Prisma Records

Rolf Aamot - english text

2012-01-08T01:16:00.000-08:00

AUDITIVE AND VISUAL ART TONE

By Rolf Aamot

The score of my auditive work is visual tone films, visual tone art; colour and curvilinear tones in changing spatial constellations. Tonality has been developed historically through many years, but provided an important impulse already in spring 1952 when I took part in a group of art and music students from Bergen invited to the city of Vienna as guests. Thus, we also were guest students at the Art Academy in Vienna at that time at a high artistic level. At the same time as the Viennese art museums gave us a thorough introduction to its collection, our meeting with Vienna's music were equally important.

In autumn 1952 I started at age 17 in the painting class at the National College of Art (SHKS), Oslo. Directly adjacent to SHKS was the Art Museum, where I had access to its unique art literature library. It was a collection with an international range, including the contemporary. It gave me a lasting inspiration to study the colour and curvilinear tones of visual art. Another, and neglected, source of inspiration occurred in the school canteen, where I met an active student environment from the Oslo School of Architecture.

The road to the auditory tone world is short, eg specifically, through concrete music. In 1952 Pierre Schaeffer and his Group on Concrete Music started a development project. Two years later, 1954, it was performed at the SHKS, Oslo, in the school auditorium. This electro-acoustic music, which makes use of natural sounds, often converted electronically, is closely related to film and visual arts. For this reason, French composers and filmmakers collaborated in the Group on Concrete Music. Jon Medböe, arts theorist and musicologist at the SHKS, enriched our art scene with his insightful lectures on the boundaries between art forms. He also opened up our attention to concrete music.

After studying at SHKS (1952-1955) and the National Art Academy, Oslo (1958-1960), I started an intense development with various forms of sound art. The first visual tone concert was launched in Bergen Art Museum, 1965. The following year, under the auspices of New Music, I perfomed another concert at the Munch Museum in Oslo. Parallel to the concerts I composed pictorial tone works for television and cinema. It was, at the same time, breaking and not breaking with musical tradition.

Visual art and the artist's freedom and human presence has always been musical language, colour and line. On the surface we find external content presenting as a mask - eg. the art of the later Rembrandt can also be regarded as a tonal work, with the simple surface structure blurred and lifted into a free rhythm and balance between accented light and shadowy tones, the colours of their overtones ubiquitous. It is in this context one must see the goal I set for myself - a visual tone art, in which line and colour, alone or in interaction with the auditive - the specific sound structures and their electronic transformations - may meld with musics other formal languages. Tone Art in space and time include inner and outer reality.

These issues, outlined above, was part of the philosophy I presented in 1964 to the composer Arne Nordheim and the art historian Ole Henrik Moe. Respecting each other's disciplines, we started a collaboration that led to the work Evolution. After agreeing on the composition structure, I played my part of the work at the NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation). Nordheim received a copy of the recording, then working on the basis of his own world of sounds. The electronic music was recorded in Warsaw, Poland. In its compound form the work was completed in 1966, and was broadcast in the spring of 1967. Later it turned out that this was the first time that television was used as an independent visual artistic expression.

In 1967 I started a new collaborative project, this time with composer Björn Fongaard and choreographer Edith Roger. It led to Relief (as in sculpture), a visual tone ballet for NRK Television Theater. Relief was the thematic basis. It was a close and intense cooperation between all involved in the project. The NRK studio team showed immediate openness to our artistic goals, and our demands. In 1968, Relief was broadcast by NRK-TV. That same year, German television showed a visual ballet of Otto Piene. When the two works were submitted, it was the second time television was used as a medium for direct expression of visual art.

In parallel with the collaboration with composers I created my sound structures / music based on the visual arts. My visual tone works are scores for the auditory: sine tones, specific sound structures, acoustic instruments, and voice and breathing, as sound sources. All of it subsumed under electronic transformations. The auditive and the visual field share a common tonal space. The painter Björg Lödöen and I often recorded the audio for a number of my visual tone films, where the association with colour and curvilinear tones is the supporting force. This includes Kinetic Energy (1967-1968), Vision (1969), Structures (1970), Actio (1980) and Northern Lights (1991).

Through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s I composed pictorial tone works for television. At the same time I worked with film for cinema and exhibitions. In the years from 1964 to 1970 I held visual tone concerts in Oslo, Bergen, Copenhagen and Paris.

Seen in retrospective

In the late 1950s the artistic and technical issues underpinning my visual and auditive tonal language had been established, leading to the development of electronic instruments for image and sound. The instruments for image tones were the precondition for my auditive work. The first pictorial instrument was a prototype. It had control over the colour frequencies regardless of tonal dynamics. In this context, the leader of the Christian Michelsen Institute, Helmer Dal, played an important role. With his background from World War II developing radar in the United Kingdom he immediately grasped the idea of an instrument based on colour frequencies. Thanks to Dal and his technicians my prototype got a crucial boost, and later they were to follow me during my first two visual tone concerts in Bergen.

It began with a concert for the board of the Bergen Art Museum, 1965. The concert opened up a further artistic and technical development of visual tone art, and its dissemination in various media. Bergen Bank, with its director Sjur Lindebrekke, was of vital importance economically, while Norwegian Film led by its director Erik Borge and NRK´s television director Otto Nes assured the practical conditions allowing my art to become part of film and television media.

