40

Henk Badings: Serie Levensbeelden

1960

Netherlands

Uitgeverij Sint-Joris 105

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Mega-rare 7" 45rpm "life story" portrait of Badings made at a time when his prime fascination was electronic music, with excerpts of his electronic works in progress at the time (some never released outside of this disc!) and demonstrations of his primitive electronic sound-generators, plus the composer and others discussing his works (in Dutch). The inner gatefold contains a 15 page booklet illustrated with photos and scores (including the score for great Kain en Abel Electronische Balletmusiek).

40

Henk Badings: Cain and Abel Electronic Ballet Music (1956)

1958

Netherlands

Philips 400 036 AE

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Original 7" 45rpm with this pioneering early electronic dance music composition, a stunning succession of interlocking rhythms made up of looping microtonal melodies, droning atmospheres, and dynamically nuanced percussive noise, quite possibly the first ever "EDM" "single"! This piece contains the first ever recorded use of the technique of 'tape scratching' (i.e. like record scratching but instead done by manually moving the tape back and forth across the tape head); Badings also notes that it incorporates "new tonal systems," "extension of the pitch limits usual in instrumental music," and "rhythmic figures whose rapidity is free from the limitations of human muscular responses." The work was realized with the assistance of Philips engineers at what would become, under Badings' direction, the Philips Eindhoven early electronic music studio. "The devices used were sine-wave generators, multivibrators, noise generators, a photo-electric siren, an electronic clavichord and electric percussion instruments; sounds from mechanical sources such as battery and piano were transformed electrically. The devices used for processing the sounds included electrical filters, artificial echo producers, tape-recorders and a ring modulator."

12

Henk Badings: Genese (1958 for 5 audio-frequency oscillators in just intonation tuning system); Evolutions-Ballet Suite (1958 for tape); Capriccio for Violin and 2 Sound Tracks (1952, in microtones) / Dick Raaijmakers: Contrasts [aka Tweeklank] (1959 for tape)

1968

USA

Limelight LS 86055

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Essential early electronic compositions. Genese uses a just intonation tuning system; Evolutions is a suite of 6 short electronic pieces which range from carefully structured noise to playful pop- and jazz-influenced portions; Capriccio was one of the first attempts at combining electronic music with a live instrument, with Joke Vermeulen on violin. Closing the album is the brief but stunning Raaijmakers composition (his earliest), an "electronic play of rhythm and sound" and a masterpiece of musique concrete, made out of processed sounds of an Ondes Martenot. All of the pieces were realized at the physics laboratories of Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken in Eindhoven, Holland; Badings' works were made with the engineering assistance of the young Raaijmakers.

42

Muziek in de aula van Teylers Museum [music in the auditorium of Teylers Museum]-- Henk Badings: Uit "Reeks Kleine Klankstukken" (1954 for 31-tone Fokker Organ in selected tone systems); Sonata III for 2 violins in the 31-tone system (1967) / Anton de Beer: Instructive Sonatina (1964 for 31-tone Fokker Organ) / Hans Kox: Serenade for 2 violins in the 31-tone system (1968) / Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck: Paduana Lachrimae (16?? for organ in aeolian tuning system) / Giovanni Battista Vitali: Sonata a tre op.2 nr.6 (1667 for 2 violins and bass accompaniment)

1970

Netherlands

Stichting Huijgens-Fokker RC 227

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Ultra rare lp issued by the Huygens-Fokker Foundation Center for Microtonal Music and featuring an amazing unusual instrument, the one-of-a-kind Fokker Organ (built in 1950 by physicist Adriaan Fokker, student of Albert Einstein), which divides the octave into a scale of 31 tones and allows the creation of custom microtonal scales. These beautiful alien experimental works in non-traditional tuning systems were recorded at the Teylers Museum in Haarlem with Anton de Beer on Fokker Organ, and violinists Bouw Lemkes and Jeanne Vos.

45

Paul Beaver and Bernard Krause: Ragnarok - Electronic Funk

1969

USA

Limelight LS-86069

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Promo copy of this rare early electronic pop psych classic. These tracks, all original compositions, range from ambient atmospheres to drums/guitar/synth instrumentals to weird electronic songs with insane absurd vocals, using Moog and Buchla synthesizers, white noise generators, oscillators, walkie-talkies, samples of news broadcasts, and detuned barrel organs. With notes by Beatles producer George Martin.

