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RADIGUE, ELIANE — In Memoriam-Ostinato / Danse des Dakinis
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"Alga Marghen presents the last chapter from the Feedback Works documentation series, a brand-new LP including "In Memoriam-Ostinato" and "Danse des Dakinis", two previous unreleased tracks by Eliane Radigue. Among the works of fixed duration from the feedback period, "In Memoriam-Ostinato" is the link between "Jouet Electronique" (ALGA 029LP) and "Opus 17" (ALGA 045LP), and allows you to understand the evolution of her approach. "In Memoriam-Ostinato" is a game of mirroring symbols which glide into a non-measured, bent and elastic, temporality. Eliane Radigue's working method and her aesthetic direction are evident in this work from 1969: her very own unique temporal space of sonic experiences. Even though it bears the same name as the third part of "Adnos III", "Danse des Dakinis" is a peculiar work in Eliane's oeuvre. Conceived in a short time, with all kind of tapes from the composer's past work, it fluently shows a kaleidoscopic vision of Radigue's sensibility for sound. In 1998 she put together a curious self-portrait in sound. There is a feedback ostinato conceived around 1969 and which refers to "In Memoriam-Ostinato" and "Opus 17". All through "Danse des Dakinis" you plunge into the sound of a creek recorded at Mills College campus that brings you back to the field-recordings from the beginning of the 1960s, made on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Such elements construct "Elemental1" (ALGA 029LP) as well. There are also some discreet interventions on the ARP 2500 synthesizer. It is indeed a peculiar work, which doesn't have the same features of her other compositions, especially at that time of her compositional path. There is an explanation for the composer producing this kind of sound material in 1998, and not limited to the sound waves of the ARP synthesizer. Invited to a workshop at Mills College in 1998, Eliane Radigue could not load herself down with her bulky instrument on such a trip. So, she left with just a few tapes taken from her own collection, drawn from different periods, and composed "Danse des Dakinis" with those old elements. There is tension in this composition, a certain wildness, an unpredictability of elements, those which are recognized as fundamental elements, which give structure to the universe. "Dance des Dakinis" is an intimate and wild symphony, alive and unpredictable, which is to be the next-to-last gesture of the composer before completely stopping her work with electronics." [label info]
"There is no artist, working in the contemporary field of experimental sound, that is more important than the French composer liane Radigue. She is a shining light, who, for more than half a century, has quietly blazed trails with a body of work that is as creatively visionary as it is sublime. Back in the 2010s, Alga Marghen launched a crucial archival series, dedicated to some of Radigues earliest and previously unavailable works, many predating her first LP, 1983's Songs of Milarepa, by more than a decade. Having already delivered four LP of this material, they return with their fifth and final instalment in the series, In Memoriam-Ostinato / Danse des Dakinis. Perhaps the most fascinating of the group, the first work was composed in 1969 in the period between the creation of two of her earlier works comprised within Alga Marghens initiative, Jouet Electronique and Opus 17, while the second draws on material recorded during the 1960s and then further intervened with, Danse des Dakinis was conceived and created in 1998 by Radigue as a self-portrait in sound. Absolutely essential on every count, we couldnt think of a better place for this series to end, further illuminating the remarkable beginnings of one of our greatest living composers in truly eye watering ways.
Born in 1932, liane Radigue began her musical endeavours in Paris during the late 1950s and early '60s, working under Pierre Schaffer and Pierre Henry, before quickly outstepping her mentors. Initially working predominantly in tape, during the early 1970s she made the radical switch to modular synthesis, beginning a decades long exploration of the ARP 2500 that drew on her practice as a Buddhist and pushed the notions of musicality endlessly forward, taking the entire landscape of experimental sound with her through a series of sonic mediations that bound life and art.
During the early 2000s, Radigue set aside her synth, embarking upon a hiatus from music, before taking the unexpected step of beginning to compose works with and for acoustic instrumentalists. By the the early 2010s, this new phase in her career had begun to emerge as the sprawling work, Occam Ocean series, arguably bringing her more acclaim and adoration than any other point in her long career. Fittingly, it was during roughly this same moment, beginning with Jouet electronique, that Alga Marghen embarked upon their archival series dedicated to Radigues earliest and previously unavailable works, offering a unprecedented and much needed sense of dimension to the breadth of her career. Followed in rapid succession by Feedback Works, Vice-Versa, etc, and Opus 17 - each mining the period when the composer worked predominantly with magnetic tape - its been nearly a decade since the last LP appeared, making the emergence of their final instalment in the series. In Memoriam-Ostinato / Danse des Dakinis, that much more sweet.
