Metamorphosis / Linear Contrasts [Import]

Ussachevsky (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 13, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Composers Recordings
• ASIN: B00000IMER
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #216,545 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Metamorphosis

2. Linear Contrasts

3. Wireless Fantasy

4. Of Wood And Brass

5. Computer Piece No. 1

6. Two Sketches For A Computer Piece

7. Three Scenes From The Creation: I - Prologue: Enuma Elish

8. Three Scenes From The Creation: II - Interlude

9. Three Scenes From The Creation: III - Epilogue: Spell Of Creation

10. Missa Brevis: Kyrie

11. Missa Brevis: Sanctus

12. Missa Brevis: Benedictus

13. Missa Brevis: Agnus Dei

Editorial Reviews

Vladimir Ussachevsky is chiefly remembered as a pioneer in composing music for tape and as a co-founder with Otto Luening of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, but he is somewhat less recognized for his vocal and instrumental music. Fortunately, Ussachevsky's work is fairly well represented by this 1999 CRI release, because the program presents some of his experiments in musique concrète from the late '50s through the 1960s, as well as two choral works from the 1970s. Fans of early tape music will find Metamorphosis (1957), Linear Contrasts (1958), Wireless Fantasy (1960), and Of Wood and Brass (1965) to be classics of the genre and rather easy to approach for their clear gestural style, atmospheric sonorities, and transparent textures. -All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars tape music pioneer, November 25, 2000

By 

"katja_r" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Metamorphosis / Linear Contrasts (Audio CD)

I am very interested in the music on this CD composed by Vladimir Ussachevky (1911-90). According to the notes, his was the earliest to be labeled "tape music" which came to be applied to his work performed on 22 November 1952 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, US. The tape pieces on this CD date from the late 1950's at the Columbia Princeton Center. The notes provide a biography of the composer who lead an astounding life. He was born in what is now [China | Mongolia | Russia] (pick your politics) until around 1930 when he and his mother (sproing, details are sketchy ;D) appeared in Southern California, US. Important information about each piece helps establish a point of reference. This makes the package approachable and a good starting point for those interested in tape music of the mid-twentieth century. WIRELESS FANTASY may appeal to radio affecionados. It was commissioned by the De Forrest Pioneers, a group of early radio buffs and researchers. The piece is meant to evoke the early period of radio communication by using wireless code as a primary sound source. TWO SKETCHES was produced with an early form of what became MIDI. The music is quirky, delightful and entertaining. It certainly is electronic music, even so, it is music with a soul. Beyond a cognitive interest, there exists a captivating emotional content which I feel is important to music. The final two works on this CD make extensive use of the human voice. If you are interested in a pioneer of tape music or in truly experimental electronic music, I feel this is essential listening for you.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential for 20th Cent. Music Buffs., July 14, 2003

By 

David P. Burton (Coxsackie, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Metamorphosis / Linear Contrasts (Audio CD)

I was fortunate enough to have met the composer in 1977 in New York. He had been something of a guiding artistic spirit to me and a coterie of other avant-garde minded musicians of the late 1960's who were fascinated by the "musical" qualities of his sounds. But the special pieces on this disk are clearly the choral works. Among them Ussachevsky, who I hope in time becomes better known, set to music some of the Enuma Elish, the ancient Sumerian creation hymn from which the Biblical creation hymn in Genesis originates. I asked him if it was Latin. "No," he said, "Babylonian." There are phrases here of such unearthly beauty that I know of no other music quite like it. An understanding of the sources of Techno and other electronic music must include familiarity with Ussachevsky's contributions. I'm grateful that they have been preserved for the ages, perhaps.