Russian early electronic Artemiev+Denisov+Schnittke+ lp

$

106

Musical Offering: Soviet Composers Perform Their Works On Synthesizer ANS-- Edward Artemiev: Mosaic (1968); Twelve Looks at the World of Sound (1970) / Alfred Schnittke: Stream (1969) / Edison Denisov: Birds' Singing / Sofiya Gubaidulina: Vivente-non Vivente / Oleg Buloshkin: Sacrament. Melodiya C60 30721 000

Fantastic and extremely scarce Russian gatefold lp from 1991 (pressed in small numbers just as Melodiya was phasing out vinyl) containing stunning early electronic works composed entirely on the innovative ANS Synthesizer photoelectronic instrument during the 60s and early 70s. This rare lp is the only release of these recordings on vinyl. Inventor Eugeny Murzin designed the ANS in 1938 (naming it after composer Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin), but he was not able to fully realize its construction until 1958, when he established a studio and began commissioning composers. The ANS generates sound via an additive synthesis method adapted from the photo-optic sound recording technology used in film. It is capable of producing 720 pure tones (allowing for microtonal scales of 72 notes per octave) and requires the composer to literally draw sound waves onto a graphical score, a "coding field" in the form of a glass plate (a not-so-compact disc) that is fed into the machine after it has been physically scraped and smeared by the composer to create the desired sounds. The ANS also features a keyboard for controlling its 20 bandpass amplifiers and a joystick for controlling tempo. The actual music on this lp is superb and truly lives up to the hype of the elusive Russian early electronic music you may have heard of but never had a chance to listen to; it compares to the greatest electronic music and musique concrete from this period, abounding in alien, reverb-soaked microtonal soundscapes showing the influence of Russian-American Vladimir Ussachevsky or Oskar Sala's trautonium work. Apparently these compositions were originally met with repression by the Soviet government and labeled as too elitist/avant garde, which is why they only began to be heard internationally after the collapse of the USSR (aside from on a few 60s and 70s Russian film sound tracks); over the years they have acquired a well-deserved legendary status. Only one ANS was ever constructed (it is still used today by a small group of composers at Moscow State University, and was recently used by industrial group Coil). Includes extensive notes in Russian and a few short paragraphs in English. Some filler from the English notes: "Please, try to imagine a score sounding by itself without a conductor, orchestra even without musical instruments. This magic is possible by using musical synthesizer 'ANS'... a composer can not only create but even draw his music... You can see twinkling of different lamps, rotating of figured discs made of glass. Notes are cut on a glass disc covered with a special layer. The drawings on the glass are 'sounding notes.' To listen to the drawn picture you should press the button and a wonderful transformation will begin. The engraving will transfer into music..."

Artemiev is an electronic composer known for his film scores (the ANS Synthesizer is featured prominently in his soundtracks to the great Andrei Tarkovsky films Solaris and Mirror) as well as his later Tangerine Dream-influenced prog-rock experiments; he studied under Yuri Shaporin. Gubaydulina studied under Nikolay Peyko and Vissarion Shebalin, associated with Shostakovich, and founded the folk-improv group Astreja. Denisov studied engineering before music and was influenced by Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Luigi Nono, and Pierre Boulez. Schnittke worked as a film composer, studied with Yevgeny Golubev and Nikolai Rakov, and associated with Webern disciple Phillip Herschkowitz. This record needs to be heard by anyone interested in early electronic instruments and composers like Oskar Sala and his trautonium, Robert Moog, Donald Buchla/Morton Subotnick, Clara Rockmore and the Theremin, John Eaton and the Syn-Ket, Olivier Messiaen and the ondes Martenot, the Ondioline, Raymond Scott, Bruce Haack, Henry Cowell, Hugh Le Caine, Percy Grainger, Herbert Eimert, Gottfried Michael Koenig, Bulent Arel, Otto Luening, Edgard Varese, John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Walter/Wendy Carlos, Tom Dissevelt, Dick Raaijmakers, Pierre Schaeffer, Luc Ferrari, Francois Bayle, Pierre Henry, Jean-Jacques Perrey, Gershon Kingsley, Tod Dockstader, etc., as well as the tradition of microtonal composers like Harry Partch, Ivan Wyschnegradsky, Lou Harrison, La Monte Young, Ben Johnston, Easley Blackwood, Glenn Branca, Alvin Lucier, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, Charles Ives, Alois Haba, Julian Carrillo, James Tenney, Rhys Chatham, etc.

Vinyl Condition: nm- (beautiful, looks barely played)
Cover Condition: vg+ (light ring wear and light general wear on front and back)

I have another Schnittke lp for sale. Check out my other auctions this week for more avant garde/experimental, early electronic/electroacoustic, 20th century classical, minimalist, atonal, microtonal, free jazz, Moog and other early synthesizers, and sound lps.











Shipping will be 3.85 for 1-2 single records for media rate to US destinations, then 0.50 for each additional (expedited shipping and insurance is also available on request). Elsewhere shipping 1 lp to Canada by airmail is 6.50; Western Europe/UK/Scandinavia is 6.85 surface or 11.85 air; Japan/Australia is 7.00 surface or 13.50 air; other international destinations vary. Combine multiple items to save on shipping.

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