Professional Documents
Culture Documents
of Electronic Music
Kevin Heis
This paper will review fourteen masterpieces of electronic music. Essential information will
be provided such as composer biographical information, form and conceptual ideas, associated
developments in other media. The pieces were selected for quality, representation of eras,
Table of Contents
Introduction 4
The 1950s 5
Symphonie pour un homme seul by Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry 5
Gesang der Jünglinge by Karlheinz Stockhausen 7
Poème électronique by Edgard Varèse 10
The 1960s 12
Orient-Occident by Iannis Xenakis 13
Tomorrow Never Knows by The Beatles 15
Silver Apples of the Moon by Morton Subotnick 17
The 1970s 18
Synchronism #6 by Mario Davidovsky 19
Figure in a Clearing by David Behrman 21
Music for Airports by Brian Eno 23
The 1980s 25
Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco by Jonathan Harvey 26
The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five 29
Répons by Pierre Boulez 31
The 1990s and 2000s 34
Ambiant Otaku by Tetsu Inoue 34
It Only Needs To Be Seen by Kyong Mee Choi 36
Conclusion 38
Recommended 39
Sources 40
Introduction
Electronic music is defined as music produced with electronic equipment. This definition
means any music that is not performed live is electronic music, and most of the music
performed live today is also electronic music. Given the broadness of the definition, this paper
will redefine the term for more focus: electronic music is music with conceptual underpinnings
which are deeply interwoven with electronic equipment, and could not be produced or
replicated otherwise.
Textbook histories of electronic music often detail composers' lives, institutions, and
technological advances, and focus on academic electronic music exclusively. What seems to be
greatly lacking is an understanding of the piece as the ultimate goal, the ultimate statement and
reward of electronic music. Perhaps this is because electronic music cannot be analyzed in the
same methodology other music uses and the goal of textbook authors to provide a
Under the more focused definition, the goal of this paper is to review the history of
electronic music through its masterpieces. While the composers' lives up to the point of the
composition and related technology and institutes will be discussed, the piece will take the
stage in this paper. When relevant, as a multimedia devotee, I will discuss work in other media.
Rather than attempt a thorough history in approximately forty pages, this paper will look at
The pieces were selected first for quality; even if a piece is historically important, the
piece must meet certain qualitative criteria. Secondly, the pieces were selected for diversity:
reviewing the history of electronic music and its advances through fourteen pieces, but the
Heis, Fourteen Masterpieces of Electronic Music 5
selection seeks solid representation through unique, important, and influential works of the
The 1950s
The two most influential studios from the 1950s and from the beginning of electronic
Télévision Française in Paris, France and Studio für Elektronische Musik des Westdeutschen
Rundfunk in Cologne, Germany. This paper begins with the musique concrete masterwork,
Symphonie pour un homme seul, from the Paris studio. While many important compositions that
precede it, it is the first successful work of electronic music. The second piece is from the
Cologne studio; and the third again from the Paris studio. Important developments in electronic
music were brewing all over the world, but none match the influence of these works from this
era.
Symphonie pour un homme seul, or Symphony for One Man Alone in English, is an
musique concrete piece, or tape piece, by Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry. The first
performance of the piece was on March 18, 1950 in the Auditorium of the Ecole Normale de
Musique in Paris, France.1 The last revision of the work was in 1966, with a length of 21:40
minutes.2 As the first piece of electronic music that uses a developed syntax, it is also the first
Later, this studio drew in Stockhausen, Varese, Boulez, Xenakis, and Messiaen.4 Schaeffer began
his experimentation at RTF in 1936,5 and Henry joined the studio in 1949, who unlike Schaeffer,
could read sheet music. 6 With Henry, the studio's pieces "became longer and more ambitious."7
document for the syntax of musique concrete, which was finalized in 1952.8 The studio is known
for its deviations from other modern music of the time. Serialism, a technique of content
ordering, was rejected because, for electronic music, the repetition was overbearing and the
composers at GRMC/RTF had more success focusing on the source material.9 Composers
emphasized the "isolation of the sound event."10 This freed composers from the restraints of the
Schoenberg school as well as tonal theory.11 The idea behind musique concrete is:
Schaeffer and Henry were influenced by previous works of modern composers, but in
many ways in reverse. The primary idea of Symphonie pour un homme seul is exploration of the
3 Palombini, Carlos. "Pierre Schaeffer, 1953: Towards an Experimental Music." Music & Letters 74, no. 4 (1993): 542.
4 Palombini, Carlos. "Pierre Schaeffer, 1953: Towards an Experimental Music." Music & Letters 74, no. 4 (1993): 542.
5 Discogs. "Pierre Schaeffer." http://www.discogs.com/artist/Pierre+Schaeffer.
6 Xenakis, Iannis, Roberta Brown, and John Rahn. "Xenakis on Xenakis." Perspectives of New Music 25, no. 1/2
(1987): 16-63.
7 Cross, Lowell. "Electronic Music, 1948-1953." Perspectives of New Music 7, no. 1 (1968): 44.
8 Palombini, Carlos. "Pierre Schaeffer, 1953: Towards an Experimental Music." Music & Letters 74, no. 4 (1993): 549.
9 Palombini, Carlos. "Pierre Schaeffer, 1953: Towards an Experimental Music." Music & Letters 74, no. 4 (1993): 547-8.
10 Cross, Lowell. "Electronic Music, 1948-1953." Perspectives of New Music 7, no. 1 (1968): 41.
11 Stuckenschmidt, H. H. "Contemporary Techniques in Music." The Musical Quarterly 49, no. 1 (1963): 13.
12 Cross, Lowell. "Electronic Music, 1948-1953." Perspectives of New Music 7, no. 1 (1968): 41.
Heis, Fourteen Masterpieces of Electronic Music 7
sound object, "sounds that could be produced by man."13 These sounds included piano, human
voices speaking and singing, drums, band and orchestra recordings, mallets, and other foley.
Symphonie pour un homme seul is divided into twelve movements, which are approximate to
classical structures.14 Given the non-restrictive ideas behind the work, the piece was listed in
With the assistance of audio engineer Jacques Poullin, the composers created the work
using radio broadcasting equipment and magnetic tape. 16 The large variety of processing
looping, and sampling. The performance of the work required "several sets of turntables,
West German Radio in its largest auditorium on May 30th, 1956. 19 Stockhausen developed Gesang
der Jünglinge at the Studio für Elektronische Musik des Westdeutschen Rundfunk in Cologne,
13 Manning, Peter. Electronic and Computer Music. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. 24.
14 Manning, Peter. Electronic and Computer Music. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. 24.
15 Palombini, Carlos. "Pierre Schaeffer, 1953: Towards an Experimental Music." Music & Letters 74, no. 4 (1993): 543.
16 Cross, Lowell. "Electronic Music, 1948-1953." Perspectives of New Music 7, no. 1 (1968): 41.
17 Manning, Peter. Electronic and Computer Music. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. 24.
18 EMF Media. "PIERRE SCHAEFFER." http://www.emfmedia.org/artists/schaeffer.html.
19
Smalley, John. "Gesang der Jünglinge: History and Analysis." Columbia University. http://music.columbia.edu/
masterpieces/notes/stockhausen/GesangHistoryandAnalysis.pdf. 2000.
Germany.20 It is 13:40 minutes long, and the title translates to Sound of the Youths (in the Fiery
Furnace). Gesang der Jünglinge is the best known and most influential work of electronic music.
