The legend of musique concrète innovator Pierre Schaeffer lives on through his influence, his work, and the organization that he founded after its predecessor was tarnished by Philippe Arthuys throwing crazy parties whenever Schaeffer was away on international work trips. Schaeffer established the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM) in 1958 in response to a renewed desire to attract “young composers” interested in electroacoustic research, and several of those sprightly students went on to create huge bodies of work that challenge our notion of what constitutes “music” even today. The general public might not think of “concrète” when they consider their personal definition of “musique”, but folks like François Bayle and Bernard Parmegiani nonetheless persisted (across decades) with their quasi-scientific approach to creating pieces that, by design, pushed established compositional boundaries.
Now, Paris-based Transversales label is sponsoring two new releases on October 12, and both consist of previously unreleased songs from the aforementioned acousmatic aficionados. Mémoire Magnétique, Vol. 1 (1966 – 1990) contains “commercial and secret music” from Parmegiani, and the time period indicated is reflective of when the former mime collaborated with numerous filmmakers as manager of the “music image sector” of GRM. He also composed for radio and TV during these years.
Electrucs!, meanwhile, contains music from François Bayle’s unpublished archives, and with the exception of “Marpège,” a piece dedicated to Parmegiani, the included works all come from what a press release describes as his “Acousmatic composition period” (1973-1980). Bayle actually served as the head of GRM beginning in 1966; and even though he left the outfit in 1997, he’s still around, experimenting and performing. (In fact, thank Bayle should you ever witness a gnarly acousmonium in person!) For now, pre-order the releases here and here and pre-liberate your mind by listening to some sample tracks below.
Mémoire Magnétique, vol.1 (1966-1990):
A1. Indicatif pour l’émission “Stade 2” - 1990.
A2. “La guerre des insectes” - 1980.
A3. “L’herbe rouge” - 1985.
A4. “Je tu elles” - 1969.
A5. “Versailles…peut-être” - 1977.
A6. “La guerre des insectes” - 1980.
A7. “Opération Ypsilon” - 1987.
A8. Image de marque - extrait - 1973.
A9. “L’herbe rouge” - 1985.
B1. “La ville en haut de la colline” - 1968.
B2. Image de marque - 1973.
B3. “Abel-Abeth” - 1990
B4. “La guerre des insectes” - 1980.
B5. “Versailles…peut-être” - 1977.
B6. “La ville en haut de la colline” - 1968.
B7. “Récession” - 1966.
B8. “Versailles…peut-être” - 1977.
Electrucs! (1974-2018):
A1. sophistication - 2’44
A2. train noir - 2’17
A3. voltage stomp - 1’48
A4. crépuscule - 2’32
A5. quadrille - 1’38
A6. arpegiatto - 1’17
A7. mélodie zèbre - 1’25
A8. saccades - 1’50
A9. la « chose » - 1’58
A10. ennemi intime - 3’07
Cinq dessins en rosace (1973):
B1. rosace 1 – 1’53
B2. rosace 2 - 2’33
B3. rosace 3 - 3’27
B4. rosace 4 – 2’19
B5. rosace 5 – 3’27
B6. Foliphonie - 3’30 (1974)
B7. Marpège - 3’15 (1995)
More about: Bernard Parmegiani, François Bayle
