Couple of ear-bending slabs of early tape music today, courtesy of French musique concrète pioneer Pierre Henry (1927-2017). Taking up most of this 80s CD is the 48 minute Variations Pour Une Porte Et Un Soupir - it's in 25 sections but all runs as one track, so can be a bit daunting to approach, but it's well worth getting immersed in. The 'variations for a door and a sigh', with a musical saw in there too, were assembled in 1963 from Henry using this small group of basic sounds, manipulating them on tape and with various effects, to turn a squeaky attic door into a veritable orchestra of different tonal qualities.
Skipping back a decade for the second track on the disc, Voile D'Orphee (Veil of Orpheus) is one of the primordial pieces of tape music that still sounds extraordinary today - it's like a proto-Nurse With Wound track, but dates back to a time when Steven Stapleton was only four years old. Voices, orchestration and a harpsichord are twisted out of shape over 15 minutes of stunning, groundbreaking sound-shifting, to evoke the epic tragedy of the Greek myth that gives the piece its title.
pw: sgtg