Electroacoustic
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I’ve written in the past about how, all these years after John Cage’s “4’33”,” the most radical idea in music continues to be the complete lack of it. Quiet music can be equally powerful. File Thembi Soddell’s new five-piece disc Love Songs under the latter category. The Australian sound artist and electroacoustic composer has produced…
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These four new compositions from Serbo-Croatian artist Manja Ristić serve as both delicately assembled soundscapes and environmentalist anthems. Entitled simply “Summer,” “Autumn,” “Winter” and “Spring,” Ristić has delivered a deeply touching album. Born in Belgrade in 1979, Ristić is a violinist who has branched out into composition and research/curatorial work in electroacoustic, improvisational and experimental…
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The 24-piece Splitter Orchester has teamed up with The Pitch for its third disc. Frozen Orchestra is one single work that runs exactly 60 minutes. Described in its notes as “a very slowly moving field of harmonic relationships consisting of so-called pitch sets, which are augmented by noise sets,” it features a titanic, haunting performance.…
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Whenever I bring home a new piece of audio tech, I search for the right recording to road test it with. As excited as I am to own the latest whatever, I’m almost always let down by the first thing I press play on. The music doesn’t so much disappoint as fail to really push…
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While not often counted among his greatest works, Iannis Xenakis’ Persepolis deserves a prominent place in the history of electroacoustic music. This relentlessly abrasive musique concrète composition was premiered in 1971, in celebration of the 2,500th anniversary of the ancient Persian city of Persepolis. Serving as a ceremonial capital for the Achaemenid Empire (the earliest…
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Alt Empordà, which sits on the northeastern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, is best known internationally for its Dali Theatre Museum. Visitors can find many of Salvador Dali’s original works there. In January, the picturesque comarca was slammed by an EF2 category tornado with winds as high as 180 km/hr. Damage was reported in Cistella,…
The Moderns 