Arcane Candy

A member of the GRM since 1960, Ivo Malec was professor of composition at The Paris Conservatoire from 1972-1990. Over the years, he has composed orchestral, instrumental, vocal, stage and electro-acoustic works, plus mixed-media efforts combining instrumental and electro-acoustic music. This 2-CD set—spanning from 1961 to 1993—is a big and impressive overview of his career. “Doppio Coro” (1993) was originally intended for organ and magnetic tape, but turned into an 18-minute solo organ affair after the tape was misplaced. It was a redeemable loss, however, as these monolithic slabs of stark, scary and dramatic organ work prove. The title “Artemisia” (1991) is “an affectionate reference to that secret, exemplary woman, Artemisia Gentileschi,” a 15th century painter and “one of the first women to have supported, through her words and her works, the recognition of an intellectual equality of the sexes.” It’s filled with bouncing concrète notes, various shimmering and spiraling electronics, abrupt echoing sounds, totally hectic chirp collages and quietly percolating electronics with occasional explosions.

“Triola” or “Symphonie Pour Moi-Même” (1977-78) is a 33-minute work in three parts: The invigorating “Turpituda” squeals obnoxiously straight off and continues likewise with a beautifully ugly pulse beat topped with squeaking electronics. A particularly insane unfurling occurs from 1:10 to 1:11—continuing with many more electronic farts, oscillating feedback, descending whistling and shimmering electronic fabrics, noisy collage and reverb crying, and even some very François Bayle-like echo-shift patterns into a turbulent, abrupt ending. “Listening at a very, very high volume, it takes some bearing—but instead of resisting with the ears alone, we must open our whole bodies and listen through all of our pores.” “Ombra” sports a more relaxed realm with its muted electronic sputter, shimmering echoes, sudden squeaks and organ note blasts that segue into a quiet ending—almost silent—with barely audible echoes. In “Nuda” a playful female voice recites the title (with a little giggle) at various times while many ringing electronics, quiet crackles, and incessant beeping pave the way for louder electronic shimmers and drones. Some quiet tapping follows, only to shift many times between outbursts and silence, giggles and electronic whines.

The astounding “Cantate Pour Ellle” (1966) jerks in and out of various delicately quiet and horrendously outbursting sections with piercing, trained opera vocals, precise avant harp pluck and rude interjections of corroded, electronic tape sounds. This track is far better than it needs to be, and it’ll stand forever as a really awesome piece of 20th century music. “Week-End” (1982) is broken up into two parts. “Cloches Proches Et Lointaines” is “steeped in the ambiguous, strangely brooding and sometimes sorrowful atmospheres of certain walled-in Sunday afternoons.” It offers up another dark, droning electronic mist with myriad echo pulsations, plus bursts of corrosion and distant whistling. In “à Wagner,” “waves of immense and grave sounds, complex layers shrouded in harmonics, and exaltation of majestic sound can only have one conclusion: a break, which occurs—indeed brutally—during the last two minutes when the music topples into its other black and subterranean dimension. One then understands why this movement stands as a humble tribute to the one whose music will always remain a source of admiration and profound amazement to me.” This track is a bit on the louder side with shimmering, proto-Organum electronics and more layers of deep, buzzing abstraction turning abruptly quiet with low pulsations.

“Luminétudes” (1968) is made of turbulent concrète and electronic oscillations over a quiet drone with totally inconsiderate interjections. Some giant, buzzing shavers then attack, followed by a long, quiet drone with flitting electronics, ending with more collage explosions. “Reflets” (1961) was composed “at the end of the GRM’s first composition course and is a study limited to sounds in their original form arranged in a scheme that was set and rigorous. But to get out of the narrow spirit of the study—and in a desire to create an atmosphere of constant scintillation—the author chose sounds related in character by vibration, quivering, oscillation and granulation.” This is a short two-and-a-half-minute piece in which many beads and glass balls are heard rolling, rubbing, squeaking and echoing with electronic shimmers and crackly strings amid more transformational collage work. In “Dahovi” (1961), “the sound material—which is very limited and often resembles breathing—tries to express itself more by it’s own variation or multiplication than by the addition of new elements.” This piece is yet another nice, distant drone with a popping atmosphere and heavy breathing throughout—not to mention major string plucks and manipulation.

“Lumina” (1968) opens with very urgent string action from 12 violins, then mellows with tape echoes. Some loud, bustling activity follows with an intense, neuron-firing climax. More quiet string plucks end the piece. “Its success may be attributed to a certain ‘balance’ that has been attained between these two heterogeneous partners: the magnetic tape and the instrumental ensemble. We might say, therefore, that in ‘Lumina’ the tape does not overshadow the instruments, for the sounds it produces are very streamlined, delimited, graphic. And conversely, the instruments do not relegate the tape to the background like some sort of décor. It sets forth clearly articulated ‘sound events.’ Balance, yes, but I think that far from being a passive balance, a peaceful co-existence, it’s an active balance, an oscillation—with the keen feeling that an imbalance is always possible.”—Michel Chion

Label: INA-GRM Catalog Number: INA C 2006-2007 Format: 2-CD Packaging: Double jewel case Tracks: Disc 1: 5, Disc 2: 7 Total Time: Disc 1: 71:14, Disc 2: 64:08 Country: France Released: 1995 Related Artists: Francois Bayle, Luc Ferrari, Bernard Parmegiani, Pierre Schaeffer More: Discogs, Music Web

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