Comprising two free standing works, the first, In Memoriam-Ostinato, foreshadows the pacing that would soon come to define Radigues unique approach to composing sound. Measured and slow, it is an immersion into an extending state of contemplation, manifested in organizations of sound; a game of mirroring symbols that bend and elongate time, inviting the ear to get lost. As Radigue recounts: This piece was commissioned for a Happening, Mmorial. It was a sort of secular procession to the castle of Verderonne, a beautiful place. The pools bordering the edifice were lit, and everyone was dressed or draped in mauve. It terminated in one of the grand salons of the castle where I played In Memoriam-Ostinato.
While considerably more concise than many of the durational works through which Radigue would come to make her name, the 23 minutes that make up In Memoriam-Ostinato are not encompassing or lacking in depth. Where it differs is within the presence of slighter darker temperament and mood. Across the works length, low rumbles of textural noise form a bedrock - feeling a bit like the death knell of dying electronics - into which strange, warbling tones of feedback pulse and dance with a palpable sense of tension. Like so much Radigues work over the years to come, In Memoriam-Ostinato actively obscures a consciousness of the artists hand. It's so elegant and risk laden, that were it encountered by chance, without context, it might be perceived as the generative form of an abandoned radio station within an alien landscape.
Rounding out the collection and not to be confused with the third part of Adnos III, which bears the same name, Danse des Dakinis is quite possibly the only work of its kind in Radigues remarkable body of work. Drawing on a wealth of tapes she created during the 1960s, the work was created in 1998 as a kind of self-portrait in sound; a kaleidoscopic vision of Radigue's sensibility for sound, a memoir, and a hall of mirrors prismatically reflecting the multiples sides of self. The piece, because of the many phases in her career from which it draws, is a fascinating hybrid that uses field-recordings from the beginning of the 1960s, made on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and capturing the sound of a creek recorded at Mills College campus, feedback elements from 1969, as well as later interventions on her ARP 2500 synthesizer.
Standing outside her larger body of composition, while intrinsically bound to it, Danse des Dakinis nods toward the dakini, a female deity in Vajrayana Buddhism or a female demon in Hinduism, establishing a curious bond between wrathful female forms and the elements of nature which double, in Buddhism - a central force in Radigues life and work - as the absence of ego or mental obstacles, where nature itself is revealed. Here, once again, we encounter the composer in a darker meditative state, weaving the sounds of nature into those of her Arp and feedback to create a complex internal world that blurs the lines between abstraction and raw emotion, electronics and organic sounds.
Its hard to not feel a little bitter sweet about the long overdue emergence of liane Radigues In Memoriam-Ostinato / Danse des Dakinis. On one hand, its a truly incredible and deeply illuminating body of work. On the other, it signals the end of Alga Marghens decade long immersion into the composers crucial, previously unreleased body of feedback works from the 1960s. Still, we couldnt think of a better way to end than here. Its one of the most intriguing and engaging of the group. Absolutely fantastic from the first to the last." [Soundohm]
"There is no artist, working in the contemporary field of experimental sound, that is more important than the French composer liane Radigue. She is a shining light, who, for more than half a century, has quietly blazed trails with a body of work that is as creatively visionary as it is sublime. Back in the 2010s, Alga Marghen launched a crucial archival series, dedicated to some of Radigues earliest and previously unavailable works, many predating her first LP, 1983's Songs of Milarepa, by more than a decade. Having already delivered four LP of this material, they return with their fifth and final instalment in the series, In Memoriam-Ostinato / Danse des Dakinis. Perhaps the most fascinating of the group, the first work was composed in 1969 in the period between the creation of two of her earlier works comprised within Alga Marghens initiative, Jouet Electronique and Opus 17, while the second draws on material recorded during the 1960s and then further intervened with, Danse des Dakinis was conceived and created in 1998 by Radigue as a self-portrait in sound. Absolutely essential on every count, we couldnt think of a better place for this series to end, further illuminating the remarkable beginnings of one of our greatest living composers in truly eye watering ways.
