Douze Inventions En Six Modes De Jeu

A 12 track electronic album (40m 26s) — released February 26th 2016 on Karlrecords

The new PERIHEL series on Karlrecords kicks off with previously unreleased material by GRM member GUY REIBEL, one of the most enigmatic figures of 20th century's electronic avant-garde. Limited edition 180gr LP (500 items) incl. DL code and liner notes by REINHOLD FRIEDL (ZEITKRATZER).

GUY REIBEL (born 1936) is one of the most enigmatic figures in the post-war electronic music scene. He started out with a double qualification: he first became an engineer and then studied composition with OLIVIER MESSIAEN in Paris, the teacher of KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN, IANNIS XENAKIS, FRANCOIS BAYLE, to name just a few…

PIERRE SCHAEFFER, the director of the GRM (GROUPE DE RECHERCHES MUSICALES at Radio France), very soon offered him to edit and work out the famous Solfège-3LP-Box that was the practical part of his theoretical manifest "Traité des objets musicaux" and to codirect the class for electroacoustic music at the National Music Conservatory.

During that period REIBEL worked intensively in the studios of the GRM. He did not only compose some milestones of electronic music, he also developed a very music-based theory of electronic music: he included his ideas of musical gesture and game theory already in the sixties long before anybody else discussed those issues.

Conflicts with other members of the GRM made REIBEL leave the group (though he was for long time considered to be SCHAEFFER's successor as the director of GRM) – instead, REIBEL toured the world as conductor of his newly founded GROUPE VOCALE DE FRANCE (who realized the first complete recordings of LIGETI's choir-work) and also took over a director's position at Radio France. Meanwhile his electronic music almost disappeared (there were only two or three LPs available on the early GRM series, later just one CD) and in some ways he became the Trotzki of the GRM who was removed from the acoustic photos of the group.

"Douze Inventions … " has been digitised at the GRM studios in december 2014 and is now finally being released for the very first time - a milestone in electronic music and a perfect example for REIBEL's musical austerity: very defined and limited musical material results in concentrated and dense forms. The unusually vital character of the music is also due to his use of hybrid sound production: he very often combined amplitude envelopes of acoustic sounds and noises (especially and very often of polysteron) on synthetic electronic sounds. A few of the pieces are even played at least partly live: TM+, the legendary first live-electronic French group, was founded in 1977 by three of REIBEL's students: DENIS DEFOUR, LAURENT CUNIOT and YANN GESLIN. They were almost the first purely electronic group that also toured Europe extensively with their analogue synthesizers.

This album documents how GUY REIBEL succeeded to compose a music that combines the density and purity of electronic music with an unbelievable sound sensuousness. A real listening experience, here released for the very first time as LP and DL!

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