34

Harrison Birtwistle & Peter Zinovieff: Chronometer (1971 for electronic tape) / Birtwistle: The Triumph Of Time (1972 for orchestra)

1975

UK

Argo Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Series ZRG 790

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Stunning musique concrete piece made out of clock sounds and realized in collaboration with EMS synth inventor Peter Zinovieff on one side, and an atonal orchestral swarm conducted by Pierre Boulez on the other.

42

Original Music For Accordion Number 2-- Hans Brehme: Divertimento In F / Longīns Apkalns: Rasmas - Invention For Accordion / Carlos Surinach: Pavana & Rondo / Hugo Herrmann: Ouverture Alla Zingarese / Dr. Edwin Avril: Toccata Moderne / Jürgen Löchter: Albanian Suite / Eberhard Ludwig Wittmer: Hirtenspiel / Alan Hovhaness: Suite For Accordion / Boris Borgstrom+Tony Mergel: Prelude For Two Accordions

196?

USA

Kaibala Records 10A02

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Private press rarity of modern accordion music with spectral composer Gérard Grisey's earliest appearance on record, here playing accordion on the Brehme. Many of these pieces were comissioned by the label for this release. Also featuring accordionists Viktors Naruns, Mario Tacca, Jürgen Löchter, Frank Hodnicki, Stanley Darrow.

7

Elliott Carter: Eight Etudes And A Fantasy For Woodwind Quartet (1950); Woodwind Quintet (1948) / Hans Werner Henze: Quintett (1952)

1969

USA

Candide CE 31016

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Nicolas De Staël art cover. Performed by the Dorian Quintet

45

Tom Dissevelt: Fantasy In Orbit - An astronaut's impressions while orbiting the Earth (1963 electronic music)

1965

USA

Philips PHM 200-189

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Original mono pressing of this Dutch early electronic avant/pop composer's first solo album, a fantastic collection of pre-synthesizer reverberating electronic soundscapes evoking spaceship cockpits and cosmic entrancement (with great mushroom-themed psychedelic cover art), occasionally drifting into strange-alternate-universe-pop territory with delicious looping baselines and jazz-like chord progressions reminiscent of his earlier Electrosoniks material with Dick Raaijmakers. Commissioned by Philips and realized at their Utrecht Studio voor Elektronische Muziek Institute of Sonology using nothing but primitive tone generators augmented by musique concrete tape manipulation techniques.

3

Everything You Always Wanted to Hear on the Moog (but were afraid to ask for)

1972

USA

Columbia Masterworks M 30383

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"A collection of orchestral showpieces performed entirely on the Moog Synthesizer, that awesome array of oscillators, filters, and amplifiers..." Densely multitracked Moog orchestrations of Spanish-influenced classical works including pieces by Chabrier, Lecuona, Bizet, and Ravel (his complete 'Bolero' takes up all of side 2), produced by Columbia engineers Andrew Kazdin and Thomas Z. Shepard.

60

Jim Fassett: Strange To Your Ears - The Fabulous World Of Sound With Jim Fassett

1955

USA

Columbia Masterworks A-1104

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Mega rare 3x7" 45rpm version of this gem exploring the weird and wacky side of early electronic tape manipulations, presenting an array of sped-up, slowed-down, reversed, cut-up, and montaged found sounds. Fassett (of Symphony Of The Birds fame) narrates this whimsical demonstration of the then-astounding capabilities of the newly invented magnetic tape recorder, showing how familiar sounds can be made to oddly sound like totally different ones, how multiple sounds from disparate locations can be collaged together to create utterly alien soundscapes, and how entire universes of sound can be derived from the most unlikely sources, with several truly bizarre moments (perhaps the most hilarious being when he attempts to pronounce his name backwards in order to hear what it sounds like when played in reverse). Highly recommended as a fascinating period document, as a trove of sound effects, and as a beautiful specimen of outsider musique concrete.

14

Jim Fassett: Hear The Animals Sing

1959

USA

Harmony HL 9506

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Bonkers tape-manipulated animal sounds kids record by this king of outsider musique concrete.

7

Ferrante and Teicher: Blast Off!