The Norwegian Council for Cultural Affairs invited me to hold a visual tone concert for the Council's board at The Norwegian Academy of Science in Oslo. Director Erik Borge gave a lecture about the film and about visual tone art before the concert. After the concert, the director of the Council, painter Haakon Stenstadvold, turned to me and said: "Will you go abroad?" I replied, "My application to the Council was for a development project, technically and artistically, for my musical language." Stenstadvold responded immediately, "I asked you if you will travel abroad." When none of the other board members said something, I realized there was no place for a question here but a matter of answering yes or no. So I said yes. Stenstadvold said: "We cannot risk building a fiddle in Norway, whilst other European countries might already have pianos." In other words, it was to be as he had said!

With the travel budget commissioned by the Council divided into three, there were to be three trips around Europe, reporting to our embassies in the respective countries. After each trip, I also had to deliver a report to the Arts Council in Norway, meeting with Stenstadvold at his office, which was also his studio at the time he was the dean of the SHKS.

As the Norwegian Council made me their envoy - on behalf of the Norwegian government - I met with open doors everywhere. There were many studio visits including at Le Parc´s, who had won the great painting prize at the Venice Biennale. He and his colleagues lived in old abandoned craft workshops in Paris. The economic foundation of artistic activity did, however, not compare with his fame and glory, forcing him to sell off reflector parts from his light reliefs as independent "art". For the market they were "art objects".

Later, I was a guest at Philips in Eindhoven, Holland. Philips had their main base there, in an egg-shaped exhibition building supposed to represent a vision for the future of electronics. The French artist Nicolas Schöffer had received a commission, with his light sculpture technique, in order to give the exhibition a flight of fantasy. When I later visited Schöffer in Paris at his studio, he believed that his art had been abused by Philips, warning me against signing a contract with the company.

My conclusion after my travels for the Norwegian Council of Cultural Affairs was that the belief that everything would be so much better out in the "big world" was a mere illusion. We so often tend to forget that art in Renaissance Italy, the Baroque in Holland, and the art research of Bauhaus did, in fact, occur in small and medium sized urban communities.

Rolf Aamot

June, 2011.

Some definitions

Visual tone films:

The score of auditory tone art is visual tone films.

Visual art tone:

Visual sound art / tone art is colour and curvilinear tones.

Colour and curvilinear tones:

Colour and curvilinear each has its tonal range,

as in music: 5, 7, 12 or quarter tones.

Translated from the Norwegian by Olav Arnold Lödöen

Rolf Aamot tekst

2011-12-22T04:05:00.000-08:00

In regards to the Prisma Records release of Tonal Images Films 1966-1991, Aamot wrote this piece about his works and career (this text is in Norwegian only)

AUDITIV OG VISUELL TONEKUNST

Av Rolf Aamot

Partituret til mine auditive verk er bildende tonefilmer, bildende tonekunst; farge- og linjebuetoner i skiftende romkonstellasjoner. Tonespråket er utviklet over en årrekke, men fikk viktige impulser allerede våren 1952 da en gruppe kunst- og musikkstudenter fra Bergen ble invitert til byen Wien som gjester. Dermed ble vi også gjestehospitanter på Kunstakademiet i Wien som på denne tid var på et høyt kunstfaglig nivå. På samme tid som kunstmuséne gav oss grundig innføring i sine samlinger, ble også møtet med Wiens musikkliv stående som noe like viktig for oss.

Høsten 1952 begynte jeg 17 år gammel i malerklassen ved Statens Håndverks- og Kunstindustriskole (SHKS), Oslo. Vegg i vegg med SHKS lå Kunstindustrimuseet, her fikk jeg tilgang til museets unike kunstlitteraturbibliotek. Det var et internasjonalt spenn over museets samling av kunstbøker, også i tid. Det ga meg en vedvarende inspirasjon til å foreta studier av billedkunstens farge- og linjebuetoner. En annen og upåaktet inspirasjonskilde oppsto i skolens kantine, her traff jeg et aktivt studentmiljø fra Oslo Arkitekthøgskole.

Veien til den auditive toneverden er kort, bl.a. gjennom Konkret Musikk. I 1952 startet Pierre Schaeffer og hans Group on Concret Music et utviklingsprosjekt i Paris for denne musikkformen. To år senere, 1954, ble den konkrete musikken framført i SHKS, Oslo, i skolens forelesningssal. Denne elektro-akustiske musikken, som tar i bruk naturlige lyder, og som gjerne ble omarbeidet elektronisk, står billedkunsten og filmen nær. Av denne grunn samarbeidet franske komponister og filmskapere i Group on Concret Music. Jon Medbøe, SHKSs kunst- og musikkviter, sprengte med sine innsiktsfulle forelesninger vårt kunstmiljøs oppfatninger av grensene mellom kunstartene. Han åpnet dessuten opp vår oppmerksomhet for den konkrete musikken.

Etter studietiden ved SHKS (1952-1955) og Statens Kunstakademi, Oslo, (1958-1960) kom jeg i gang med et intenst utviklingsarbeid med ulike former av tonekunst. Den første bildende tonekonsert ble lansert i Bergen Kunstforening, 1965. Året etter, i regi av Ny Musikk, ble fremført en ny konsert på Munch Museet i Oslo. Parallelt med konsertene komponerte jeg bildende toneverk for fjernsyn og kino. Som fenomen i tidens utvikling både var og ikke var dette et tradisjonsbrudd.

Billedkunsten og malerens frihet og menneskelig nærhet har til alle tider vært tonespråket; fargen og linjen. Over ligger det ytre innhold som en maske. F. eks. er kunsten til den eldre Rembrandt også å betrakte som et toneverk, hvor komposisjonens enkle flatestruktur utviskes og går opp i en fri rytme og balanse mellom aksentuerte lys- og skyggetoner. Fargene med sine overtoner er allestedsnærværende. Det er i denne sammenheng man må se det målet jeg har satt meg; en bildende tonekunst, hvor linjen og fargen alene, eller i samspill med det auditive, fra de konkrete lydstrukturer og deres elektroniske forvandlinger kan sammensmelte med musikkens andre formspråk. Tonekunst i rom og tid omfatter den indre og ytre virkelighet.

