Various ‘Inventionen II’

01 Takehito Shimazu Zytoplasma (10:55)
02 Boguslaw Schaeffer Maa’ts (9:55)
03 Rolf Enström Fractal (22:22)

Total time 43:12
LP released on Edition RZ, 1985

Take a look at Berlin’s 1984 Inventionen Festival’s program and you realise how consistent the choices of organizer Robert Zank were: NY sound artist Yoshi(masa) Wada; Montreal’s electro-acoustic improvising group Sondes; François Bayle and Bernard Parmegiani from INA-GRM; composers from South America and Sweden. The works on this LP were showcased and sometimes premiered during the Festival’s 2nd edition, hence the ‘Inventionen II’ title. Takehito Shimazu (b.1949) is a Japanese electronic and computer music composer whose works have been well received in Europe. His track ‘Zytoplasma’ is build on a constant electronic drone, growing in pitch and intensity for the first 7 minutes. It will be the basis to a rigid grid of electronic bleeps and buzzes, an evocation of a primary soup growing in intensity and diversity, starting with simple sound cells morphing into more complex sonic organisms (white noise, sort of). Thanks to its fine synthetic sounds, varied textures and un-hurried pace, the piece is a joy to listen to. Boguslaw Schaefer was featured on vol. I already – please refer to previous post for info. Composed at Stockholm’s EMS studios by Swedish Rolf Enström (b.1951), ‘Fractal’ was premiered at Inventionen ‘84. It is an ambitious electroacoustic composition based on processed sounds from classical instruments as well as synth and computer parts. The inspiration apparently comes from processed photos. The music is purely electroacoustic with great care to timbre: sounds are included for their timbral properties, mostly like musical objects under the scrutiny of the composer. To no surprise for an Edition RZ LP, sound quality is very good, appropriately for this kind of music. Is this reason enough not to reissue it on CD? – I wonder.

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