Eliane Radigue

loved this bit from that interview:

I ’ve been working alone
for so much of my life. My only assistant
has been my cat .
I would always know something was wrong
when she made a face , but when she was
very quiet I’d just carry on .

my cats approved of transamorem btw

reissue of geelriandre / arthesis on senufo editions is out.

'arthesis' sounding particularly lovely to me right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwNIJa6Dexs

http://boomkat.com/vinyl/565809-eliane-radigue-feedback-works-1969-1970

frustrating to have this be another vinyl-only release when even the boomkat samples have crinkly vinyl noise, even though the music still sounds great under the pops. they've got to put out a CD of this + jouet electronique.

http://www.electrocd.com/en/cat/oral_57/
https://soundcloud.com/experimedia/eliane-radigue-psi-847-album?in=experimedia/sets/exp-new-march-14-2013

“The performance of Ψ 847 is about to begin. Once again, Radigue has employed one of her favoured sound dissemination tricks: directing the banks of loudspeakers not toward the audience, but toward the building… The soundboard is at the rear of the house, and Marchetti will be playing the tapes from there. Radigue is in a seat, like any other audience member. There will be nothing to see, no one on stage, no visual distractions. But what happens when you listen to this music? What sensations, feelings or thoughts emerge? Obviously, any drone-based music generates, first of all, a physical experience… You must give in, abandon yourself, forget about trying to figure out whether three minutes or an hour have elapsed. This is… truly an experience of slowness. A rare moment for which you must prepare, and be in the right condition (no need to meditate, or try to achieve a trance state, either: a little concentration will suffice!)… Once you’ve accepted the loss of physical bearings, you can then attempt to grasp Radigue’s compositional talent: locating motifs that modulate and transform at varying intervals; appreciating the evolution, the appearance of a new movement, or, as in the case of Ψ 847, the insensible dissolution of the music.” —Thibaut De Ruyter, Berlin (Germany), 2012

The Wire, Issue 180, February 1999
Eliane Radigue: Death Becomes Her (extracts) By Julian Cowley

During the 1950s, Radigue drew her first substantial nourishment as a composer from the innovations of musique concrete. Previously, she had played the twelve tone game, but found it unfulfilling. Then, while working as Pierre Henry's assistant, she chanced upon electronic feedback effects. "I was absolutely fascinated," Radigue remarks in a telephone interview, "not only by the sounds but by their behavior. With the tape recorders of that period, a little defect could bring interesting results. I found this garbage of sounds very expressive."

... Radigue embarked on her own course, turning her attention to synthesizers which allowed easier building of the sounds she required. An ARP analog synthesizer has remained her chosen means to make music, although for 25 years her style has been Minimalist. PSI 847 was her breakthrough piece - for the first time her musical conception was closely matched in execution over 80 minutes of sustained, gentle sound.
"The duration was just a matter of the necessary time I had to go through in order to reach what was my real goal," she explains, "which is still my goal, a very slow changing process within the sound itself. Something which is not external to the sound." She feels that the nature of her chosen synthesizer's modular system grants her "access within the flesh of the sounds".

played each disc once, right out of the mailer about three weeks ago. the first disc, the concert recording, is remarkable. incredibly high fidelity for a room recording. it's only at the first cough, about 20 minutes in, that you get a sense of the room's huge dimensions, and that it dawns on you that there are hundreds of people in that room silently listening to the piece.

the second disc is the direct transfer of the tape; the first disc was so intense that I don't think I gave it as much of a chance. sometime soon.

ordered this today - can't wait to listen!

have only had a chance to listen to the first disc so far but I'm already thinking that this is going to end up as one of my favorites in her catalog. "intense" is definitely a good way to put it - the piece really becomes very immersive as it pares down, sounds begin to overlap, and everything sssssssstretches out.

anyone ever hear feedback works 1969 - 1970 btw? too rich for my blood.

This thread is making me wish I had an extra $300

>feedback works 1969 - 1970

it's good, it's tape-saturated & noisy. not meditative, very full on. it's got a mixed version of 'Vice Versa' (as much as I enjoy the archival CD presentations that simply give you separate tracks of each ingredient on different discs so you can mix them yourselves, I also enjoy hearing examples of realized performances)

I've read a review or two online complaining of Radigue fatigue after the last few years of never-before-released early pieces, but yes I do get the impression everything was sort of building towards a good edition of 'Psi 847' coming out. The later pieces have soothing moments, this one is just intense raw consciousness

personally I can't really complain about the deluge since I haven't heard anything I'd consider a dud yet. but 847 seems special.

and thanks for the info on feedback works. you've definitely piqued my curiosity.

Naldjorlak I, II, III, anyone?

It's fantastic. Radigue really knows how to write in her own voice for acoustic instruments now.

The first disc is still Charles Curtis, doing a new performance of Naldjorlak I, which came out on the same label a few years ago; still the same structure but a very different piece now that he's been touring with it for a few years. I saw him play it in SF about two years ago at The Lab; he played it unamplified in a mid-sized room, and encouraged everyone to huddle around him as closely as they could sit. Most of the piece is extremely quiet, and everyone in the room had to keep quiet to listen.

