Just after Pierre Schaeffer had founded the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM) in 1959, Bernard Parmegiani became a member of it. It was a collective of composers, who represented the »musique concrète«, far away from traditional instruments and sounds. Additionally, they helped popularizing elctro-acoustic music, probably one of the reasons why Editions Mego have created a whole sub-label for the group last year. Recollection GRM’s third record includes two tracks by the 75-years-old composer Parmegiani, who is said to be one of the most influential representatives of acousmatic music, dealing with sounds without an audible origin. The track »L’Œil écoute« (ie. »the eye is listening«) was created in 1970 and originally served as part of a video with the same name. At the beginning, the sounds are still very familiar and concrete: trains rattle, bees hum, radio-channels skip; this is how far our own experience allows us to recognize the sounds. After about one third of the 19-minutes-track (there was a CD in 1997 with a 25-minutes-version – what happened to those six minutes?), it drifts of into the unknown. From now on, the listener is on his own and has to create individual pictures in his head, has to learn how to listen again. The track »Dedans-Dehors« on the b-side is from 1977. In its 22 minutes playing time, it contrasts natural with artificial sounds. There are more or less audible references to the elements water, fire, earth and air, created as a natural metamorphosis, liquid, solid, gaseous, all in one movement. And in between, you’ll hear birds singing. It is a bit like a phoenix burning in the glow of the morning sun at sunrise, only to rise again straight away from its own ashes. »Dedans-Dehors« is pure mythology and gets its power from that very source – thankfully, this music can now be purchased again, remastered on vinyl.
David Rosenboom
Future Travel
Black Truffle