Episode 144

Chapter 06, Analog and Digital Synthesis Basics, Part 1. Works Recommended from my book, Electronic and Experimental Music 

Welcome to the Archive of Electronic Music. This is Thom Holmes.

This podcast is produced as a companion to my book, Electronic and Experimental Music, published by Routledge. Each of these episodes corresponds to a chapter in the text and an associated list of recommended works, also called Listen in the text. They provide listening examples of vintage electronic works featured in the text.

The works themselves can be enjoyed without the book and I hope that they stand as a chronological survey of important works in the history of electronic music. Be sure to tune-in to other episodes of the podcast where we explore a wide range of electronic music in many styles and genres, all drawn from my archive of vintage recordings.

There is a complete playlist for this episode on the website for the podcast.

Let’s get started with the listening guide to Chapter 06, Analog and Digital Synthesis Basics, Part 1 from my book Electronic and Experimental music.

Playlist: Early Experiments and Synthesizers

Time

Track Time

Start

Introduction –Thom Holmes

01:40

00:00

1 Halim El-Dabh, “The Expression of Zaar” (alt. title Wire Recorder Piece) (1944). Middle East Radio, Cairo. Composed using a magnetic wire recorder.

01:53

01:40

2 Hugh Le Caine, “Dripsody” (1955). Canada. Using Le Caine’s special purpose tape recorder.

02:00

03:30

3 Josef Anton Riedl, “Folge von 4 Studien” (1959). Siemens Studio für Elektronische Musik.

02:35

05:30

4 Milton Babbitt, “Ensembles for Synthesizer” (1961– 63). Using RCA Mark II Electronic Music Synthesizer

10:41

08:06

5 Mauricio Kagel “Antithese” (1962). Siemens Studio für Elektronische Musik.

09:22

18:46

6 Konrad Boehmer, “Aspekt” (1966).  State University Electronic-Music Studio, Utrecht.

15:15

28:08

7 Pauline Oliveros, “I of IV” (1966). University of Toronto Electronic Music Studio. Using Hugh Le Caine’s tape loop system.

25:29

43:34

8 Alice Shields, “Study for Voice and Tape” (1969). Columbia– Princeton Electronic Music Center.

05:14

01:08:52

9 Charles Wuorinen, Time’s Encomium (1968– 69). Using RCA Mark II Electronic Music Synthesizer.

30:47 

01:14:06

10 Douglas Leedy, “Entropical Paradise I” (1970). Side 1 of three-LP set. Six “sonic environments” using the Buchla Modular Electronic Music System and Moog Modular Synthesizer at UCLA.

20:09

01:44:55

Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.

My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022.

See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.

For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.

Original music by Thom Holmes can be found on iTunes and Bandcamp.