Disse problemstillingene, som her er skissert, inngikk i det idègrunnlag som jeg i 1964
presenterte for komponisten Arne Nordheim og kunsthistorikeren Ole Henrik Moe.
Med respekt for hverandres fagfelt startet vi et samarbeid, som førte fram til verket Evolution. Etter at vi var blitt enig om komposisjonens struktur, spilte jeg inn min del av verket i NRK-jjernsynet. Nordheim fikk en kopi av opptaket, og arbeidet deretter videre ut fra sin egen klangverden. Den elektroniske musikken ble tatt opp i Warszawa, Polen. Verket var i sin sammensatte form ferdig i 1966, og sendt våren 1967. Senere viste det seg at dette var første gang – i en internasjonal sammenheng - at fjernsynet ble brukt som selvstendig billedkunstnerisk uttrykksmiddel.

I 1967 startet jeg et nytt samarbeidsprosjekt. Denne gangen med komponisten Bjørn Fongaard og koreografen Edith Roger. Det førte fram til Relieff, en bildende toneballett for NRK, Fjernsynsteateret. Det tematiske grunnlaget var bl.a. fra Relieff, en bildende tonefilm for kino. Det ble et nært og intenst samarbeid mellom alle som var involvert i prosjektet. NRKs studioteam viste en umiddelbar åpenhet overfor våre kunstneriske målsetninger, for ikke å si krav. I 1968 ble Relieff sendt i NRK-fjernsynet. Samme år viste tysk fjernsyn en billedballett av Otto Piene. Da de to verkene ble sendt var dette andre gangen at fjernsynet som medium var en direkte uttrykksform for billedkunsten.

Parallelt i samarbeidet med komponister formet jeg lydstrukturer/musikk basert på billedkunstens premisser. Mine billedtoneverk er partitur for det auditive: sinustoner, konkrete lydstrukturer, akustiske instrumenter, og stemmen og pusten som lydkilde. Alt under elektroniske forvandlinger. Det auditive og det visuelle har et felles tonerom å forholde seg til. Maleren Bjørg Lødøen og jeg har ofte sammen innspilt det auditive for en rekke av mine bildende tonefilmer, hvor tilhørigheten til farge- og linjebuetoner er den bærende kraft. Dette gjelder bl.a. Kinetisk Energi (1967-1968), Vision (1969), Strukturer (1970), Actio (1980) og Nordlys (1991).

Gjennom 1960-, 1970 og 1980 årene komponerte jeg bildende toneverk for fjernsyn. Samtidig arbeidet jeg med filmmediet for kino og utstilling. I årene fra 1964 til 1970 holdt jeg bildende tonekonserter i Oslo, Bergen, København og Paris.

Sett i et tilbakeblikk
I slutten av 1950 årene var de kunstneriske og tekniske problemstillingene klargjort for mitt visuelle og auditive tonespråk, som førte fram til elektroniske instrumenter for bilde og lyd. Forutsetningen for det auditive var instrumentene for billedtoner. Det første billedinstrumentet var en prototype. Den hadde kontroll over fargefrekvensene uansett tonenes dynamikk. I denne sammenheng ble lederen for Chr. Michelsens Institutt, Helmer Dal, viktig. Han deltok under 2. Verdenskrig med å utvikle radaren i England. Han oppfattet straks oppgavestillingen i mine fargefrekvenser. Takket være Dal bidro hans teknikere til at min prototype fikk et avgjørende løft, og i tillegg fulgte de meg opp under mine to første bildende tonekonserter i Bergen.

Det begynte med konsert for styret i Bergen Kunstforening, 1965. Konserten åpnet opp for en videre kunstnerisk og teknisk utvikling av den bildende tonekunst, og formidling av den i ulike media. Her var Bergen Bank, ved bankdirektør Sjur Lindebrekke, økonomisk avgjørende, mens Norsk Film as, ved direktør Erik Borge, og NRK-fjernsynets direktør Otto Nes la de praktiske forholdene til rette, for at min kunstart ble en del av film- og fjernsynsmediene.

Norsk Kulturråd inviterte meg til å holde en bildende tonekonsert for rådets styre i Det norske vitenskapsakademi i Oslo. Direktør Erik Borge holdt et foredrag om filmen og om den bildende tonekunst før konserten. Etter konserten sa Kulturrådets leder, maleren Håkon Stenstadvold, henvendt til meg: ”Vil du reise ut?” Jeg svarte: ”Min søknad til rådet var rettet mot et utviklingsprosjekt, teknisk og kunstnerisk, for mitt tonespråk”. Stenstadvold svarte umiddelbart kontant: ”Jeg spurte deg om du vil reise til utlandet”. Da ingen av de andre styremedlemene sa noe, forstod jeg at her var det kun et enten eller. Derfor sa jeg ja. Da kom det fra Stenstadvold: ”Vi kan ikke risikere at vi bygger en hardingfele i Norge mens de i utlandet allerede har flygler”. Med andre ord: Det fikk bli som han sa!

Oppdraget fra Kulturrådet ble tre reiser rundt om i Europa, nettopp fordi reisebudsjettet også var delt i tre, og med meldeplikt til våre ambasader i de landene jeg kom til. Etter hver reise måtte jeg dessuten avlevere en rapport til Kulturrådet hjemme i Norge. Stenstadvold møtte jeg på hans kontor, som også var hans atelier da han var han rektor ved SHKS.

