grm – seized the right opportunities, often initiating them through his function as director, so as to renovate and update creativity to serve what he called the Light Speed Sound. The fifty opuses in this box set are all markers or beacons illuminating this musical adventure firmly placed under the sign of modernity. Listening through them with a curious and active ear is also a way of witnessing how utopia can occur; how yesterday’s strange sounds are now fully part of our audible landscape.” Christian Zanési. “Trois rêves d’oiseau” (1963, 1971). “Espaces inhabitables” (1967). “Jeîta, ou Murmure des eaux” (1970 – new version 2012). “L’expérience acoustique” (1969 – 1972). “Purgatoire d’après la Divine Comédie de Dante” (1972). “Vibrations composées” (1973). “Grande polyphonie” (1974). “Camera oscura” (1976). “Les Couleurs de la nuit” (1982 – new version 2012). “Erosphère” with “Tremblement de terre très doux” (1978), “La Fin du bruit” (1979-80 – new version 2009), “Eros” (1979-80), “Toupie dans le ciel” (1979-80 – new version 2009). “Son – Vitesse – Lumière” with “Grandeur nature” (1980), “Paysage, personnage, nuage” (1980), “Voyage au centre de la tête” (1981), “Le Sommeil d’Euclide” (1983), “Lumière ralentie” (1983). “Motion-Émotion” (1985). “Théâtre d’Ombres” (1988). “Fabulæ” with “Fabula” (1990), “Onoma” (1990), “Nota” (1991), “Sonora” (1992). “Mimaméta” (1989). “La main vide” (1994-95) with “Bâton de pluie”, “La Fleur future”, “Inventions”. “Morceaux de ciels” (1996). “Arc, pour Gérard Grisey” (unedited) (1999). “La forme du temps est un cercle” with “Concrescence” (2001), “Si loin, si proche…” (1998 – 2001 – new version 2012), “Tempi” (1999-2000), “Allures” (1999-2000), “Cercles” (2000-2001). “La forme de l’esprit est un papillon” (2002-04) with ”Ombrages et trouées” (2004 – new version 2012), “Couleurs inventées” (2003). “Univers nerveux – in memoriam K. Stockhausen” (unedited) (2005-2007). “L’oreille étonnée – in memoriam O. Messiaen” (unedited) (2006-2012). “Rien n’est réel” (unedited) (2009-2010) with “… sensations” (2010) et “… perceptions” (2009). “Déplacements” (unedited) (2011-12) with “Horizontal-vertical” (2012) et “Spiral” (2011).

The decision to assemble a boxed set titled Luc Ferrari, l’œuvre électronique [Luc Ferrari, Electronic Works], defining the word electronic in the widest sense possible, meant bringing together an essential part of the composer’s work: tape music without any classical instruments.
From Étude aux accidents (1958) to Arythmiques (2003), the 31 works in this compilation will help the listener to discover all the facets of his art based on “captured” sounds. He tried and tested all the different techniques of studio work: brilliantly elaborated electroacoustic works, radiophonic story-telling or Hörspiele, which he particularly relished, or other semi-improvised works.
This editorial choice is not a way of drawing a hierarchy between on the one hand so-called mixed music (with instruments), which he excelled at, and on the other hand the type of music published here, which only includes recorded sounds. On the contrary, what we aimed to do was to show the strong links he drew between natural sounds and the way he scored them. On this subject, Pierre Schaeffer often talked of the necessary balance between sounds and musicality. The power of recorded sounds alone (voices, landscapes, strange sounds, everyday scenes, etc.) without formal mastery is not enough to hold the listener’s attention for long.
From that point of view, each work of Ferrari’s is a discrete lesson in music. Ferrari was always very lucid when he claimed that a composer was a little like a “journalist” who, through his compositions, witnessed the state of the world while at the same time creating a work of art.
This is another aspect of this edition: as we listen and in filigree, half a century unfolds before us. A committed artist bears witness to technological progress, political awareness, reports and crucial encounters. More than an essential compilation, this boxed set reflects the personality of a diverse, inventive and extraordinarily musical man.

Daniel Teruggi / David Jisse, 2008