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AGP115 is the
first of two devoted to the French theorist, pedagogue, and composer
Claude Ballif, who died just four years ago. Ballif's theoretical work
centered around what he called 'metatonality'--a scale containing
eleven of the twelve notes of the chromatic scale, where the missing
note preserves an element of tonality. This sounds a bit like Stefan
Wolpe's tone rows having greater or fewer than twelve notes, but that
may be only a superficial comparison. Nor can I claim myself to hear
the metatonal structure in Ballif's works transcribed for these
installments.
This week's installment features Un
coup de dés (1981), for five
choirs, two double basses, two percussionists, two kettledrums, and
electronic tape. It is, as described in the LP liner notes,
"essentially grave, still music." The choral textures remind me of
Penderecki's great sacred works, of Ligeti's Requiem, and perhaps a bit
of Tibetan Buddhist chants.
The LP transcribed is in excellent condition, with very little surface
or pressing noise, but there is some tracking distortion in the last
two minutes or so of each LP side that produces a mildly annoying
static sound in the louder passages. I tried fiddling with the
cartridge tracking force without much effect. The installment includes
a PDF file with scans of the liner notes of the two LPs transcribed for
this installment as well as next week's.
To download
AGP115 files, right-click on each of the following links and select
SAVE
LINK AS.
01 - Un coup de dés, side A
[27:43]
02 - Un coup de dés, side B
[24:24]
Liner notes
from LPs
AGP115
description
FLAC fingerprints
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