Ettersom Norsk Kulturråd foretok min utsending – på vegne av Den norske regjering - møtte jeg åpne dører overalt. Det ble mange atelierbesøk bl.a. hos Le Parc, som hadde vunnet den store maleriprisen på Biennale de Venezia. Han og hans kolleger holdt til i gamle nedlagte håndverkverksteder i Paris. Det økonomiske grunnlaget for den kunstneriske virksomheten stod ikke i forhold den æren og berømmelsen han var blitt til del. Derfor solgte han reflektordeler fra sine lysrelieffer, som selvstendige ”kunstverk”. For markedet var de ”kunstobjekter”.

Senere var jeg gjest hos Phillips i Eindhoven, Holland. Phillips hadde her, i sin hovedbase, en eggformet utstillingsbygning som skulle gi en visjon om framtidens elektronikk. Den franske kunstneren Nicolas Schøffer hadde med sin lysskulpturteknikk fått i oppdrag å gi utstillingen en fantasiens løft. Da jeg senere besøkte Schøffer i Paris på hans atelier, mente han at hans kunst var blitt misbrukt av Phillips, og advarte meg derfor mot å skrive under en kontrakt med selskapet.

Min konklusjon etter mine reiser for Norsk Kulturåd var at troen på at alt er så mye bedre ute i ”den store verden” bare var en illusjon. Man glemmer så ofte at kunstlivet i de små bysamfunnene i renessansens Italia, i barokkens Holland, og Bauhaus sin kunstforskning, faktisk oppsto i små og middels store bysamfunn.

Rolf Aamot
Juni, 2011.

Noen definisjoner

Bildende tonefilmer:
Partituret til den auditive tonekunst er bildende tonefilmer.

Bildende tonekunst:
Bildende tonekunst/visuell tonekunst er farge- og linjebuetoner.

Farge- og linjebuetoner:
Fargen og linjebuetoner har hver for seg sitt toneomfang.
På linje med musikken: 5, 7, 12 eller kvarttoner.

Prisma reviews in Bergens Tidene

2011-11-24T12:16:00.001-08:00

Kåre Kolberg: Omgivelser & Portando CD

2011-11-23T23:42:00.000-08:00

Kåre Kolberg (b.1936) is one of Norway’s foremost contemporary composers and is regarded as one of the pioneers of early electronic music and multi-disciplinarity art in Scandinavia. He has composed music for film, theatre and chamber orchestras to jazz acts such as Svein Finnerud Trio and Jan Garbarek.
Kolberg’s Omgivelser (Surroundings) was a commissioned piece made for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) in 1970. It was made as a soundtrack for a short TV-film of the same name that was made by director Jan Horne. The idea was to melt abstract film impressions that showcased different sides of the environmental debate of the 1970s, together with experimental electronic music in order to create a singular expression. Kolberg travelled to the famous Studio Eksperymentalne in Warsaw, run by Jósef Patowski, to record the music. Together with sound engineer Bohdan Mazurek Kolberg crafted the piece using the studio’s vast sound archives and two pre-recorded tapes that he had brought from Norway. One tape consisted of different sound recordings Kolberg had made with experimental jazz singer Karin Krog and the other contained different field recordings by Kolberg, including a Norwegian nursery rhymes sung by Kolberg’s eldest son. In the studio they processed this material with ring modulators and filters, and added different modified instruments created by an engineer at the studio. The piece was recorded using what were at the time the Rolls Royce of tape machines: two Telefunken Magnetophon M10s. The piece was originally broadcast to Norwegian homes in 1970. Since the standard TV-volume levels are set so low, the dynamic range of Kolberg’s music was not optimal. Kolberg kept the original master tape and over the years Omgivelser was presented several times at different electronic music concerts.

Portando, (meaning to transport or carry in Italian) was a commissioned piece for the Henie Onstad Art Centre in 1987. The centre’s music coordinator at that time, Åse Hedstrøm asked Kolberg to write the piece especially for the art centre. Kolberg worked together with the studio founder and sound-engineer Mats Claesson using Norway’s first micro-processors and Mac based Studio Technology. The piece is written for electronic tapes and two live percussionists, which were played by Bjørn Rabben and Einar Fjævoll.

The CD release of Omgivelser & Portando is an important addition to the history of Norwegian electronic music, and should be of great interest to fans of Arne Nordheim and Kåre Kolberg.

Available on CD and iTunes from November 2011.

Rolf Aamot: Tonal Image Films 1968-1991 CD

2011-11-23T23:40:00.000-08:00

Rolf Aamot (b.1934) is a Norwegian electronic painter, graphic artist, film director and tonal image composer. Since the early 60s he has worked with the relationship between image and sound and he is regarded as one of the pioneers of audio-visual art in Scandinavia. Aamot has collaborated with artists and composers such as Bjørg Lødøen, Arne Nordheim and Bjørn Fongaard and his work Evolution, made together with Nordheim in 1966 was the the first time the television was used as a creative medium in Norway. In the 70s and 80s Aamot continued this work in electronic and digital paintings.

Tonal Image Films 1968-1991 documents for the first time Rolf Aamots and Bjørg Lødøen’s tonal images, the audio part to the tonal image films he directed between 1968 and 1991. The music consists of abstract sounds and movements from different electronic sources, interacting with pre-recorded and prepared acoustic instruments and human voices. Prisma Records is proud to present the previously unreleased but highly original music of Rolf Aamot for the first time.