1958

USA

ABC-Paramount ABC-285

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Original mono issue of this innovative experimental pop made entirely on electronically processed prepared pianos, with an awesome space age cover. The duo used techniques derived from avant classical to treat their piano strings with found objects like rubber, wood, metal, and wads of paper, creating a strange spaced-out lounge pop, a forerunner of the Moogsploitation synth-noodling that would follow a decade later.

25

First Philadelphia Computer Music Festival

1979

USA

Creative Computing CR101

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Private issue by Creative Computing Magazine to document this 1978 festival, with selections showcasing some obscure synthesizers like the RCA COSMAC, ALF, NOTRAN, Software Technology, Newtech, Solid State, and Schertz computer music systems, playing a strangely eclectic mix of pop and classical tracks by the Beatles, Scott Joplin, J.S.Bach, Rimsky-korsakov (played backwards!), Neil Diamond, Pachelbel, Johann Wanhal, and others, using mostly early video game-like sounds. There's also an archival track by D.H. Van Lenten of Bell Laboratories, 'Synthesized Computer Speech Demonstration,' an excerpt from the Computer Speech ep originally issued in small numbers by Bell Labs in 1963.

100

Bruce Haack & Norman Bridwell: The Witch’s Vacation - Scholastic Record & Book Companion Series

1974

USA

Scholastic Audio Visual Materials 20697

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Ultra rare complete set includes 7" 33rpm record + illustrated book + outer folder. Haack contributes funky electronic background music and tons of awesome sound effects made on his homemade synth gear to go along with this zany story about a witch who uses her powers to help out some kids, written by Norman Bridwell and narrated by Indira Danks. Same recording on both sides of the record, one has page turn beeps the other does not. In the 70s, Haack did a few of these projects for educational publishing company Scholastic which ended up in school libraries and are now all but impossible to find and remain unreissued.

340

Bruce Haack & Crockett Johnson: A Picture For Harold's Room - Scholastic Record & Book Companion Series

1976

USA

Scholastic Audio Visual Materials 20795

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Ultra rare holy grail by the legendary creator of children's electronic psych! Probably the best and rarest of the Haack Scholastic releases, this one has non-stop funky electronic background music and sound effects made on Haack's homemade synth gear (even the page turn signal is an awesome synth noise) to go along with the classic story about a kid's imagination as he draws a picture and lives inside of it, written by Crockett Johnson and narrated by Glenn Kezer. This complete set includes the 33rpm 7" + illustrated book + folder cover. Same recording on both sides of the record, one has page turn beeps the other does not. In the 70s, Haack did a few of these projects for educational publishing company Scholastic which ended up in school libraries and are now all but impossible to find and remain unreissued.

20

Lejaren Hiller: Algorithms I Versions I & IV (1968 for computer-generated electronic tape and instrumental ensemble) / Lukas Foss: Paradigm (1968 for instrumental ensemble with live electronics) / Elliott Schwartz: Signals (1968 for trombone and contrabass)

1970

Germany

Deutsche Grammophon Avant Garde 2543 005

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Hiller's innovative piece incorporates an electronic tape part realized on an Illiac II computer and was composed on an IBM 7094 computer using complex randomization algorithms. The electroacoustic Foss work features George Ritscher on live electronics. Also with Petr Kotik, Jan Williams, and James Fulkerson.

3

American Brass Music-- Charles Ives: From the Steeples and the Mountains; Song for Harvest Season; Chromatimelodtune / Alvin Brehm: Quintet for Brass / Henry Brant: The Fourth Millennium / Peter Phillips: Music for Brass Quintet

1969

USA

Nonesuch H-71222

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With Anthony Plog and Russell Kidd, trumpets, Robert Henderson conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic Trumpet Section, Ladd Thomas, organ, Ken Wolfson, bassoon, Sharon Davis, piano.

18

Andre Jolivet: Concerto for Ondes Martenot and Orchestra (1955); Concerto for Harp and Chamber Orchestra (1955)

1974

USA

MHS 1079

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Jolivet conducting first recordings of his own works, the highlight of which is the avant garde Ondes Martenot Concerto, with the proto-synthesizer keyboard played by Jeanne Loriod. This is a different, earlier recording than the better known later issue on Westminster/Vega.

