Francis Dhomont (photo by Inés Wickmann) Dhomont's Forêt profonde

Of all demanding music (you remember, that's the topic of this monthly column?), electroacoustic music is often considered to be the most difficult type, and also the most misunderstood. I will try to clear things up a little in this "Electroacoustic 101" lesson.

It's all semantics, right?

The first problem one encounters is in the terminology. Electroacoustic music was first developed and theorized in France. Words and expressions like "musique concrète", "électroacoustique" and "art acousmatique" are often mistaken for one another while their English counterparts don't always bear the same meaning. To decipher it all, let's ask one of the prominent people in the field, Jean-François Denis, owner of the leading electroacoustic label Empreintes DIGITALes: "In 1950, (Pierre) Schaeffer 'discovered' a new way of thinking music. Because the compositional work was done directly with the result (raw sound is treated in studio, on tape, instead of on staff paper), therefore the process was concrete (while instrumental music asks for abstraction from the composer in order to imagine what the piece will sound like) and Schaefer named it 'musique concrète' (concrete music)."

The term "acousmatics" was reactivated by François Bayle in 1970 and describes music heard without being able to see where it originates. The distinctions between "acousmatics" and "musique concrète" are more historical than stylistic. In French, "electroacoustics" supercedes them both as the generic name of a musical genre where a composer works with sound treated in the studio and fixed on tape. The English conception of this word leads more toward a recording technique which includes both acoustic and electronic parts, but I will use the term in its "genre" acceptation.

"Seeing" electroacoustic music

Electroacoustic music is not music in the traditional sense and it never was intended to be. It's not something you listen to while washing dishes, working on a term paper or building a soap box car in the garage (although the latter might give interesting results). The composer doesn't aim at a melody-and-accompaniement form. The electroacoustician shapes sound in the same way a sculptor shapes wood, stone or metal. He takes raw sound sources (their choice often relates to his conception of what the piece will stand for/mean) and manipulates them via studio techniques in order make them say something they were not meant to -- ultimately disguising them, making them impossible for the listener to recognize. Listening to an electroacoustic piece is like studying a sculpture from every angle...or like "watching" a sound movie, hence the expression "cinema for the ear".

Depending on the piece, the best way to listen to electroacoustic music is with headphones (some are better with loudspeakers), lights down and even eyes closed, with minimum disturbance and interruption. The goal is to let yourself be surrounded by the sound. Of course, these are not the kind of tunes you will listen to repeatedly. But the experience is really worth a try and when you stumble upon a piece that talks to you, you will find yourself going back to it regularly.

Essentials

Keeping the list short, here are a few essential listenings for beginners -- yes, that means easy start-ups. Of course I could (and should) list a few titles by Pierre Schaefer and Pierre Henry, the pioneers of the genre, but their availability on the market is unstable. Let's just say that Henry's Variations pour une porte et un soupir (Variations for a door and a sigh, 1963) is a classic, although it didn't age very well. Personaly, I also really like his La noire à soixante + granulométrie (1968).

But I want to draw your attention to more recent and easier-to-locate titles. Some composers have a way of staging "cinema for the ear" that will take you like a good drama. Francis Dhomont is the best. His art is subtle, works on many levels and retains a human touch often lacking in more sterile composers, but most of all is very poetic. It all makes it a great place to start. Forêt profonde (Deep Forest, 1996, Empreintes DIGITALes) is a stunning 60-minute piece built on fairy tales and their psychanalytical meanings. Snatches of conversations, and people reading stories in many languages, are embodied in the work and give it an eerie feeling, especially when listened to on headphones (there are people talking all around you). If you must hear only one piece of electroacoustic music, it has to be this one. Another fantastic Dhomont title is Sous le regard d'un soleil noir (Under the eye of a black sun, 1982, re-issued 1996 on Empreintes DIGITALes). Stretching the metaphor of the "cinema for the ear", this one is an Exorcist-type horror movie based around schizophrenia.

More and more, composers are trying to free electroacoustic music from the frame of academic work and link it to more vital live settings. The French duo Kristoff K.Roll (Jean-Christophe Camps and Carole Rieussec) has achieved interesting results with "live" electroacoustics interacting with an instrumentist (clarinetist Xavier Charles). This can be heard on La Pièce (released 1999 on the French label Potlatch). Kristoff K.Roll also have a beautiful "traditional" CD on Empreintes DIGITALes, Corazon Road; it's a "journey for the ear" through Central America. I must also point out West Coast clarinetist François Houle's Au Coeur du litige (2000, Spool Records), a breathtaking 2-CD set based on the 1998 Ice Storm, in which he succesfully blends prepared electroacoustics, live electroacoustics and a free improv rock quartet.

In any case, try it. But don't approach this music as ordinary verse-chorus-outro music. It's not music -- it's sound sculpture.