Available on CD and iTunes from November 2011.

Masselys: Jimmy Polars - Live at the Henie Onstad Art Centre CD

2011-11-23T23:36:00.000-08:00

This release documents the music Masselys made for the commisioned audio-visual piece, Jimmy Polaris, by visual artist Christopher Nielsen, animator Matt Willis-Jones and Masselys.

Nielsen and Willis-Jones worked together on Norway’s most expensive animation film; Slipp Jimmy Fri from 2006. For Jimmy Polaris they used early raw animation snippets from the film’s preproduction phase. Nielsen and Willis-Jones then real-time manipulated these sketches into a psychedelic visual overload, which Masselys then provided the soundtrack to. Jimmy Polaris premiered at the Henie Onstad Art Centre the 8th of May 2011 to a sold out venue.

Masselys consists of Bjarne Larsen, John Birger Wormdahl, Jonas Hestvik Dahl and Kjell-Olav Jørgensen. Together they produce a melting pot of mutant disco, electronica, funk and krautrock. Jimmy Polaris consists of seven new tracks.

For the show at Henie Onstad Art Centre Christopher Nielsen wrote: ”Welcome to a consciousness expanding seance, where it is highly possible to see the light."

Available on CD and iTunes from November 2011.

MUSKAP: Upright at the End of Lippedstad CD

2011-11-23T23:28:00.000-08:00

Muskap was formed in 1975 by the composers and musicians Jean-Francois Doucet, Jon Christophersen, Harold Clark and Anthony Barnett. The quartet was inspired by Karlheinz Stockhausen’s concepts about Intuitive Musik and contemprorary ideas in music regarding improvisation and open aesthetics. This resulted in a sound that draws resemblance to free jazz as well as chamber music. Muskap is an example of early improvised music in Norway.

The quartet rehearsed and performed regularly at the Henie Onstad Art Centre, located at Høvikodden outside of Oslo, where the band member Harold Clark was the leader for NSEM (Norwegian Studio for Electronic Music). The material on Upright at the End of Lippestad (Both Ways) was recorded in NSEM in 1976 and uses the studio’s legendary Buchla-synthesizers.
Upright at the End of Lippesta (Both Ways) was originally scheduled for a release on the Norwegian record label Compendium Records in 1976, but since the label folded the same year the record never came out. The mastertapes was then stored in the archives for 35 years until they’re now finally released in a newly mastered version with liner notes by Olav Anton Thommessen.
Prisma Records is proud to present this entrancing and original band for the first time to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the recordings.

Available on CD and iTunes from November 2011.

Maja Ratkje om Elektrofoni

2011-08-22T02:39:00.001-07:00

http://mbtopp100.no/2011/08/bjorn-fongaard-elektrofoni-%E2%80%93-works-for-micro-intervallic-guitar-1965-1978-prisma-records-2010/

Fongaard in Morgenbladet

2011-08-21T15:45:00.000-07:00

http://morgenbladet.no/article/20110819/OKULTUR/708199944

Last year's ad

2011-05-16T13:19:00.001-07:00

Fongaard box review in Sound of Music

2011-05-01T02:34:00.001-07:00

http://www.soundofmusic.nu/recension/fongaardelektrofoni

Bjørn Fongaard
Elektrofoni: Works For Micro Intervallic Guitar 1965-1978
Prisma Records 3xCD + DVD PRISMACD711

Av: Johan Redin

Skandinavien har sina säregna modernistiska pionjärer som fått vänta länge på sin tur: Rued Langgaard i Danmark, Rune Lindblad i Sverige, den atonale Fartein Valen i Norge – och i samma grannland hittar vi även Bjørn Fongaard (1919-1980) som tillsammans med Lindblad utmärker sig som en fortfarande högst aktuell inspirationskälla för dagens experimentella musikskapande.

För länge sedan hittade jag ett av Fongaards stycken av en ren slump på en av EMI:s volymer som dokumenterade 1968 års Nordic Music Days: ”Homo Sapiens, For Orchestra Microtonalis (Tape)”. Ett fullständigt fantastiskt stycke. Förgäves letade jag efter mer att lyssna på och till och med efter att internet kommit till encycklopedismens tjänst kunde jag bara finna ytterligare två tillgängliga kompositioner: den någorlunda kända ”Galaxy (For 3 Quarter-Tone Guitars)” och ”The Space Concerto (For Piano and Tape)”, båda på svindyra samlingsskivor i Philips’ serie Contemporary Music from Norway från 1968 respektive 1973.

Det är alltså rena julafton när Heine Onstad Kunstsenters etikett Prisma Records, med Lars Mørch Finborud och Lasse Marhaug som chefsarkivarier, tar ett samlat grepp om sin ikonoklastiska gitarrhjälte. Elektrofoni är en box som består av 3 fullmatade audioskivor samt 1 dvd med en dokumentär från norska televisionen, två dansföreställningar och en radiointervju. Till detta medföljer också ett häfte om 32 sidor med essäer, partiturexempel och pressklipp. Musiken, där det mesta av materialet kommer från privata tonband och inspelningar vid just Heine Onstad Kunstsenter, är varsamt mastrad av Helge Sten (aka Deathprod).