The piece is basically Curtis bowing various points across the entire length of his cello, largely the strings but not always the strings; he works his way up, then all the way down. The piece climaxes when moves to playing the metal peg stand, which surprisingly makes an incredible high pitched pulsating sound. It actually sounds a lot like 7.5 ips reel to reel tape delay feedback, once the original signal has disintegrated entirely into oscillating white noise; in other words, it sounds a lot like her earliest feedback works. Which is really something.

hah, MP beat me to it. here's what I was about to post:

I have to spend some more time with them (it's a lot of music!) but my impression is definitely favorable. I'd been avoiding the naldjorlak material because I thought I wouldn't be as interested in radigue working outside an 'electronic' context... but I felt a little silly about that after hearing this set. different instrumentation but working towards similar goals. I don't think you'll be disappointed if you're already a fan.

Thought it would be great just through Curtis' involvement in it.

Feels like the first record of the year I need to get hold of.

You can hear Charles Curtis, Rhodri Davies, Robin Hayward and Dafne Vicente-Sandoval performing some recent Radigue pieces in this selection (the first of four) from the recent Tectonics Festival in Glasgow. Worth a listen, imho.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05vgxvt

Sorry, I should say, you WILL be able to hear... after Saturday the 16th.

The Radigue pieces were extremely quiet and the audience was not, so it will be interesting to hear if some of the egregious coughs have been edited out.

http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/specials/2015-eliane-radigue-feature/

great article -- wasn't aware that schaeffer and henry were chauvinists but it is not surprising.

Thanks for posting!

Tx!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVAM_O7Z2y8

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DAWBuyzPwvg

rhodri davies doing occam i a week or two back was a gorgeous thing

trilogie d'la mort on has been on repeat for the past two weeks while i read / sleep / do yoga etc

and sit and eat chocolate and nuts like i'm doing right now.

finally accepting orders: http://www.shiiin.com/shiiineer1.php

also, Issue #1 of Blank Forms has published Ian Nagoski's 1998 interview with Radigue originally intended for the cancelled Halana #5, and it is a particularly interesting interview. whole issue solid, Amacher cover story too.

http://blankforms.org/magazine/

second volume is Occam Océan for Orchestra

the slow bank into the final third is a sound I haven't really exactly heard

New to this, 'Trilogie De La Mort' is just amazing. Which one do I check out next, or is it simply "all good"?

she's consistent, though each work is just distinct enough so everyone has different favorites. so the 14 CD INAGRM box that came out last year can't be beat.

there are now three distinct periods, feedback (1960~1970), synthesizer (1970~2005), acoustic (2005 onward). the box covers the synth period minus 'Transamorem - Transmortem'. The Alga Marghen label put out three compilations of the early works, 'Feedback Music' is a good start, the two 'Occam Océan' CDs are probably the place to start with the acoustic.

Been listening to Geelriandre / Arthesis on YouTube as I was considering buying the vinyl reissue on Important Records. Does anyone know if it comes with a download? I’m suspecting it doesn’t.

Just picked up the Adnos trilogy. Looking forward to diving in later.

have been mesmerised by Occam Ocean 2 today.

Eliane Radigue is the motherfucking bomb y'all forever in my heart and soul

Aw :) Which one(s) are you turned on by atm?

I listen to Trilogie a *lot*

extremely powerful music

It's mindblowing stuff.

agreed all around, her work is monumental. and recently read this book, and would recommend.

https://www.lespressesdureel.com/EN/ouvrage.php?id=7465

Interesting indeed. And I had no idea Les presses du réel published English-language material.

book is fantastic, Eckhardt gets her to go into detail on every single piece. lots of insights into early inspirations and the early feedback / pre-synth work. and lots about Occam Océan 2 for orchestra, which she does the same way she writes for individuals - she meets with every single member of the ensemble for at least a day, has them demonstrate their instrument and she builds up from there

still playing Occam Ocean 2 a lot. there isn't anything like it. in a sane world there'd be reviews.

I think the only place I saw it reviewed was on an obscure free jazz blog

That book looks great

There is so much going on in her work in such a subtle way

I feel like listening to it in my kitchen on my hundred quid speakers is not doing it right. Can only dream of kitting out the Rothko Chapel with a state of the art sound system and listening to it full welly!

in my tentative and unschooled opinion music actually doesn't get any better than Eliane Radigue

yeah for real

Trilogie is one of my top discoveries from the ambient albums poll

Some fool obviously didn't think much of "Jetsun Mila" so I picked it up secondhand for less than a fiver. Sweet!

To be accurate, the couriers did their job two weeks ago, it was Holloway Post Office who "couldn't find it" and claimed till they were blue in the face that they'd never received it in the first place.

Yeah I went to that place once, never again! Good to know The Drone lives to fight another day though.

This Sunday:

https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/contemporary/eliane-radigue-exploring-occam-rhodri-davies-friends/

Preceded by:

https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/contemporary/gavin-bryars-at-80/