28

Marcel Landowski: Concerto (1954 for ondes Martenot, string orchestra and percussion) / Jacques Bondon: Kaleidoscope (1957 for ondes Martenot, piano, and percussion)

undated

USA

Musical Heritage Society MHS 988

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Rare gem with 2 obscure mid-century avant garde works showcasing the ondes Martenot early electronic keyboard instrument, with Bondon conducting the Orchestre de chambre de musique contemporaine, and Jeanne Loriod as Martenot soloist.

250

Alexander Laszlo & Samuel Hoffman: The Secret Music Of China OST (194? for orchestra with Theremin)

1947

USA

Columbia c-172

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Stunning condition original 4x10" 78rpm bound set of this early Theremin ultra rarity by innovative soundtrack/library composer and early electronic music enthusiast Laszlo (known also for his This World Tomorrow lp with Vincent Price), with uncredited Samuel Hoffman playing the early electronic instrument to mimic Chinese folk instruments on several tracks in this proto-exotica album. The music is adapted from a stage production and mixes in background sound effects and Cantonese dialog giving it a sort of sound collage/radio-play feel creating a portrait in sound of postwar China, "tone pictures of eight of the many aspects of China in its fascinating mixture of delicacy and brutality, light and shadow, exquisite loveliness and ugly poverty."

34

The Min-On Contemporary Music Festival '79 & '80-- Teruyuki Noda: Mutation Op. 18 (for shakuhachi, koto ensemble, and orchestra) / Shin Sato: Sinfonia III (for orchestra) / Yoshio Hachimura: Sakuran-No-Ronri (for piano and orchestra) / Kurodo Mori: Groom Is Gloomy (for orchestra) / Yoshiro Irino: Symphonia (for orchestra)

1980

Japan

Camerata CMT-3004-5

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Hard to find 2lp of live recordings of avant garde Japanese orchestral music featuring traditional Japanese instruments, conducted by Tadaaki Otaka.

24

John Pfeiffer: Electronomusic - 9 Images-- Warm-Up, Canon and Peace (For Inharmonic Side-Band); Reflection of a String (For Contraformer); Drops (For Programmer and Sines); Moments (Events for Parametric Blocks); Take Off (For Metric Transperformer); Forests (Modes for Alphormer and Set); Pavone (A Duotonic Transform); Orders (For Sequential Sines); After Hours (For Ordered Simpliformer)

1968

USA

RCA VICS-1371

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Little-known experimental early electronic works created by this veteran RCA Living Stereo producer in his own private studio. These studies in sound patterns are endearingly primitive, with recurring melodies and repetition against abstract soundscapes (sometimes bordering on proto-minimalism). The highlight is the great After Hours, a musique concrete collage of sounds from "the modern business office". Pfeiffer's goal is to use "musically organized sound built from electronic technology" to "order the sensory being to re-form time, space, and their occupants."

35

Tony Schwartz: A Popular Photography Presentation - Tony Schwartz On How To Record The Sound Of Children PLUS 6 Of His Celebrated Sound Essays

1967

USA

Capitol Custom [private pressing, no cat#]

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Rare original private pressing later reissued on Folkways. Aside from the instructional title track, most of this lp is taken up by the 6 "sound essays", which are fantastic audio documentary sound collages on various childhood-related subjects, full of unique sound effects and plenty of crazy 1950s rambling children! "Children And God" is an especially amusing montage of clips of NYC children talking about their views on religion ("I always pray right before I get a beatin'..."). "Nancy Grows Up" is a renowned radio piece that compresses recordings of the first 13 years of the life of Schwartz's niece into 2 minutes.

28

Kazimierz Serocki: Continuum (1966 for percussion) / Valentin Silvestrov: Mystères (1964 for alto flute & percussion) / Michel Puig: Provisoires Agglomérats (1966 for speaker, female voice, choir, and percussion)

1969

France

Philips Prospective 21e Siècle 836 992 DSY

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Experimental percussion pieces performed by Les Percussions De Strasbourg on this entry in the legendary Prospective 21e Siècle series with original gorgeous reflective metallic cover.

3

The Sound Of Sounds

undated

USA

Directional Sound DS 5013

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Sound effects album with jets, trains, race cars, nature & animals, etc.