Born in 1932, liane Radigue began her musical endeavours in Paris during the late 1950s and early '60s, working under Pierre Schaffer and Pierre Henry, before quickly outstepping her mentors. Initially working predominantly in tape, during the early 1970s she made the radical switch to modular synthesis, beginning a decades long exploration of the ARP 2500 that drew on her practice as a Buddhist and pushed the notions of musicality endlessly forward, taking the entire landscape of experimental sound with her through a series of sonic mediations that bound life and art.
During the early 2000s, Radigue set aside her synth, embarking upon a hiatus from music, before taking the unexpected step of beginning to compose works with and for acoustic instrumentalists. By the the early 2010s, this new phase in her career had begun to emerge as the sprawling work, Occam Ocean series, arguably bringing her more acclaim and adoration than any other point in her long career. Fittingly, it was during roughly this same moment, beginning with Jouet electronique, that Alga Marghen embarked upon their archival series dedicated to Radigues earliest and previously unavailable works, offering a unprecedented and much needed sense of dimension to the breadth of her career. Followed in rapid succession by Feedback Works, Vice-Versa, etc, and Opus 17 - each mining the period when the composer worked predominantly with magnetic tape - its been nearly a decade since the last LP appeared, making the emergence of their final instalment in the series. In Memoriam-Ostinato / Danse des Dakinis, that much more sweet.
Comprising two free standing works, the first, In Memoriam-Ostinato, foreshadows the pacing that would soon come to define Radigues unique approach to composing sound. Measured and slow, it is an immersion into an extending state of contemplation, manifested in organizations of sound; a game of mirroring symbols that bend and elongate time, inviting the ear to get lost. As Radigue recounts: This piece was commissioned for a Happening, Mmorial. It was a sort of secular procession to the castle of Verderonne, a beautiful place. The pools bordering the edifice were lit, and everyone was dressed or draped in mauve. It terminated in one of the grand salons of the castle where I played In Memoriam-Ostinato.
While considerably more concise than many of the durational works through which Radigue would come to make her name, the 23 minutes that make up In Memoriam-Ostinato are not encompassing or lacking in depth. Where it differs is within the presence of slighter darker temperament and mood. Across the works length, low rumbles of textural noise form a bedrock - feeling a bit like the death knell of dying electronics - into which strange, warbling tones of feedback pulse and dance with a palpable sense of tension. Like so much Radigues work over the years to come, In Memoriam-Ostinato actively obscures a consciousness of the artists hand. It's so elegant and risk laden, that were it encountered by chance, without context, it might be perceived as the generative form of an abandoned radio station within an alien landscape.
Rounding out the collection and not to be confused with the third part of Adnos III, which bears the same name, Danse des Dakinis is quite possibly the only work of its kind in Radigues remarkable body of work. Drawing on a wealth of tapes she created during the 1960s, the work was created in 1998 as a kind of self-portrait in sound; a kaleidoscopic vision of Radigue's sensibility for sound, a memoir, and a hall of mirrors prismatically reflecting the multiples sides of self. The piece, because of the many phases in her career from which it draws, is a fascinating hybrid that uses field-recordings from the beginning of the 1960s, made on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and capturing the sound of a creek recorded at Mills College campus, feedback elements from 1969, as well as later interventions on her ARP 2500 synthesizer.
Standing outside her larger body of composition, while intrinsically bound to it, Danse des Dakinis nods toward the dakini, a female deity in Vajrayana Buddhism or a female demon in Hinduism, establishing a curious bond between wrathful female forms and the elements of nature which double, in Buddhism - a central force in Radigues life and work - as the absence of ego or mental obstacles, where nature itself is revealed. Here, once again, we encounter the composer in a darker meditative state, weaving the sounds of nature into those of her Arp and feedback to create a complex internal world that blurs the lines between abstraction and raw emotion, electronics and organic sounds.
Its hard to not feel a little bitter sweet about the long overdue emergence of liane Radigues In Memoriam-Ostinato / Danse des Dakinis. On one hand, its a truly incredible and deeply illuminating body of work. On the other, it signals the end of Alga Marghens decade long immersion into the composers crucial, previously unreleased body of feedback works from the 1960s. Still, we couldnt think of a better way to end than here. Its one of the most intriguing and engaging of the group. Absolutely fantastic from the first to the last." [Soundohm]