In this week's episode we explore the life and philosophies of one of the world's first sound sculptors and pioneers of Musique Concrète, Pierre Henry.

After studying with Nadia Boulanger and Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatory, Pierre Henry took a job at Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française under the leadership of Pierre Schaeffer. Schaeffer had already begun cutting and reorganizing recorded sounds before his young protégé came to join him at RTF, but their collaborations were richer than either of them could conceive themselves.

Musique Concrète was a complete recontextualization of music. Instead of arranging pitches and rhythms for instruments, they arranged and manipulated recorded sounds. Sonic collage, if you will.

Composers in the Western Art Music realm had already introduced the use of recorded sounds in their compositions for a while. Ottorino Respighi used a gramophone in his epic Roman Trilogy: a recording of a nightengale's song is played at the end of the Pines of Gianicolo of 1924 (in THIS recording, you can catch it at the 5:54 mark). On the more experimental side, John Cage's Imaginary Landscapes No. 1 of 1939 features the live manipulation of two variable speed turntables. To understand how that might work, check out this performance from the Collezione Maramotti.

 

 

But it was the advent of magnetic tape that really changed the game.

It wasn't just the two Pierres who were experimenting with recorded sound manipulation. Egyptian composer Halim El-Dabh was manipulating the sounds he recorded on cumbersome wire recorders in the mid-1940s. Daphne Oram was the pioneering British voice, working with both Concrète techniques and synthesized sounds in that decade. She even spent a stint with the Pierres at RTF in the early 1950s.

It was, however, the two Pierres who, with choreographer/dancer Maurice Béjart, who showed us how to listen. The Symphonie pour un homme seul completely revolutionized the relationship of sound and movement. It's totally fascinating. Check it out.

 

 

After Schaeffer's death in 1955, Henry continued to propel the legacy forward with adventures in sound in the progressive rock world. By that point, however, tape technology had become so much more accessible. These sounds of the space-age infiltrated popular music and opened up a world of production technology that is still evolving. From the quirky Ultra-Lounge movement of the late 1950s to the Beach Boys' iconic Pet Sounds of 1966 and beyond, Pierre Henry illuminates the catalyst of how plastic music was moulded. I present to you The Art of Sound: a charming biopic about Henry's journey as a pioneer in listening from 2007 directed by Éric Darmond and Frank Mallet.

 

 

Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode of Mid-week Musicology here on Classic107.com!