25

Morton Subotnick: Until Spring (1975 for Buchla Electric Music Box)

1976

USA

Columbia Odyssey Modern American Music Series Y 34158

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Promo copy of this beautiful experimental electronic work realized on a unique synthesizer designed by Donald Buchla in collaboration with the composer; it features an array of abstract and rhythmic synth noises, with some nifty bouncing ball-type effects.

35

Ernst Toch: String Quartet Op.70 (1946); String Trio Op.63 (1936)

1959

USA

Contemporary Records Composers Series M 6005

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Impossible to find unopened original! With the Zurich String Quartet and the Vienna String Trio performing under the supervision of the composer.

38

Bertram Turetzky, Contrabass-- Donald Erb: Basspiece (1969 for bass and electronic tape) / Netty Simons: Silver Thaw (1971 for 1-8 players); Design Groups #1 (for percussion); Design Groups #2 (for 2 players) / Josep Maria Mestres-Quadreny: Divertimento "La Ricarda" (for bass, flute, clarinet) / Will Ogdon: By The Isar (for bass, alto flute, soprano)

1970

USA

Desto DC-7128

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Rare showcase for the great experimental bassist Turetzky performing avant garde serialist and aleatoric graphic notation works, in beautiful unopened condition! Erb's piece has the bassist performing with a tape with 4 tracks of electronically processed bass sounds.

16

Vladimir Ussachevsky: Piece For Tape Recorder (1956) / Ussachevsky+Otto Luening: A Poem In Cycles And Bells (1954 for tape recorder and orchestra); Suite From "King Lear" (195? for tape recorder) / William Bergsma: The Fortunate Islands (1947-56 for string orchestra)

1957

USA

CRI 112

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Essential pioneering electronic works from the earliest period of American experimentation in the medium, featuring lush abstract atmospheres of heavily reverberating tape-manipulated piano, flute, percussion, and vocal sounds as well as purely electronic tones, all realized at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center (this original 1957 pressing is probably the earliest commercial release of work from that studio). Suite From King Lear, "a howling ascent of grotesque and noise-infused chords with splashes of impressionistic color," was made to accompany an Orson Welles stage production. A Poem In Cycles And Bells adapts the earlier tape pieces Sonic Contours and Fantasy In Space into a larger orchestral work that is one of the first ever to have "the tape recorder used as a solo instrument."

5

Adolph Weiss: American Life scherzoso jazzoso (1929 for orchestra) / John Alden Carpenter: Krazy Kat (1921 for orchestra) / Henry F. Gilbert: The Dance In Place Congo (1908 for orchestra) / John Powell: Rhapsodie Negre (1917 for piano and orchestra)

1977

USA

New World NW 228

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Beautiful art cover by the Synchromism painter Morgan Russell on this lp of early 20th century classical influenced by jazz and African American folk, including an avant garde piece by Schoenberg's first American pupil Weiss. The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra performs with Calvin Simmons and Lawrence Foster conducting and pianist Zita Carno.

3

Spectrum New American Music, Volume II-- Stefan Wolpe: Chamber Piece No.1 (1964) / George Rochberg: Serenata d'estate (1955) / Seymour Shifrin: Satires of Circumstance (1964)

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USA

Nonesuch H-71220

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With the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble under Arthur Weisberg featuring Paul Zukofsky, Jan DeGaetani, Gilbert Kalish, John Swallow.

39

Iannis Xenakis: Persephassa (1969 for six percussionists)

1971

France

Philips Prospective 21e siècle 6521 020

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Rare original reflective silver foil cover issue (one of the most beautiful of the Prospective series) of this experimental percussion work performed by Les Percussions De Strasbourg and named for a Greek goddess, inspired by the mathematics of the cycles of the cosmos and by the mythological sounds described as the "thunder of the gods." It features a new percussion instrument invented by the composer called Simantra, made out of metal and wood and inspired by ancient Greek instruments. According to Xenakis' notes, "The piece exploits in a new manner the Screen Theory or the logical functions of residue classes modulo m, together with space-sound kinematics."

27

Isang Yun: Compositions 3-- Muak (1978 for large orchestra); Piece Concertante (1978 for ensemble); Sonatina (1983 for 2 violins)

1985

Japan

Camerata CMT-4014

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Rare Japan-only collection of works by this underrecorded Korean experimental composer, featuring Saschko Gawriloff, Akiko Tatsumi, and Hans Zender.