Karlheinz Stockhausen, unique for an early electronic music composer, had worked both at
the Paris and Cologne studios. He began in Paris, where he made Studie I and Studie II,21 and
left Paris for Cologne in 1952.22 His reason for leaving, among other factors, was to study
Gesang der Jünglinge is one of the few pieces of early tape music associated with both
elektronische Musik and musique concrete.24 Stockhausen was a student and participant of
beyond the practices of the Cologne studio, to lose the rigidity of serialism and give his work a
greater sense of familiarity26 as well as to use serialism similar to how Bach used counterpoint.27
20
Metzer, David. "The Paths from and to Abstraction in Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jünglinge." MODERNISM /
modernity 11, no. 4 (2004): 695-721.
21
Metzer, David. "The Paths from and to Abstraction in Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jünglinge." MODERNISM /
modernity 11, no. 4 (2004): 695-721.
22Decroupet, Pascal, Elena Ungeheuer, and Jerome Kohl. "Through the Sensory Looking-Glass: The Aesthetic and
Serial Foundations of Gesang der Jünglinge." Perspectives of New Music 36, no. 1 (1998): 97-142.
23Peters, Gunter, and Mark Schrieber. "".How Creation Is Composed": Spirituality in the Music of Karlheinz
Stockhausen."Perspectives of New Music 37, no. 1 (1999): 97-131.
Metzer, David. "The Paths from and to Abstraction in Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jünglinge." MODERNISM / modernity
11, no. 4 (2004): 695-721.
Smalley, John. "Gesang der Jünglinge: History and Analysis." Columbia University. http://music.columbia.edu/
masterpieces/notes/stockhausen/GesangHistoryandAnalysis.pdf. 2000.
24
Metzer, David. "The Paths from and to Abstraction in Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jünglinge." MODERNISM /
modernity 11, no. 4 (2004): 695-721.
25Metzer, David. "The Paths from and to Abstraction in Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jünglinge." MODERNISM /
modernity 11, no. 4 (2004): 695-721.
Decroupet, Pascal, Elena Ungeheuer, and Jerome Kohl. "Through the Sensory Looking-Glass: The Aesthetic and Serial
Foundations of Gesang der Jünglinge." Perspectives of New Music 36, no. 1 (1998): 97-142.
26
Metzer, David. "The Paths from and to Abstraction in Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jünglinge." MODERNISM /
modernity 11, no. 4 (2004): 695-721.
27
Smalley, John. "Gesang der Jünglinge: History and Analysis." Columbia University. http://music.columbia.edu/
masterpieces/notes/stockhausen/GesangHistoryandAnalysis.pdf. 2000.
Heis, Fourteen Masterpieces of Electronic Music 9
Stockhausen once described the three aims of his works as: absolute freedom, newness, and a
A strong theme of purity and vilification ties the segments of the work together.30 The
piece is divided into six sections, notably lacking a seventh concluding section. Each section is
words, D marks the use of chords, section E makes use of polyphony, and section F represents
summation.31
The source material for the work is a twelve-year-old boy, both singing and speaking in a
normal voice.32 The boy was Josef Protschka, who was given sine tones to sing back along with
sacred text in German.33 The piece also uses sine tones in an additive way, white noise, and
impulses.34 Stockhausen wanted to develop as piece as a prayer "free [...] from the traces of
28Peters, Gunter, and Mark Schrieber. "".How Creation Is Composed": Spirituality in the Music of Karlheinz
Stockhausen."Perspectives of New Music 37, no. 1 (1999): 97-131.
29
Stone, Kurt. "Review: Karlheinz Stockhausen: Gesang der Jünglinge (1955/56) by Karlheinz Stockhausen." The
Musical Quarterly 49, no. 4 (1963): 552.
30
Metzer, David. "The Paths from and to Abstraction in Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jünglinge." MODERNISM /
modernity 11, no. 4 (2004): 695-721.
31
Metzer, David. "The Paths from and to Abstraction in Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jünglinge." MODERNISM /
modernity 11, no. 4 (2004): 695-721.
32
Stone, Kurt. "Review: Karlheinz Stockhausen: Gesang der Jünglinge (1955/56) by Karlheinz Stockhausen." The
Musical Quarterly 49, no. 4 (1963): 552.
33
Metzer, David. "The Paths from and to Abstraction in Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jünglinge." MODERNISM /
modernity 11, no. 4 (2004): 695-721.
34Decroupet, Pascal, Elena Ungeheuer, and Jerome Kohl. "Through the Sensory Looking-Glass: The Aesthetic and
Serial Foundations of Gesang der Jünglinge." Perspectives of New Music 36, no. 1 (1998): 97-142.
archaic fear of the gods" in the Roman Catholic church.35 The work makes use of the Fibonacci
series.36
Stockhausen used the phonetics of the text serially, within the realms of intelligibility,
speech versus singing, echo, distance, spatial position, and pitch.37 He made the synthesized
tones sound like the phonetics of the boy's voice.38 Stockhausen analyzed and reconstructed the
voice using the recent developed vocoder, which aided in fragmentation of speech.39 The final
version of the piece is in five channel sound, which was mixed down to four for the original
performance.40
This piece, as the most influential work of electronic music, will be mentioned repeatedly
in this paper.
Edgard Varèse. It premiered at the Philips Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair from April 17
to October 19, 1958; and it was developed in Paris, France. It is intended as part of a
35Smalley, John. "Gesang der Jünglinge: History and Analysis." Columbia University. http://music.columbia.edu/
masterpieces/notes/stockhausen/GesangHistoryandAnalysis.pdf. 2000.
Peters, Gunter, and Mark Schrieber. "".How Creation Is Composed": Spirituality in the Music of Karlheinz
Stockhausen."Perspectives of New Music 37, no. 1 (1999): 97-131.
36Decroupet, Pascal, Elena Ungeheuer, and Jerome Kohl. "Through the Sensory Looking-Glass: The Aesthetic and
Serial Foundations of Gesang der Jünglinge." Perspectives of New Music 36, no. 1 (1998): 97-142.
37
Stone, Kurt. "Review: Karlheinz Stockhausen: Gesang der Jünglinge (1955/56) by Karlheinz Stockhausen." The
Musical Quarterly 49, no. 4 (1963): 552.
38
Stone, Kurt. "Review: Karlheinz Stockhausen: Gesang der Jünglinge (1955/56) by Karlheinz Stockhausen." The
Musical Quarterly 49, no. 4 (1963): 553.
39
Metzer, David. "The Paths from and to Abstraction in Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jünglinge." MODERNISM /
modernity 11, no. 4 (2004): 695-721.
40
Stone, Kurt. "Review: Karlheinz Stockhausen: Gesang der Jünglinge (1955/56) by Karlheinz Stockhausen." The
Musical Quarterly 49, no. 4 (1963): 554.
