The Stries (MODE 328) CD is a great set of electronic music – the name of Bernard Parmegiani (and his portrait) is prominent on the cover, but it might be more accurate to state that it’s the work of Colette Broeckaert, Sebastian Berweck, and Martin Lorenz. They’re all playing synthesizers and it’s a performance – perhaps more of a radical reworking – of the 1980 composition by the great French electro-acoustic genius.
More than playing the composition and adding their own input, they’re also doing something to rescue original analogue tapes from the composer’s archive, and digitise them; this release is part of a larger project called Reviving Parmegiani, which the trio are doing in collaboration with INA GRM, ZKM, SWR and support from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. The idea of preserving these tapes appeals to me enormously; redeploying digital versions in the service of new realisations of the music appeals even more. Since magnetic tape was such a feature of 20th century classical avant-garde, I can only hope there are many more such instances of this kind of activity, and that it’s being done with as much care and attention as these three Europeans. Berweck has also appeared on an Alvin Lucier record on this same label.
As it turns out, Stries not only uses tape, but was based on an earlier Parmegiani work, Violostries from 1963, which combined violin and tape; I’m not sure why this seems so exciting to me, but it may point to something about artistic progress, recycling and repurposing ideas, an action which is advanced a step further by this recording. Sebastian Berweck provides exhaustive detail of the processes in the booklet, indicating a real closeness to the music and a real determination to bring the project to fruition. Roland, EMS and Yamaha synths were involved; delicate, detailed, music results. From 19 July 2021.