The Polish Radio Experimental Studio, one of the pioneering experimental institutions in the world, established in 1957 and slowly fading away in the 2000s, is nowadays of much interest not only to academics but more broadly, to contemporary lovers of avant-garde. Despite a gradual eclipse of its native setting at the Polish Radio, the Experimental Studio’s activities are revived in many concerts, editions, research projects, and celebrations of retired composers.
In 1962 in the compact premises of the Studio, the Black Room was constructed, a visionary design by Oskar Hansen of a compositional workshop, with custom-designed racks, tools, acoustic treatments, and colour scheme. Its square shape was enhanced with a quadraphonic sound setup. However, there only a few quadraphonic compositions were created in the Studio, joined by quadraphonic versions of stereophonic originals recomposed in foreign electronic music centres. For the Soundscapes From Poland project, we searched the Polish Radio Archive to unearth some analog tapes and present them to you, mindful that the spatial aspect of music is of special value to sound art.
Bohdan Mazurek, Epizody (1973) 8'15''
Krzysztof Knittel, Resztki (1978) 10'55''
Andrzej Bieżan, Miecz archanioła (1980) 8'30''
Eugeniusz Rudnik, Mobile2 (1972) 11'40''
Quadraphonic versions produced by the composers. Co-producer: Maria Budzich-Szreder. Quadraphonic version produced at the Sveriges Radio, presented by permission, with acknowledgments to Elektronmusikstudion EMS. All compositions are presented by permission from Polish Radio JSC.
Istanbul's Center for Advanced Studies in Music (MIAM) opened its doors in 1999, and since that time has become a focal point for different forms of electronic music making and sound art in Turkey. In recognition of this trend, composer Reuben de Lautour and sound artist Anıl Çamcı established the first specialised program in Sonic Arts in Turkey at MIAM in 2012. In this program of works for live electronics they are joined by MIAM composer and sound engineer Pieter Snapper.
Absent - Present (2013), 6', piano and electronics, Reuben de Lautour
Temas (2014), 10', live electronics, Anıl Çamcı
A Harp Full of Nails (2012), 10', live electronics, Pieter Snapper
Paweł Hendrich is a collaborator of Sławomir Kupczak, the composer behind the Chopin installation, and he authored the Max/MSP implementation of this sound work. Himself a composer and guitarist, he will be joining an improv session with the MIAM students. As Kupczak, Paweł is linked to Wrocław’s Computer Composition Studio, where significant effort is devoted to controlling sound matter with usual, non-usual, and repurposed devices. The improv session will complement Paweł Hendrich’s earlier workshop.
Edited by E.M. 28/04/2014.