41Lombardo, Vincenzo, Andrea Valle, John Fitch, Kees Tazelaar and others. "A Virtual-Reality Reconstruction of
Poème Électronique Based on Philological Research." Computer Music Journal 33, no. 2 (2009)
Heis, Fourteen Masterpieces of Electronic Music 11
multimedia, musique concrete installation piece. Poème électronique is "the first electroacoustic
Varèse at the time of composing Poème électronique was heavily experienced with music
technology, with more than five decades of composition experience, four decades of experience
with electronics, and had composed major electronic works Ionisation, Espace, and Deserts.44 He
developed the piece at Schaeffer's GMRC/RTF near the end of his life.45 Varèse is known for the
prominence of timbre and rhythm in his work, and, like his musique concrete colleagues,
opposed devotion to any major structural technique.46 The composer was influenced by
Renaissance music.47 He is also known for his emphasis on vertical over horizontal
composition.48
Poème électronique was part of a multimedia installation, with lighting design and image
projections made by futurist architect Le Corbusier,49 and the film was made up of black-and-
white still photography.50 Both Iannis Xenakis, the designer of the Philips Pavilion, and Varèse
42Lombardo, Vincenzo, Andrea Valle, John Fitch, Kees Tazelaar and others. "A Virtual-Reality Reconstruction of
Poème Électronique Based on Philological Research." Computer Music Journal 33, no. 2 (2009)
43Lombardo, Vincenzo, Andrea Valle, John Fitch, Kees Tazelaar and others. "A Virtual-Reality Reconstruction of
Poème Électronique Based on Philological Research." Computer Music Journal 33, no. 2 (2009)
44 "Edgar Varese Biography." http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Varese_Edgar.html
45 1883-1965
46 Wen-Chung, Chou. "Varèse: A Sketch of the Man and His Music." The Musical Quarterly 52, no. 2 (1966): 151-170.
47 "Edgar Varese Biography." http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Varese_Edgar.html
48Bayly, Richard, Edgar Varese, and Louise Ussachevsky. "Ussachevsky on Varèse: An Interview April 24, 1979 at
Goucher College." Perspectives of New Music 21, no. 1/2 (1982): 145-151.
49
Media Art Net. "Le Corbusier; Iannis Xenakis; Edgard Varèse «Poème électronique: Philips Pavilion»." http://
www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/poeme-electronique/.
50Lombardo, Vincenzo, Andrea Valle, John Fitch, Kees Tazelaar and others. "A Virtual-Reality Reconstruction of
Poème Électronique Based on Philological Research." Computer Music Journal 33, no. 2 (2009)
were interested in parabolas and hyperbolas across various media: architecture for Xenakis and
painting for Varèse.51 In the Philips Pavilion, the sound moved around the space over 425
The plan of the pavilion was conceived as a "stomach": visitors would enter
through a curved corridor, stand in a central chamber for the eight-minute
presentation, and exit out the other side.53
Structurally, the piece is in binary form with multiple subdivisions or thematic groups,
such as similar timbre or rhythms. The musical source material includes bells, wood blocks,
sirens, drums, singing, machine noises, animals, and organ. Listening to the recording, the
processing techniques immediately evident are splicing, looping, reverse, alterations to playback
The 1960s
A common theme in the history of electronic music: as the cost of electronic equipment
goes down and the availability and accessibility of equipment improves, the diversity of
electronic music increases. It is no clearer at any point of history than the 1960s. The first piece
is again from the Paris musique concrete studio, although with a twist. The latter two pieces
demonstrate the spread of artistic electronic equipment usage in music production. The second
piece represents the growth and acceptance of electronic music in the mainstream rock scene,
51Sikiaridi, Elizabeth. "The Architectures of Iannis Xenakis." Journal of Speculative Research 1, no. 3 (2003): 201-207.
Harley, James. "Iannis Xenakis Bibliography and Discography." Leonardo. http://www.leonardo.info/isast/
spec.projects/Xenakisbib.html.
52Lombardo, Vincenzo, Andrea Valle, John Fitch, Kees Tazelaar and others. "A Virtual-Reality Reconstruction of
Poème Électronique Based on Philological Research." Computer Music Journal 33, no. 2 (2009)
53 Wikipedia. "Philips Pavilion." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philips_Pavilion.
Heis, Fourteen Masterpieces of Electronic Music 13
Concrète in Paris, France. The piece is for four-track tape, 10:58 minutes in length, intended for a
live viewing audience. Xenakis produced Orient-Occident on commission from the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for a film created by Enrico Fulchignoni. 54
Xenakis began his career as a civil engineer in Greece. He was persecuted during World
War II, and left for Paris, where he would design the Philips Pavilion for Varèse's Poème
électronique. He worked with and was influenced by architect Le Corbusier. The multitalented
artist began studying music composition in 1951, particularly with Olivier Messiaen, and joined
The composer, by the time of creating Orient-Occident, had over ten years of experience in
composition. The work was preceded by his Bohor, also considered a musique concrete
masterpiece. He would later go on to invent the UPIC, a graphical computer music composition
system, in 1977.56
The computer should be used not only for sound synthesis but also for macro-
structures, large-scale constructions.
Xenakis was a devotee of Antiquitial design both in architecture and in music. The film by
Enrico Fulchignoni was about transition of civilizations around the time of Alexander the Great,60
based on an exhibit at the Cernuschi Museum in Paris.61 Xenakis used the source materials and
structure of the piece to bring forth the qualities of Antiquity.62 Some of the source material
included boxes, bells, and metal rods bowed, the atmosphere, and an excerpt from one of his
acoustic music works.63 The source material was ordered and layered using a "geometric
57Di Scipio, Agostino. "Compositional Models in Xenakis's Electroacoustic Music." Perspectives of New Music 36, no.
2 (1998): 201-243.
58Di Scipio, Agostino. "Compositional Models in Xenakis's Electroacoustic Music." Perspectives of New Music 36, no.
2 (1998): 201-243.
59Xenakis, Iannis, Roberta Brown, and John Rahn. "Xenakis on Xenakis." Perspectives of New Music 25, no. 1/2
(1987): 16-63.
60Solomis, Mark. "Xenakis." Digital Music Archives. http://www.digital-music-archives.com/webdb2/application/
Application.php?fwServerClass=ProductDetail&ProductCode=CDE0053.
EMF Media. "IANNIS XENAKIS Electronic Music." http://www.emfmedia.org/items/em102.html.
61Harley, James. "Iannis Xenakis Bibliography and Discography." Leonardo. http://www.leonardo.info/isast/
spec.projects/Xenakisbib.html.
62Solomis, Mark. "Xenakis." Digital Music Archives. http://www.digital-music-archives.com/webdb2/application/
Application.php?fwServerClass=ProductDetail&ProductCode=CDE0053.
63 EMF Media. "IANNIS XENAKIS Electronic Music." http://www.emfmedia.org/items/em102.html.
Heis, Fourteen Masterpieces of Electronic Music 15
series."64 The composer is known as one of the first in the electronic field to draw associations
Xenakis worked with the ideas of slowing moving masses of sound, with contrasting
moments of intermittent subtlety.66 This was different from the "more transparent
appropriations" of Schaeffer and Henry.67 The author of this paper notes the conceptual similarity
with granular synthesis, a technique the composer's later computer music works would
implement.
Tomorrow Never Knows is a song from the Beatles, the last track on their controversial
Revolver album. The song was written by John Lennon and produced by George Martin. It was
recorded at the Abbey Road Studios in London, England from April 6 to June 21, 1966. The
Revolver album debuted on August 5, 1966. The label was Parlophone, which at the time was
heavily tied into big band and jazz music.68 The song is 2:57 minutes in length.
The Beatles were a huge success and nearing the end of their run by the time of Revolver,
with six previous albums. The Beatles had only one tour after the make of the album, and
Revolver was the first album on a path of complete creative and artistic control for the Beatles.
