Musicworks #30 ‘Sound Constructions’

01 Gordon Monahan ‘Introduces The Issue’ (:05)
02 Logos Duo ‘Pneumafoon’ (2:13)
03 Moniek Darge ‘Timeframes’ (1:56)
04 Godfried-Willem Raes+John Oswald ‘Cracklebox’ (1:23)
05 Paul Panhuysen+Johan Goedhart ‘Snareninstallaties’ (6:22)
06 Leif Brush ‘Music from Trees, Icefloes and Other Natural Phenomena’ (7:00)
07 Richard Raymond ‘Introducing the Aeolian Harp’ (:33)
08 Richard Raymond, Leif Brush, John Oughton, Thaddeus Holownia ‘Aeolian Harps + Windribbon mix’ (18:47)

Total time 38:10
Cassette+journal published 1985, Toronto, Canada

As usual for this Canadian series of journal+cassette, Musicworks #30 is focusing on specific aspects of sound art, namely instrument builders and music interacting with the environment, according to the teachings of R. Murray Schafer. The issue, appropriately titled Sound Constructions, was curated by Gordon Monahan and engineered by John Oswald in his own Mystery Tape Laboratory. Included in the articles and tape are composers already featured on this blog (Leif Brush, Moniek Darge and Godfried-Willem Raes), so that I feel pretty much at home with this release. On a personal note, I’d gladly put myself under the tutelage of Murray Schafer rather than John Cage’s. The story of Musicworks was detailed in a previous post on Musicworks #29.

Musicworks #30’s b side is dominated by a massive aeolian harps mash up with a few ‘windribbon’ inputs courtesy of Leif Brush. Enchanting, out of this world sounds flowing endlessly around the speakers. Contributors to this mammoth droning piece include Richard Raymond and Thaddeus Holownia. The latter collaborated with Gordon Monahan building the extraordinary Long Aeolian Piano (see here) first installed on the Holownia farm in New Brunswick, 1984 where Holownia lived with wife Gay Hansen, Biology teacher at the Mount Allison University, Sackville, N.B. Long Aeolian Piano was recorded on the B side of the self released ‘Speaker Swinging’ LP, 1987. Leif Brush is featured on this tape with an overview of his self built, solar- or wind-powered instruments with interspersed comments by the composer. Wonderful musique concrete sounds thanks to close miking and careful electronic treatments.

The Logos Duo (Moniek Darge and Godfried-Willem Raes) present their Pneumafoon sound sculptures, pictured on the front cover above, self build instruments powered by inflatable cushions. The 6 pages interview with Logos is included in the donwload file. Raes and John Oswald present Cracklebox, a pocket-sized analog synth designed by Michel Waisvisz, both composers toying around and commenting on the device’s possibilities. Generally speaking, there’s a lot of fun going on the A side, an usual feature in avantgarde music. Dutch sound artist Paul Panhuysen (b.1934) is famous for his long string installations, a variety of which is presented here by sound excerpts. In 1981, Panhuysen founded Het Apollohuis in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, arguably the first venue for sound art in Europe, which closed its doors in 2000.

Donwload from here or here.

Previously on Continuo’s:
- Musicworks #26 >
- Musicworks #28 >
- Musicworks #29 >
- Musicworks #37 >
- Moniek Darge >
- Godfried-Willem Raes >
- Leif Brush >