Idag betraktas Fongaard med rätta som en verklig pionjär inom den mikrotonala musiken, mannen som såg kvartstoner som en primitiv begynnelse i riktning mot oändligt delbar intervall. Han lät modifiera en elgitarr där halsen utökats med dubbelt så många band, det vill säga 24 istället för 12 band. Med denna så kallade ”Mikrointervallgitarr” ville han experimentera och nå fram till ”n- tonala universum”, skalor som strävar efter minsta möjliga intervall, betydligt mindre än kvartstoner, som delar oktaven i 24 lika delar där den tonala musiken har 12. Det låter onekligen som en tämligen analytisk approach, men Fongaards kompositioner är inte alls någon kromatisk forskningsresa som hos en Alois Hába eller de franska spektralisterna. Snarare påminner de ibland om något som Sonic Youth skulle vara stolta över, fast befriat från alla rockambitioner och skateboardromantik. Det handlar inte sällan om höga pickande ljud som, enligt vad Fongaard säger i radiointervjun, ”nästan närmar sig 0 i intervall”.

Men kanske ska jag akta mig för att nämna namn och associationer, musiken är inte bara svårbeskriven utan också omöjlig att bilda sig en uppfattning om innan man har hört den. På pappret ter sig allt exotiskt och vildsint med specialkonstruerade gitarrer som enligt märkliga partitur spelas med glasplattor, metallstänger och korta egendesignade stråkar. Men musiken utstrålar ingen destruktivitet eller estetisk obstruktion, den står som resultat av en inre övertygelse om en helt annan tonvärld som på något magiskt sätt uppstått ur en inledande abstrakt idé.

De mikrotonala verken känns otidsenliga, inte bara till formen. De bär inte de karaktärsdrag som man ofta hör i den delen av sextiotalets avantgarde som involverar bandkompositioner och specialkonstruerade instrument. Ju mer man sätter sig in i Fongaards biografi, ju märkligare ter sig bilden av honom. Jag inbillade mig länge att han förblev en kompositör i marginalen som likt Lindblad vandrade omkring i korridorerna utan att någon egentligen brydde sig. Fongaards verkkatalog är därtill absurt stor: 25 A4-sidor täckta med över 400 kompositioner, den övervägande delen ouppförda eller dokumenterade i enkla bandupptagningar på en fyrspårig Tandbergare som han själv stod för. Men Fongaard var ingen kuf, ingen outsider eller missförstått geni. Han var en flitigt anlitad studiogitarrist, dirigent, lärare och hovgitarrist i norska barnprogram under större delen av sextiotalet. Han har också skrivit mycket tonal kammarmusik och stycken för soloinstrument; han var mycket omtyckt om än att få, eller rentav ingen, under hans tid förstod sig på hans mikrotonala fixidéer. Professorn i komposition, Lasse Thoresen, berättar att när Fongaard i mitten av sjuttiotalet deklarerar att han lämnat kvartstonerna och nu ägnar sig helt åt intervall som inte längre är möjliga identifiera så var det inte utan att man ifrågasatte hans förstånd.

Dessa spekulationer kommer emellertid helt på skam när den retrospektiva boxen finns till hands. Tiden har definitivt kommit ikapp Fongaard. Inte för att våra öron fysiologiskt når fram till hans ”n- tonala universum”, snarare för att formen känns helt rätt. Jag hör utan vidare improviserad gitarr, tydliga ansatser till drones och rentav noise, utan att jag för den delen skulle placera verken inom dessa genrer. Det som för trettio-fyrtio år sedan lät spöklikt och antagligen kyligt, särskilt de omfattande verken – ”Elektrofonia, Opus 78” (i 7 delar) och ”Sinfonia Microtonalis, Opus 79” (i 5 delar) – låter i mina öron ambient och rumsligt. Båda är komponerade för det Fongaard kallar ”Orchestra Micotonalis” vilket i själva verket är bandslingor av inspelad kvartstonsgitarr som varieras i olika hastigheter. Oftast saktas det ned till nästan oändligt utdragna toner som tycks vagga mellan det varma och det metalliska.

Jag kan inte mer än innerligt hoppas att denna box blir till ett startskott för återupptäckten av Norges mikrotonala pionjär, till festivaler och avhandlingar. Det här är musik som är för dyrbar för att annekteras av finsmakare och baskerintellektuella. Fongaards testamente är att musik skapas av övertygelse, hur märklig den än kan te sig för samtiden – och framtiden.

Fongaard in Dagbladet's list of best 2010 releases

2010-12-21T00:54:00.000-08:00

Fongaard review in The Wire

2010-10-18T04:11:00.001-07:00

Reviews in Aftenposten

2010-10-18T04:10:00.001-07:00

Prisma Records available

2010-10-05T06:29:00.000-07:00

Prisma Records is distributed by:

Musikkoperatørene in Norway
F-Minor in England
P-Vine Records in Japan
Forced Exposure in USA

You can also buy our releases at Itunes & Spotify

Bjørn Fongaard: Elektrofoni 3CD/1DVD Box-Set

2010-10-03T03:44:00.000-07:00

Prisma Records 711
Releasedate 13.09.2010
Distributed by Musikkoperatørene

Elektrofoni is a 3CD / 1DVD box-set which for the first time presents the ground-breaking works by Norwegian experimental composer, guitarist and micro-tonal music pioneer Bjørn Fongaard (1919-1980). The box-set is produced by Lars Mørch Finborud og Lasse Marhaug of Prisma Records.

The seeds to the Elektrofoni box-set began when Lasse Marhaug a few years ago found a copy of the old Electronic Music From Norway LP compilation at a second-hand record store in Stockholm. The LP contained the Galaxy track by Bjørn Fongaard. Marhaug couldn’t believe his ears – that this incredible music was from 1966 and Norway. It sounded like it was recorded yesterday. The music was clearly made by someone with a strong passion and clear vision of his music. Except from Arne Nordheim very little experimental/electronic music from Norway was documented on vinyl, so hearing the Galaxy track led Marhaug to start investigating. After writing about the piece in a column for a UK website, Lasse was contacted by Fongaard’s daughter Lis Fongaard Seim. Lasse was thrilled to hear that she had kept all of her father’s documents, photos and tapes. Together with his partner in Prisma Records Lars Mørch Finborud they set out to produce the extensive box-set that is now ready as Elektrofoni.