64Di Scipio, Agostino. "Compositional Models in Xenakis's Electroacoustic Music." Perspectives of New Music 36, no.
2 (1998): 201-243.
65Harley, James. "Iannis Xenakis Bibliography and Discography." Leonardo. http://www.leonardo.info/isast/
spec.projects/Xenakisbib.html.
Lombardo, Vincenzo, Andrea Valle, John Fitch, Kees Tazelaar and others. "A Virtual-Reality Reconstruction of Poème
Électronique Based on Philological Research." Computer Music Journal 33, no. 2 (2009)
66Kim, Rebecca. "Iannis Xenakis's Bohor." Columbia University. http://music.columbia.edu/masterpieces/notes/
xenakis/bio.html.
67Kim, Rebecca. "Iannis Xenakis's Bohor." Columbia University. http://music.columbia.edu/masterpieces/notes/
xenakis/bio.html.
68Reck, David R. "Beatles Orientalis: Influences from Asia in a Popular Song Tradition." Asian Music 16, no. 1 (1985):
103.
At this time, EMI was buying out Parlophone. Rock artists of the late 1960s were seeking out
worldly sounds.69 At this time, the Beatles were interested in Indian music, musique concrete,
and psychedelic pop. They are known for a never ending exploration of sound, worldly
well by heavy usage of the drug LSD, also known as acid. Just before Revolver, the Beatles had
the most successful tour in North America in the history of rock music.
"Lennon's identity crisis at the height of his fame spawned a number of self-
referential confessionals about his identity ('Help!', 'Strawberry Fields' and 'She
Said She Said') and alternative realms of the imagination that reached beyond
the conscious world ('Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds' and 'Tomorrow Never
Knows')."70
The instruments used in Tomorrow Never Knows are tape, vocals, Hammond organ,
tambourine, bass, drums, guitar, sitar, tambura (bass like drone),71 and honky-tonk piano. The
musique concrete elements are seagulls, a Sibelius symphony in B-flat, guitar, and sitar
samples. The English lyrics come from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, transliterated, which
Lennon had read under the influence of LSD.72 The song is mostly on a C-major chord, and based
on Indian music, particularly for the use of drones.73 Lennon had a copy of Stockhausen's
Gesang der Jünglinge, and the musique concrete ideas are based on it.74
69Bellman, Jonathan. "Indian Resonances in the British Invasion, 1965-1968." The Journal of Musicology 15, no. 1
(1997): 116-136.
70 Riley, Tim. "For the Beatles: Notes on Their Achievement." Popular Music 6, no. 3 (1987): 270.
71Reck, David R. "Beatles Orientalis: Influences from Asia in a Popular Song Tradition." Asian Music 16, no. 1 (1985):
103.
72Bellman, Jonathan. "Indian Resonances in the British Invasion, 1965-1968." The Journal of Musicology 15, no. 1
(1997): 116-136.
73Bellman, Jonathan. "Indian Resonances in the British Invasion, 1965-1968." The Journal of Musicology 15, no. 1
(1997): 116-136.
74
Smalley, John. "Gesang der Jünglinge: History and Analysis." Columbia University. http://music.columbia.edu/
masterpieces/notes/stockhausen/GesangHistoryandAnalysis.pdf. 2000.
Heis, Fourteen Masterpieces of Electronic Music 17
Tomorrow Never Knows used a BTR3 tape machine, a Hammond organ, and a Mellotron Mk.
II for flute and violin like sounds.75 Some of the processing techniques used include automatic
double tracking to double the vocals, reverse, and layering, inspired from Gesang. The automatic
double tracking technology used in Tomorrow Never Knows led to the development of the
1967, and re-released on CD on June 14, 1994. It's length is 31:39 minutes, with a part A of 16:40
minutes and a part B of 14:59 to fit on a two-sided LP.77 It was the first electronic piece
commissioned by a major record label, Nonesuch.78 It became a bestseller in the classical music
category.79
Morton Subotnick "studied with Darius Milhaud and Leon Kirchner at Mills College in
Oakland, CA."80 He has been teaching music composition since the early 1960s,81 with his first
successful composition in 1958, and first tape piece in 1961.82 At the time of Silver Apples of the
Moon, Subotnick was teaching at New York University's Tisch school after having left the San
75Reck, David R. "Beatles Orientalis: Influences from Asia in a Popular Song Tradition." Asian Music 16, no. 1 (1985):
103.
76
Lenser, Barry. "The Beatles - “Ask Me Why”." Sundance Channel. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/ask-me-
why/.
77 Ghezzo, Dino. "Morton Subotnick." International New Music Consortium. http://www.inmc.org/Subotnick.html.
78Truax, Barry. ""Sequence of Earlier Heaven": The Record as a Medium for the Electroacoustic Composer." Leonardo
21, no. 1 (1998): 25-28.
79 Ghezzo, Dino. "Morton Subotnick." International New Music Consortium. http://www.inmc.org/Subotnick.html.
80 Subotnick, Morton. "Bio." http://www.mortonsubotnick.com/about.html.
81 Subotnick, Morton. "Bio." http://www.mortonsubotnick.com/about.html.
82 Subotnick, Morton. "Timeline." http://www.mortonsubotnick.com/timeline.html.
Francisco Tape Music Center.83 His music is known for its regular rhythms and classical forms.84
Nonesuch was a major record label, a subsidiary of Warner Music, and a supporter of world
music.85
The piece is generated from a Buchla synthesizer, which featured modular voltage-control,
sequencing abilities, and a pressure-sensitive keyboard.86 The album, which sounds a bit like an
early video game thanks to its use of simple waveforms, features a regular, rapid rhythm. The
album's rhythmic qualities have led to it being choreographed multiple times.87 This was
unusual for academic circles up to that point, but is prolific throughout the composer's career.88
The 1970s
In the era of the 1970s, the biggest theme of electronic music history continued onward:
more diversity. The first two pieces in this section represent the desire to connect other kinds of
music with electronic music, and third marks the beginning of an important genre of electronic
music.
83
Gann, Kyle. "From Moog to Mark II, to MIDI to MAX." American Public Media. http://
musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/essay_gann11.html.
84 Subotnick, Morton. "Bio." http://www.mortonsubotnick.com/about.html.
85
Library of Congress. "The Full National Recording Registry." http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/nrpb-
masterlist.html.
86
Gann, Kyle. "From Moog to Mark II, to MIDI to MAX." American Public Media. http://
musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/essay_gann11.html.
87 Art and Popular Culture. "Morton Subotnick." http://www.artandpopularculture.com/Morton_Subotnick.
88
Dockstader, Tod. "Review: Morton Subotnick: The Wild Bull a Composition for Electronic-Music Synthesizer by
Morton Subotnick." The Musical Quarterly 55, no. 1 (1969): 136-139.
89 EMF Institute. "Silver Apples of the Moon." http://emfinstitute.emf.org/exhibits/subotnicksilver.html.
Heis, Fourteen Masterpieces of Electronic Music 19
electroacoustic piece, intended for concert audience. The entire series, currently up to ten in
number, features a solo instrumentalist and electronics. Synchronism #6 features piano as its
solo instrumentalist. The tape is eight-channel. It is 7:10 minutes in length. It premiered in 1970,
likely in the McMillan Theater at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York. 90 It
won the Pulitzer Prize in 1971, the second electronic piece of music to do so.
