Bernard Parmegiani: Violostries (RECOLLECTION GRM)
Some brief background: initially studying to be an actor helps in appreciating the dramatic and experimental sides of Parmegiani’s work, to say nothing of his composition for film, theatre and commercial projects.
Parmegiani joined the "Groupe de recherches musicales" (GRM) in 1959 and the first side of this release documents the debut of his early mature work . Violostries was composed in 1962 for a choregraphy performed by Théâtre Contemporain d’Amiens and directed by Jacques-Albert Cartier. Though many know Violostries from the Prospective 21e Siècle LP Philips issued in 1969, this pressing is worth it for the Rashad Becker brush up, to say nothing of the two pieces on the B-side (written in 1967 and 1971).
From the one-sheet:
“‘Violostries’ (1963/64): Premiered and recorded in April 1965 at the Royan Festival -- France, by Devy Erlih (violin) and Bernard Parmegiani (sound projection). ‘Violostries’ represents the intersection of several musical research directions, presented as two simultaneous dialogues: composer/performer and instrument/orchestra. After a short introduction tutti very spatialized: ‘1. Pulsion/Miroirs’: multiplied by itself, the violin is projected into the four corners of the sound space. ‘2. Jeu de cellules’: concertante piece for violin and audio medium, the latter being made up of very tightly woven microsounds. ‘3. Végétal’: slow and invisible development following a continuous time, resulting from an internal and permanent processing of the matter.
’Capture éphémère’ (1967, 1988 version): "This work was composed in four tracks in 1967 for quadraphonic diffusion. Remixed in stereo in 1988. Premiered at the Studio 105 of the Maison de la Radio, Paris, May 1967. Sounds -- noises that circulate as time unfolds -- continue to exist despite our recording them. Breaths, fluttering wings: ephemeral microsonic sounds streaking space, sound scratches, landslides, bounces, vertigo of solid objects falling into a . . . void, multiple snapshots forever frozen in their fall. […]
’La Roue Ferris’ (1971): Premiered at the Festival des chantiers navals, Menton, on August 26, 1971. Sound projection: Bernard Parmegiani. ‘La Roue Ferris’ (Ferris wheel) spins, merging with its own resonance, stubbornly perpetuating its variations. It only sketches a regularly evolving movement around a constant axis. Each of its towers generates thick sonic layers that penetrate each other, producing a very fluid interweaving. The crackling of the origin eventually metamorphoses into sonic threads whose lightness recalls high-altitude clouds, cirrus clouds, haunted by the cries of swifts twirling in the warm air. The wondrous arises and dies off, leaving the listener with an illusion of duration.”
*We dedicate an entire section to Recollection GRM in the shop, so reach out if you are looking for other titles in that series.