Provocative Electronics

Fanfare & Raga for Bassoon & Tape

Provocative Electronics
Electronic Constructions On Traditional Forms
By Professor Emerson Meyers & Associates
Electronic Music Laboratory
The Catholic University Of America

Art Direction: Peter Wharf

Photography: Fred Moore

Design: Christopher Wharf / See Hear! & How!
Westmenster Gold WGS8129
1970

From the back cover: Rhythmus is receiving its premiere on this disc. Composed in April, 1970, it is a study of perpetual moving rhythmic complexities in toccata form. Its construction is completely electronic; even the occasionally punctuating "bells" are synthesized. None of the other timbres are meant to remind one of orchestral instruments through it would be quite compatible to imagine certain section being performed on them.

Excitement dates from 1968 and is a wry comment upon the futility of becoming excited unless one know what the outcome will be.

In Memoriam for soprano and tape, was composed in 1965 for Katharine Hansel to sing at a concert given in connection with the annual meeting of the American Society for Aesthetics held in January 1966, in Washington, D.C. The soprano sings a poem by Wilfred Owen while (seemingly0, many voices recite the same text. The recitation, as it happens, was recorded entirely by Mrs. Hansel then multiplied, dubbed and treated in an electronic music studio.

Chez Dentiste was composed in Brussels on a portable Moog synthesizer especially constructed for Emerson Meyers to use during his 1967-68 sabbatical year. The piece is written as the narrative of a man who, having a most painful toothache, decides to go to the dentist. Naturally, the closer he gets to that office, the less the tooth aches. In the waiting room he is entered by the nurse and then must listen to the sounds coming from the inner room while awaiting his turn. Only a brief conversation with the dentist precedes the low and high-speed drilling. The ordeal over things end happily with a peaceful – and relieved quiet major chord.

Moonlight Sound Pictures (Excerpts) was composed at the request of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., to provide a background of sound to an exhibition of works produced for the National Aeronautics and Space Agency entitled the Artist In Space. Originally scheduled to be heard only on the opening day of the exhibition, December 6, 1969, the sounds were so successful that arrangements were made to play them throughout the exhibition period with ended January 4, 1970. It is estimated that Moonlight Sound Pictures was played 4176 times during that period. Since then, the Voice of America has broadcast segments of it during 36 different language programs.

Moonlight Sound Pictures begins with electronic simulation of the sounds of a rocket on tis pad, engine ignition, lift-off and fading into space. A peaceful view of earth and the beauty and wonder of the firmament are expressed in sound as are also portrayed the small particles seen through the windows of the command module but one always is aware, in the background, of the string binding the astronauts to earth – communications. This piece is constructed upon a fragment of the requiem mass "Dies Irae." Originally thirty minutes in length, Moonlight Sound Pictures is here present in a capsulized version which preserves its highlights.

Fantasia for Organ and Tape was composed by Haig Mardirosian in 1969. The performance on this disc was recorded at the First Union Methodist Church of Hyattsville, Md. on an M.P. Mooler organ of 68 ranks with the composer at the console. Written as a project in electronic composition at The Catholic University, Haig Mardirosian's Fantasia for Organ and Tape represents an effort to unite both media into a cohesive sonic hole while retaining the unique identities of the electronically generated and organ sounds. Although the overall desired effect was one of a virtuoso piece with massive sound and much motion, the compositional process yielded a fundamental three-part form based upon a handful of motivic units. These units were composed electronically at the outset. From them both tape and organ portions were simultaneously written employing techniques of motivic transformation and elaboration. These units were organized according to timbre, density and energy and used where required., in whatever combinations, to create tension and repose. The primary units are accompanied by broader spectrum of sound, in the tape, "fields" of color or bands of pitches; in the organ, clusters of precisely notated pitches. All notation in the organ score is exact. All registration is exactly specified. The organist is allowed freedom only in the interpretation of the spatial rhythmic motion of the freer section of the Fantasia.

The use of the organ is somewhat unorthodox. Ad the key action has always been considered the "playing mechanism", here the stop action and mechanical registration aids are also considered a way of "playing" the instrument.  Certain timbral effects unique to the organ are exploited: The Messiaen-like polarity of manual 16' pitches against the stations; the subtle color possibilities of sustaining a note and adding or retiring stops; the versatility of the pedal division in providing high as well as low pitches. 

Intervals I received its title from a series of paintings by Claire Ferriter and was constructed to accompany an exhibition of those paintings in June, 1969 in Washington, D.C. Intervals I represents the quieter paintings while Intervals II (not included on this disc) represent the more active ones. Both musical representations explore the vertical and linear relationships of 6 sets of pitched intervals and in various transpositions. The intermodulation electronically (which some might call distortion) of these intervals is purposefully employed. This piece was the classical "alpha and omega" idea of form.

It is subtitled "Hommage á Debussy."

Fanfare and Raga for Bassoon and Tape was composed by Frank Heintz in January, 1970, as a project in tape music composition without using laboratory facilities. Mr. Heintz, deeply interested in ethnomusicology and an expert bassoonist, decided to combine those interests to produce this piece using microphones, tape recorders and the bassoon. All sounds in this piece originated from that instrument. To achieve some of the sounds, a small microphone was lowered inside the bassoon.

The Electronics Music Laboratory of The Catholic University of America had its beginnings in 1961 when Professor H. Emerson Meyers assisted by one of his graduate piano students, Richard Lockhart, used recording equipment of the then Department of Music to experiment with mystique concréte. From these small beginnings and following Meyers' visits to the major electronic music centers on this continent and in Europe, the laboratory has grown to be one of the finest on the East Coast. It revived its first Moog Synthesizer units in 1964 and now has over 40 of them – with more to be added soon.

Teaching in the field of music produced by electronics began in 1964 and now three courses are offered to students including an introductory course open to all students. Facilities of the laboratory are available to established composers and the laboratory has collaborated with television, film and radio producers.

Rhythmus
Excitement
In Memoriam For Soprano and Tape
Chez Dentiste
Moonlight Sound Pictures
Fantasia Of Organ
Intervals
Fanfare and Raga for Bassoon and Tape