Mario Davidovsky is a lifelong composer, who at the time of Synchronism #6 had over ten
years of experience working with electronics. The piece developed while he was teaching at the
University of Buenos Aires, and then studied composition with Aaron Copland and Milton
Babbitt, as well as serving as a technician for Varese.91 He was also a student of Stockhausen's
The principal reason was that I immediately realized that sounds in electronic
music behave in a completely new way. There is no physical constraint, no
bow, no air to blow. I learned that the dynamic of the sound was really
fantastically new, with a whole new idea of space and time. I immediately
thought that those behaviors of sound were so good that I wanted to make
them a part of instrumental music.93
more live musicians. Davidovsky has a few reasons for this. A major component of this is
The form of the Synchronism pieces borrows from classical forms, but uses elements from
modern narratives.95 However, the pieces do not adhere to any major style.96 Davidovsky is
greatly interested in sound envelopes, or the shape of amplitude over time, which "takes into
account the most basic acoustical properties of the live instrument employed."97 Each of the
pieces has a single melodic and rhythmic idea as well as a single timbre and amplitude idea.98
In Synchronism #6, the opening motif is essentially the entire piece.99 Also, the piece
generally follows Sonata form, featuring three major sections: Exposition, Development, and
Recapitulation.100 #6 uses the quick decay of the piano strike to have a jarring effect, using the
Figure in a Clearing is an electroacoustic piece for concert audience and one side of an LP,
19:10 minutes long. The piece is for cello and computer, the Kim-1.102 In the recording, the cello
is played by David Gibson. 103 Behrman developed the work in Oakland, California, and it debuted
at the electronic music studio at SUNY: Albany on June 9, 1977.104 The work is known as one of
David Behrman was an experienced acoustic composer at the time of working on Figure in
a Clearing, and a professor at Mills College;106 however, it was the composer's first work with
computer. 107 Behrman is noted for "throwing away established techniques,"108 and has a
particular interest in working with lights.109 He is also associated with minimalism, and later
works of human performer with computer interaction. The composer was also a founding
member of the Sonic Arts Union (1966-1976), a touring group of electroacoustic and modern
102 lovely.com. "Album Notes: "On the Other Ocean" (1977)." http://www.lovely.com/albumnotes/notes1041.html.
103 lovely.com. "Album Notes: "On the Other Ocean" (1977)." http://www.lovely.com/albumnotes/notes1041.html.
104 lovely.com. "Album Notes: "On the Other Ocean" (1977)." http://www.lovely.com/albumnotes/notes1041.html.
105
Kuivila, Ron, and David Behrman. "Composing with Shifting Sand: A Conversation between Ron Kuivila and David
Behrman on Electronic Music and the Ephemerality of Technology." Leonardo Music Journal 8 (1998): 13-16.
106Tyranny, Gene. "David Behrman Biography." Yahoo! Music. http://new.music.yahoo.com/david-behrman/
biography/;_ylt=A0SO2xc_tClLB1AAFS7HxCUv.
107 On the Other Ocean. CD. 1996. Liner notes.
108 Holmes, Thom. Electronic and Experimental Music. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge, 2008.
109
Studio Five Beekman. "Pen Light: an interactive sound and light installation." http://diapasongallery.org/
behrman.html.
musicians.110 He studied Gesang der Jünglinge under Stockhausen in 1959 at Darmstadt, and
worked with Wallingford Rieger, David Tudor, Gordon Mumma, and Merce Cunningham.111
The cello in Figure in a Clearing is accompanied by the Kim-1, which generates triangles
waves.112 Only six pitches are assigned to the cello for the entire piece for improvisation.113 The
composer made certain the software enables the imagination of the performer beyond his own
ideas for the work.114 The software time-wise is "modeled on the motion of a satellite in falling
elliptical orbit around a planet" with the harmonic pattern.115 Behrman has stated he is more
interested in relaxing, calming music,116 and the minimalism of the six notes, along with the
gentle changes in the computer's sound,117 matches this inclination. The composer directed the
cellist to "not speed up" along with the computer,118 further adding a calming effect to the work.
The Kim-1 in the piece makes use of triangle wave generators, voltage-control signals and
frequency modulation synthesis.119 The composer spent a great deal of his work on the piece
getting it to work consistently with the new technology, taking multiple rounds of testing before
110
Kuivila, Ron, and David Behrman. "Composing with Shifting Sand: A Conversation between Ron Kuivila and David
Behrman on Electronic Music and the Ephemerality of Technology." Leonardo Music Journal 8 (1998): 13-16.
111 Gross, Jason. "David Behrman interview." Perfect Sound Forever. http://www.furious.com/perfect/behrman.html.
112 Amazon. "On the Other Ocean." http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000003Y88.
113 Amazon. "On the Other Ocean." http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000003Y88.
114 Gross, Jason. "David Behrman interview." Perfect Sound Forever. http://www.furious.com/perfect/behrman.html.
115 On the Other Ocean. CD. 1996. Liner notes.
116 Gross, Jason. "David Behrman interview." Perfect Sound Forever. http://www.furious.com/perfect/behrman.html.
117 On the Other Ocean. CD. 1996. Liner notes.
118 lovely.com. "Album Notes: "On the Other Ocean" (1977)." http://www.lovely.com/albumnotes/notes1041.html.
119 Behrman, David. "1970s." dbehrman.net. http://www.dbehrman.net/1970s/1970s-figure.html.
Heis, Fourteen Masterpieces of Electronic Music 23
ending with a satisfactory work.120 Behrman was particularly engaged with the technology,
saying:
It seemed astounding in 1977 that a translucent green circuit board with a tiny
brain on it could take a million instructions per second from its little memory
and send commands to another device, the home-made music synthesizer,
whenever its program asked it to do so.121
Music for Airports is an ambient electronic music album by Brian Eno. The album was
Kingdom label. The album is intended as an installation for airports and other high stress public
locations.122 The first installation of Music for Airports was in 1980 at the La Guardia Airport's
Maine Terminal.123 Eno developed Music for Airports in London, England, and the last track at
Brian Eno began his music career in 1972 in the band Roxy Music.124 He had made five
previous successful albums,125 including the ambient album Discreet Music. Eno is credited with
120
Kuivila, Ron, and David Behrman. "Composing with Shifting Sand: A Conversation between Ron Kuivila and David
Behrman on Electronic Music and the Ephemerality of Technology." Leonardo Music Journal 8 (1998): 13-16.
121 lovely.com. "Album Notes: "On the Other Ocean" (1977)." http://www.lovely.com/albumnotes/notes1041.html.
122Baskas, Harriet. "Better branding through music: Original airport theme songs." USA Today. http://
www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/baskas/2008-03-12-airport-theme-songs_N.htm.
Amirkhanian, Charles. "Music For Earthquakes: Brian Eno at the Exploratorium in San Francisco." hyperreal.org.
http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/interviews/reha88.html.
123Lanza, Joseph. "The Sound of Cottage Cheese (Why Background Music Is the Real World Beat!)." Performing Arts
Journal 13, no. 3 (1991): 42-53.
124 Aikin, Jim. "Eno." Keyboard Wizards, Winter 1985.
125 Haidenbauer , Johann. "Brian Eno Discography." enoweb. http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/discog.html.
creating the term ambient music.126 He would continue to make three more ambient albums;
and have numerous collaborations with rock stars, video game directors and film makers.
