Link to the Show / Show Notes
Full episode 025 to follow later this week.
Listen to Edgar Varese’s (1883-1965) “Poème Electronique” .
Imagine it’s the World Expo 1958 and you are visiting the Philips Pavilion where strange sounds fill the air.
All they had back then were tape (reel) recorders and some tone generators to produce this poem.
from Wikipedia :
For the performance, 425 loudspeakers, placed at specific points in Le Corbusier's Philips Pavilion were triggered to sound at specific intervals (as a result, the performance never sounded exactly the same in any specific location).
Poème électronique is the first, electronic-spatial environment to combine architecture, film, light and music to a total experience made to functions in time and space. Under the direction of Le Corbusier, Iannis Xenakis' concept and geometry designed the World's Fair exhibition space adhering to mathematical functions. Edgard Varèse composed both concrete and vocal music which enhanced dynamic, light and image projections conceived by Le Corbusier. Varèse's work had always sought the abstract and, in part, visually inspired concepts of form and spatial movements. Among other elements for «Poème électronique» he used machine noises, transported piano chords, filtered choir and solo voices, and synthetic tone colorings. With the help of the advanced technical means made available through the Philips Pavilion, the sounds of this composition for tape recorder could wander throughout the space on highly complex routes
Enjoy,
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