Bjørn Fongaard was a known guitar-player in Norway, performing frequently in radio- and TV-shows and as side-kick/studiomusician for famous Norwegian singer-songwriters such as Alf Prøysen and Søstrene Bjørklund. He was also a known guitar-pedagogue for guitarists like Terje Rypdal and Egil Kapstad. But Elektrofoni focuses on Fongaard’s ground-breaking micro-tonal works recorded in the years 1965-1978, performed by himself on his custom-made electric micro-intervallic guitar. The 3 CD’s features a broad selection of Fongaard’s earliest pieces such as Galaxy, Homo Sapiens and Epos as well as the complete Elektrofonia and Sinfonia Microtonalis series – showing Fongaard as a forefather of Norwegian electronic, experimental and improvised music.

The DVD contains TV appearances, radio interview and ballets that Fongaard composed music for, unearthed from the NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Bureau) archives. Also included is a booklet with new essays on Fongaard by Lasse Thoresen, Kjell Tore Innervik and Lars Mørch Finborud. The booklet also contains photos, graphic scores and press-clippings.

The recordings themselves has been carefully restored and mastered by Helge Sten (aka Deathprod), which says that ”Bjørn Fongaard have composed some of the most fantastic and entrancing music from Norway in modern times. His music is no less than cosmic”.

In many ways the release of Elektrofoni adds a whole new chapter to the documented history of Norwegian experimental music, as 90% of the material is released here for the first time.

The release is celebrated with a Bjørn Fongaard concert in collaboration with the Ultima Festival and NOTAM at the Henie Onstad Art Centre 12th September 2010. Pierre Henry will also perform on the same day.

Fongaard review at Kunstkritikk

2010-09-29T10:49:00.001-07:00

http://www.kunstkritikk.no/kritikk/strenge-strenger/

Merzbow: Live At Henie Onstad Art Centre CD

2010-09-29T02:21:00.001-07:00

Masami Akita’s Merzbow project is the biggest name in noise music. Few other artist enjoys the kind of respect within their fields as Merzbow does within the noise scene. If talking about noise music there is simply no way getting around Merzbow. Since 1979 Akita has worked relentlessly producing hundreds of records. He also has a long list of collaboraters: Richard Pinhas, Sunn 0))), Autechre, Pan Sonic, Jim O’Rourke, Boris, Gore Beyond Necropsy, Smegma and many others.

Merzbow performed at the Henie Onstad Art Centre on October 11th 2009. This performance was for the exhibition ”Kurt Schwitters in Norway”. Since Akita has sited Kurt Schwitters as one of his main influences for his music, and took his name from Schwitters’ Merzbau sculpture, it was a natural choice to have Merzbow perform at the centre on the opening weekend of the exhibition. The complete 40 minute performance is presented on the ”Live at Henie Onstad Art Centre” CD.

Musically this is classic Merzbow; hypnotic loops, layers of white noise and massive sweeps of sonic overload. Akita performed using two computers, synthesizer, custom-made metal objects and a host of effect pedals.

The CD is mixed and mastered by Lasse Marhaug and the inner sleeve features a unique photo of Masami Akita inside Scwitters’ Merzbau. Merzbow in Merzbau.

Limited edition of 500 copies.

Sigurd Berge: Early Electronic Works CD

2010-09-29T02:18:00.000-07:00

Prisma Records 708
Releasedate 04.10.2010
Distributed exclusively by Musikkoperatørene

Prisma Records is proud to present the first release dedicated to the music by the late Norwegian experimental composer and electronic music pioneer, Sigurd Berge (1929-2002). This release shows some of Berge`s earliest experiments with tape-machines and early synthesizers and is taken from three reels found in the Henie Onstad Art Centre music archives in 2009. The reason why these tapes are located here are probably because Berge worked for several years at the Norwegian Studio for Electronic Music, located at the art centre. Berge also was a part of the electronic music concert-series Elektrofoni which took part at the centre from 1968 until 1983.

On the first tape we found the unreleased pieces Preludium, Ritual & Sørgemusikk and the previously released pieces Erupsjon and Eg beisla min støvel. On a different tape we found the musique concrète piece Delta, which Berge also used in a collaboration with the avant-garde jazz trio Svein Finnerud in 1970.

The second part of this release is dedicated to one of Norway`s first multimedia art installations entitled BLIKK. The work was commissioned for the Henie Onstad Art Centre in 1970 and created by the artists Irma Salo Jæger, Jan Erik Vold and Sigurd Berge. The installation consisted of Jæger`s kinetic sculptures, Vold`s abstract poetry and Berge`s electronic music, all blended together with one of Norway`s first computer generated laser-light shows. The multimedia piece was so complicated to produce that the engineeers Halvor Heier, Birger Komedal & Harald Schiøtz was hired for technical assistance. The pioneering work BLIKK was exhibited at the Henie Onstad Art Centre between April-May 1970.

Prisma Records is proud to one of Norway`s most famous and acclaimed experimental composers and electronic music pioneers for the first time on a complete CD release.