Eno, like many artists in this paper, was not satisfied with the music stylings of the time.
Also at the time, disco was surging as a genre, along with the beginnings of new wave
rock music, neither of which Eno was a fan.128 However, he was inspired by jazz music, reggae,
Eno's inspiration for creating Music for Airports was the Cologne Airport:
I thought: "What do you most want to feel when you get on a plane?" And I
was aware that the music that gets used in airports has exactly the opposite
effect that it's supposed to. It's supposed to make you think: 'Don't worry.
Everything's all right. It's just a normal day.' [...] I was thinking that Music For
Airports should give you the feeling that, 'Well, it doesn't really matter all that
much anyway. What's a few humans less?' So that's why the music has a
slightly, I'd say, resigned feeling to it.130
Brian Eno used human voices, acoustic piano, and a synthesizer as the source materials
for creating Music for Airports. The vocal performers were Christa Fast, Christine Gomez, and
Inge Zeininger, with Robert Wyatt on acoustic piano.131 Eno asked the performers to improvise
126Amirkhanian, Charles. "Music For Earthquakes: Brian Eno at the Exploratorium in San Francisco." hyperreal.org.
http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/interviews/reha88.html.
127Amirkhanian, Charles. "Music For Earthquakes: Brian Eno at the Exploratorium in San Francisco." hyperreal.org.
http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/interviews/reha88.html.
128 Aikin, Jim. "Eno." Keyboard Wizards, Winter 1985.
129
Baskas, Harriet. "Better branding through music: Original airport theme songs." USA Today. http://
www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/baskas/2008-03-12-airport-theme-songs_N.htm.
130Amirkhanian, Charles. "Music For Earthquakes: Brian Eno at the Exploratorium in San Francisco." hyperreal.org.
http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/interviews/reha88.html.
131 Ambient 1: Music for Airports. CD. 2004. Liner notes.
Heis, Fourteen Masterpieces of Electronic Music 25
independently in the recording studio, and he took small sections of the recordings to loop.132
He used a twenty-four track tape machine,133 later mixed down to stereo, and an ARP2600
synthesizer.134 Brian Eno made use of exaggerated compression,135 echo, chance operations, and
The album is divided into four sections: 1/1 is piano and synthesizer, 1/2 is piano with
voices, 2/1 is only voices, and 2/2 is synthesizer only. The energy level is consistent throughout
the album other than the gaps between tracks. There is an emphasis on bass frequencies in the
first and last tracks; otherwise Eno falls on the side of consistency over variety. However, it
seems each repetition of the looped materials is somehow different each time it is brought
back.
Tracks from the album are used in documentaries and in public spaces. Eno also made an
ambient film in 1981, titled Mistaken Memories of Mediaeval Manhattan, which features tracks
The 1980s
By the time we review the masterpieces of electronic music of the 1980s, there is such a
large diversity of work to choose from that the selection becomes more focused on overall
represent developments in academic circles, and the second, the beginnings of one of the most
Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco is an eight-channel138 tape piece by Jonathan Harvey. The
translation of the title is I lament the dead, I call the living (to prayer). It debuted at the Lille
Festival on November 20, 1980139 at 9:00 minutes in length. It is one of the first, if not the first,
piece to use convolution, 140 and this author's favorite tape piece.
Jonathan Harvey is a British composer, who by the time of composing Mortuos Plango,
Vivos Voco held two doctorates141 and composed many chamber and choral works. This however
was the composer's first work in the electronic realm, 142 although Harvey had worked with the
equipment previously.143 Harvey did the recording for the piece at Winchester Cathedral in the
United Kingdom, and did the processing work at IRCAM in Paris, France.144 IRCAM had recently
138 Harvey, Jonathan. "Madonna of Winter and Spring." The Musical Times 127, no. 1720 (1986): 431-433.
139 Harvey, Jonathan. "List of works - 1977 to present." vivosvoco.com. http://www.vivosvoco.com/listofworks.html.
140Allen, J Anthony. "Jonathon Harvey, Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco: An Analytical Method for Timbre Analysis and
Notation." Spark (2005): 78-79.
141Harvey, Jonathan. "Sketches for Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco (1980)." BBC, 2005 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/
cutandsplice/mortuos.shtml.
142 Harvey, Jonathan. "List of works - 1977 to present." vivosvoco.com. http://www.vivosvoco.com/listofworks.html.
143
Clarke, Michael. "Jonathan Harvey's Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco." In Analytical Methods of Electroacoustic Music,
Mary Simoni, 111-144. New York: Routledge, 2006. 111.
144Harvey, Jonathan. "Sketches for Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco (1980)." BBC, 2005 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/
cutandsplice/mortuos.shtml.
Heis, Fourteen Masterpieces of Electronic Music 27
opened in 1977.145 John Chowning was working on FM synthesis, IRCAM gained a new building,
Jonathan Harvey's work is known for its spirituality,147 including Buddhism and the eastern
mantra,148 and the manifestation of a single idea.149 His compositions are also known for their
spectralism, and serialism based on spectralism; wherein the composer uses the spectral
The text of Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco is in Latin, and religious in nature. Harvey recorded
his son, Dominic, who was in a choir at Winchester Cathedral. The text is inscribed on the
largest bell in the cathedral.151 Harvey also recorded the bell. The composer uses his son's voice
to represent life (Vivos Voco) and the bell to represent death (Mortuos Plango).152 Each of the
Harvey used manipulation of timbre both as form and content for Mortuos Plango, Vivos
Voco. In a serial fashion, Harvey analyzed the spectral content of the bell, and used "partials
from the bell to form the basis of the pitch structure of the entire composition."155 Under his
analysis, there were thirty-three partials that made up the sound of the bell.156
The composer used the Music V software for processing the source material.157 Also, he
used a piece of software called Chant, developed at IRCAM, which provides a technique called
FOF Synthesis, or formant synthesis in English.158 This allowed Harvey to synthesize the sounds
of the bell and the voice in simple waveforms, and mix the two together seamlessly at various
stages of the piece. Some of the other processing techniques Harvey used were reverse, FFT
partial analysis, additive synthesis, crossfading, glissandi,159 and FM synthesis.160 Being his first
153
Clarke, Michael. "Jonathan Harvey's Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco." In Analytical Methods of Electroacoustic Music,
Mary Simoni, 111-144. New York: Routledge, 2006. 113.
154
Clarke, Michael. "Jonathan Harvey's Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco." In Analytical Methods of Electroacoustic Music,
Mary Simoni, 111-144. New York: Routledge, 2006. 112.
155
Clarke, Michael. "Jonathan Harvey's Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco." In Analytical Methods of Electroacoustic Music,
Mary Simoni, 111-144. New York: Routledge, 2006. 116.
156Gilbert, Janet. "New Music and Myth: The Olympic Arts Festival of Contemporary Music: Los Angeles June 18-24,
1984."Perspectives of New Music 22, no. 1/2 (1983): 478-482.
157
Clarke, Michael. "Jonathan Harvey's Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco." In Analytical Methods of Electroacoustic Music,
Mary Simoni, 111-144. New York: Routledge, 2006. 115.
158
Clarke, Michael. "Jonathan Harvey's Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco." In Analytical Methods of Electroacoustic Music,
Mary Simoni, 111-144. New York: Routledge, 2006. 117.
159
Clarke, Michael. "Jonathan Harvey's Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco." In Analytical Methods of Electroacoustic Music,
Mary Simoni, 111-144. New York: Routledge, 2006. 115-117 + 131.
160Allen, J Anthony. "Jonathon Harvey, Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco: An Analytical Method for Timbre Analysis and
Notation." Spark (2005): 78-79.
Heis, Fourteen Masterpieces of Electronic Music 29
released electronic work, Harvey felt "intimidated" by the technology, so despite using advanced
processing techniques, the quality of the sounds stay near the source materials.161
The video art group Visual Kitchen, based out of Brussels, created a video installation
based on the work that premiered at the Saint Catherine's Church in Vilnius, Lithuania during
The Message is both a song and an album by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. This
entry will focus on the song. It was written and performed by MC Duke Bootee and MC Melle
Mel on the album.163 The album was released in May 1982 by Sugar Hill Studios, the founding
label of hip-hop music. It is intended for both radio play and concert performance. While the
hip-hop scene began in the Bronx, New York City, the album was recorded in Englewood, New
Jersey. The song is 7:10 minutes in length and in English. It is one of the most identifiable hip-
hop songs, and the first to be entered in the United States National Archive of Historic
Hip-hop has its roots in the Bronx, New York City in the early 70s, where DJ Kool Herc
invented the form of breakbeats. Essentially, the instrumental versions of songs, particularly
funk songs, were taken and sections looped to allow club attendees to break dance.
Grandmaster Flash said DJs started to do rapping on top of the breakbeats to keep audiences
entertained and not become violent.165 The group had one previous album in 1979, which still
161Harvey, Jonathan. "Sketches for Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco (1980)." BBC, 2005 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/
cutandsplice/mortuos.shtml.
162 Visual Kitchen. "Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco." http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=68198464664.
163 The Message. CD. 2002. Liner notes.
164 The Message. CD. 2002. Liner notes.
165 YouTube. "Grandmaster Flash - Interview 1986." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiojcGahgG4.
had a very strong funk influence. The only greatly successful hip-hop genre song that preceded
it was Rapper's Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang.166 Grandmaster Flash, who has an electronics
degree,167 along with the Furious Five, had just finished a opening on a tour with The Clash
before working on the album.168 At the time, they were still DJing in the clubs in New York City,
The song is perhaps the first to use hip-hop as a means of making a social statement.
Flash:
Nobody was really looking for social significance, we was just looking to make
the record, but now everyone's pressurized into coming with something like
that again, but you can't really come up with nothing like that because you
can't really come up with nothing that already was there in the first place. It
wasn't like nobody made it up from that point in time just to do it, it was just
laying around.170
The song is slow paced, which emphasizes the lyrical content about living in poverty, one
author calling it a "dark commentary."171 Flash and crew admitted they were concerned about
the viability of a hip-hop song not aimed at the club scene.172 However, in one description, it
166 Henry, Ed. "Hip-hop, you don’t stop: landmark records." NEW STATESMAN, 6 July 2009, 45.
167Miller, Chuck. "GRANDMASTER CUTS FASTER: THE STORY OF GRANDMASTER FLASH AND THE FURIOUS FIVE." Goldmine,
1997.
168Miller, Chuck. "GRANDMASTER CUTS FASTER: THE STORY OF GRANDMASTER FLASH AND THE FURIOUS FIVE." Goldmine,
1997.
169Miller, Chuck. "GRANDMASTER CUTS FASTER: THE STORY OF GRANDMASTER FLASH AND THE FURIOUS FIVE." Goldmine,
1997.
170LaBrasca, Bob, and Larry Sloman. "Interview: Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five (1983)." High Times, 31 March
2003.
171Miller, Chuck. "GRANDMASTER CUTS FASTER: THE STORY OF GRANDMASTER FLASH AND THE FURIOUS FIVE." Goldmine,
1997.
172LaBrasca, Bob, and Larry Sloman. "Interview: Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five (1983)." High Times, 31 March
2003.
Heis, Fourteen Masterpieces of Electronic Music 31
"transformed hip-hop from party music to a conscious culture with a socio-political message."173
Don't push me, 'cause I'm close to the edge; I'm tryin' not to lose my head.
The piece has four component sound producers: the rapper, the synthesizer, electronic
drums, and turntable performance. The technology used represents the lower cost of entry that
allowed for a more diversification in the electronic music scene. The song uses a Sequential
Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer, which was one of the first polyphonic synthesizers commercially
available.174 It also featured patch memory, FM synthesis, and ring modulation. Also used was a
Technics SL-20 turntable175 and a SP12 drum machine.176 The song is the first to use the
A music video was also made to accompany the song's release as a single.
at the Donaueschingen Festival in Germany on October 18, 1981.178 Boulez completed the final
version of the piece in 1984, which recorded is 43:31 in length.179 The work is for six soloists:
173 Freedoom, Bardos. "Grandmaster Flash interview." Radio 1190, 12 March 2009.
174LaBrasca, Bob, and Larry Sloman. "Interview: Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five (1983)." High Times, 31 March
2003.
175Miller, Chuck. "GRANDMASTER CUTS FASTER: THE STORY OF GRANDMASTER FLASH AND THE FURIOUS FIVE." Goldmine,
1997.
176Doran, John. "Flash Bang Wallop: The Grandmaster Interviewed." The Quietus. http://thequietus.com/articles/
01169-flash-bang-whallop-grandmaster-interviewed.
177 Henry, Ed. "Hip-hop, you don’t stop: landmark records." NEW STATESMAN, 6 July 2009, 45.
178 Pierre Boulez: Répons / Dialogue de l'Ombre Double. CD. 1999. Liner notes.
179
Ruch, Allen B. "Pierre Boulez's Répons." The Modern World. http://www.themodernword.com/joyce/music/
boulez_repons.html.
two pianos, vibraphone, glockenspiel, cimbalon;180 twenty-four piece orchestra,181 and
electronics. It is intended as a live piece for concert audience. It won a Grammy in 2009.182
Pierre Boulez has been an active composer since the 1940s, and is known for his work
with serialism and chance operations. Boulez is know for his "internally consistent style" he
provides his work with.183 From his studies of Stockhausen, he is influenced by Asian music and
Pierre Boulez is heavily connected to IRCAM in Paris, France, and even more specifically,
found himself dissatisfied with tape pieces, and took IRCAM in a live processing direction.186
180
Ruch, Allen B. "Pierre Boulez's Répons." The Modern World. http://www.themodernword.com/joyce/music/
boulez_repons.html.
181Gable, David. "Ramifying Connections: An Interview with Pierre Boulez." The Journal of Musicology 4, no. 1 (1985):
105-113.
182
Ruch, Allen B. "Pierre Boulez's Répons." The Modern World. http://www.themodernword.com/joyce/music/
boulez_repons.html.
183McNamee, Ann K. "Review: Are Boulez and Stockhausen Ready for the Mainstream?." The Musical Quarterly 76,
no. 2 (1992): 283-291.
184Gable, David. "Ramifying Connections: An Interview with Pierre Boulez." The Journal of Musicology 4, no. 1 (1985):
105-113.
McNamee, Ann K. "Review: Are Boulez and Stockhausen Ready for the Mainstream?." The Musical Quarterly 76, no. 2
(1992): 283-291.
185 Pierre Boulez: Répons / Dialogue de l'Ombre Double. CD. 1999. Liner notes.
186 IRCAM. "History." http://www.ircam.fr/62.html?L=1.
187 IRCAM. "History." http://www.ircam.fr/62.html?L=1.
188 IRCAM. "History." http://www.ircam.fr/62.html?L=1.
Heis, Fourteen Masterpieces of Electronic Music 33
The two main ideas behind Répons are call and response and spirals. The physical setup
uses six speakers, one for each soloist, and the orchestra. Répons is conceptually made up of
The speakers and soloists are in alteration placed in a circle around the audience,
surrounding the audience with the piece.191 The title of the piece comes from Gregorian Chant,
wherein a soloist and a choir, spatially separated, respond to each other.192 The spiral idea was
inspired by the Guggenheim Museum.193 The effect of the spiral is that of a spatial
The form of Répons has ten section, an introduction, one through eight, then a coda. The
introduction is orchestra only. Section one then introduces the elements around the circle. The
work climaxes in section six, and fades out during the coda.196 While Boulez shows great control
throughout the work, sporadic moments of complete chaos burst through the piece.197 Boulez
sound.198
In the 1984 version, the composer used a 4X computer system and a MATRIX32 mixing
board.199 Boulez took three additional years to complete the work because technology was
improving at a rapid rate. 200 Later versions of the work make use of pitch recognition.201 The
electronic equipment is, unlike most of the pieces in this paper, used largely for repetition,
music [...] each soloist is free to mix in synthesized sound contained on his tape-recorder."203
The last two pieces in this paper represent current developments in electronic music.
While both works are brilliant, only time will tell how influential these works will be.
Ambiant Otaku is an album by Testu Inoue, released in Frankfurt, Germany204 on March 21,
1994.205 The stereo album was originally limited to one hundred copies worldwide (Inoue):
198
Ruch, Allen B. "Pierre Boulez's Répons." The Modern World. http://www.themodernword.com/joyce/music/
boulez_repons.html.
199McCallum, Peter, and Pierre Boulez. "An Interview with Pierre Boulez." The Musical Times 130, no. 1751 (1989):
8-10.
200McCallum, Peter, and Pierre Boulez. "An Interview with Pierre Boulez." The Musical Times 130, no. 1751 (1989):
8-10.
201 Mawhinney, Simon, and Pierre Boulez. "Composer in Interview: Pierre Boulez." Tempo 216 (2001): 2-5.
202 Driver, Paul. "Boulez's 'Répons'." Tempo 140 (1982): 27-28.
203 Driver, Paul. "Boulez's 'Répons'." Tempo 140 (1982): 27-28.
204Cooper, Sean. "KALX Berkeley Interview ." hyperreal.org. http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/tetsu/press/
inouevw.html.
205 Apple iTunes. "Ambiant Otaku." http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ambiant-otaku/id83255367.
Heis, Fourteen Masterpieces of Electronic Music 35
No, I'm not to do with the re-release. Peter was mentioning about people
paying 100 dollars for a disc and it was really ridiculous. Many people asked,
so he decided to release it again.206
Ambiant Otaku was developed at and released by studio and ambient music label FAX
+29-69/450464. The label was started by Pete Namlook in Germany in 1992.207 The album was the
first solo work for Inoue, but had previously collaborated with Namlook for the the albums Orion
and Orion II. 208 Inoue states he was drawn to ambient music because of a lack of access to
drugs in Japan. 209 Since Ambiant Otaku, his music has moved from peaceful to more chaotic
Inoue is associated with the ambient genre of music. Tetsu Inoue is likely not a fan of
many pieces in this paper, calling academic music "too difficult to understand" and that it does
not "communicate much with people outside the academic world."211 The composer's ideas
borrow heavily, as with other ambient composers, from minimalism. His mentor and the studio's
owner was Pete Namlook.212 Inoue cites Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra,213 and
Inoue created Ambiant Otaku largely on a Synthi synthesizer; it was not done on a
computer as Psycho-Acoustic was his first computer music album.216 Of the five tracks on the
album, Karmic Light, Low of Vibration, Ambiant Otaku, Holy Dance, and Magnetic Fields, only
Holy Fields uses elements outside of the synthesizer.217 Reviewer Sean Cooper calls the album
similar to Eno's Discreet Music, but more modern with "synth passages occasionally accented by
subtle beats and lifting melodies."218 The album features a mandala on the front cover, a
The last piece, and most recent, piece in this paper is Kyong Mee Choi's It Only Needs To
Be Seen. The 7:10 minute long work premiered at the SEAMUS conference at the University of
Oregon in 2006, which was held March 30 to April 1.219 It took first prize in the 2006 ASCAP/
SEAMUS Student Commission program.220 The piece features a guitarist, with stereo electronics
Choi, at the time, was nearing the completion of a DMA at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. The same year, Choi became faculty at Roosevelt University.221 She was
commissioned twice previously to make electronic pieces.222 Choi has been an active electronic
music composer since 1998.223 Her works are often multimedia and often interactive. Choi is a
classically trained musician, but seeks new areas such as visual notation.224 She is also trained
as a painter.
This piece is inspired by the Steve Hagen's saying, "Truth does not need any
explanation. It only needs to be seen. The only way we can be free in each
moment is to become what the moment is." I want audience to experience to
be the moment through the stream of sound that does not need explanation
but only needs to be heard.225
The piece has eventful and calm moments, as well as a fade in at the beginning and fade
out near the end. However, as the program notes suggestion, there is no particular form
otherwise to the piece. Choi uses advanced electronic processing techniques, but uses them in
such a way they that they stay close to the guitar sound. The composer uses spatial techniques
to her advantage consistently throughout the piece. Perhaps the most notable processing
technique is pitch sliding, which naturally agrees with the guitar's innate abilities. Granular
When asked in interview about her experience as a modern female electronic music
I never felt rejected because I was female. But, often times, females are just
not exposed enough to the environment or equipment that is required for
electronic music. If anything, I might call it a mental barrier for women to
transcend. More or less, as a woman creating electronic music, I feel more
appreciated by the music because not as many women are doing what I do.
This way, more female students can be exposed to my work, and see electronic
music as an option.227
Conclusion
Looking at these pieces, the question comes to mind: what do these masterpieces have in
anything, diversity is the single most prominent theme throughout this paper. Masterpieces
come in all sorts of lengths, from different kinds of people, different places, all with completely
different ideas. There is, then, no defined way to making it to the quality level of these pieces.
pieces, but hopefully this paper has served to show how some of the greatest accomplishments
have been conceived and produced. I also hope that this more focused approached has served
to be more interesting than the typical temporally oriented approach to electronic music history.
226 Feller, Ross. "Various: Music from SEAMUS, Volume 17." Computer Music Journal (2008): 78-80.
227Tisano, Theresa S. "Interview with Notations 21 Composer, Kyong Mee Choi." Notations 21. http://
notations21.wordpress.com/kyong-mee-choi/
Heis, Fourteen Masterpieces of Electronic Music 39
Recommended
Highly recommended:
• Listening to the pieces.
>> What electronic music is all about.
• Holmes, Thom. Electronic and Experimental Music. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge, 2008.
>> The most comprehensive, inclusive, and focused history available on electronic music.
Includes useful timelines and recommended listenings.
Also recommended:
• d'Escrivan, Julio. The Cambridge Companion to Electronic Music. New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2007.
>> A unique article based approach, includes some topics not regularly mentioned in
electronic music.
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