Tanja Orning: Hommage À Anna-Eva Bergman CD

2010-09-29T02:12:00.000-07:00

Prisma Records 709
Releasedate 04.10.2010
Distributed exclusively by Musikkoperatørene

In 2002 the performer and cello player, Tanja Orning, was asked by the director of the Henie Onstad Art Centre, Karin Hellandsjø, to play at the opening of an Anna-Eva Bergman exhibition. Tanja Orning decided to compose a completely new piece inspired and dedicated to Bergman`s art. The piece was entitled Hommage À Anna-Eva Bergman.

In February 2009, the large retrospective exhibition Surrealism, line and form – Anna-Eva Bergman`s formative years 1949-52, opened at the Henie Onstad Art Centre. Once again Tanja performed and a couple of months later she was invited by the art centre to record the piece for the in-house label Prisma Records. On April the 13th Tanja Orning and sound technician Thomas Hukkelberg came together in the centre`s Studiohall, to record the piece.

Tanja Orning is a performer, improviser and composer. After studies in Oslo, London, and Indiana University, she held the position as a co-principal cellist in the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra for 5 years until she left for Oslo in order to realise a number of projects. She is currently playing with groups such as Christian Wallumrød Ensemble, asamisimasa, Dr.Ox and Polygon as well as her solo-project Cellotronics which resulted in a CD in 2005. Orning is currently undertaking research in contemporary performance practice at the Norwegian Academy of Music.

Prisma Records is proud to present this entrancing and lyrical composition on a single track CD release, pressed in a limited edition of only 300 copies.

Reviews from Aftenposten

2010-05-03T01:16:00.000-07:00

Review of The Inward Rising from Groove.no

2010-03-12T01:15:00.001-08:00

http://www.groove.no/html/review/51568141.html

John Cage: In Norway [CD + book]

2010-03-06T05:06:00.001-08:00

CD in 64-page hardcover book with photos, interviews with the musicans and a transcription of Cage's Q&A at the Oslo Art Academy.

Press release:

Having received an invitation from Ole Henrik Moe, the Director of the Henie Onstad Art Centre, John Cage arrived at Fornebu Airport one November day in 1983 and was quickly lodged into a guest apartment in the basement of the museum. Cage had brought with him to Norway a heavy suitcase containing amongst other things a water distiller, a selection of fungi and grains needed for his macrobiotic diet, a pocket chess set and a strong wish to get to meet the Norwegian fungi experts Finn-Egil Eckblad and Gro Gulden.

The programme for the first half of “Cage Week” focused on Cage’s lectures and other text-pieces. He performed Composition in Retrospect at the Norwegian Academy of Music, held a previously unpublished lecture called Duchamp, Johns, Rauschenberg, Tobey, Graves at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, and performed the text pieces James Joyce, Marcel Duchamp, Erik Satie and Alphabet and Muoyce at the Henie Onstad Art Centre. The second half of the week focused on a programme of concerts held at the art centre, with a percussion orchestra conducted by Christian Eggen. The ensemble was to perform, in various constellations, the pieces First, Second & Third Construction, Branches and Music for Marcel Duchamp. On Cage’s own request the Swedish pianist Mats Persson and the French violinist Ami Flammer were invited to perform Freeman Etudes and Sonatas and Interludes.

Cage was very active during his days in Norway, even outside of the official programme. He finished an eight-part Haiku-poem, which he presented as a gift to Ole Henrik Moe. At the museum he also made a series of drawings, tracing the outline of stones that he had brought with him, onto sheets of paper laid out onto the floor. He also got to play several games of chess with some of the musicians, and he went on a failed mushroom hunt at Frognerseteren on a cold November morning.

Cage’s visit was well documented in photo, video and audio recordings, he was interviewed by all the major newspapers, as well as by Eivind Solås for NRK Television. A special pamphlet was printed for the event, containing articles by amongst others Kåre Kolberg and Kjell Samkopf. Shortly after his stay the Norwegian journal of new music, Ballade, published a special Cage edition. Recordings of the event were published in 1984 as an unusual 10-tape suitcase “John Cage in Norway”.

Today in 2010, on the occasion of this exhibition, Henie Onstad Art Centre has published a book and CD also titled “John Cage in Norway”. This publication incorporates the sounds, photographs and articles that document the important Cage visit, which echoed in Norway’s musical and cultural life for years to follow.

Review of Nova and Tinguely

2010-01-25T06:45:00.000-08:00

http://www.groove.no/html/article/54879254.html

Stian Skagen: The Inward Rising CD

2009-10-12T22:39:00.001-07:00

Available January 2009. Distributed by Musikkoperatorene.

Stian Skagen The Inward Rising
Prisma Records 704
Releasedate 08.01.2010
Distributed by Musikkoperatørene
Ean code: 7041881237041

Stian Skagen (b.1980) aka [concept.virus] is one of the leading Scandinavian sound artists and has toured and recorded with acts such as Årabrot, Ryfylke and Nernes/Skagen, his work has been exhibited and performed several places around the world. The music presented on this release was made for the sound installation The Inward Rising by Skagen and fellow artist Monica Winther. The installation was presented at the Henie Onstad Art Centre from the 20th of November until 14th of December 2008.

The Inward Rising is according to Skagen the result from a one-year research in paint pigments reflective and absorbing light qualities. LED light was programmed to change the colors reflecting from the painting. Various patterns and color combinations build up a large painting that in constant change as the lights are changing. The object was the source for a sound and video composition.

See a video of the complete installation at www.youtube.com/kunstsenteret

The music on this record is standing in a minimalistic electro-accoustic tradition, inspired by composers such as Morton Subotnick, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis. The sound is digital and abstract, but contains clearly recognizable objects and structures which interacts with one another and makes up an organic whole.

The critic Bjørn Hatterud wrote in a review on the piece in kunstkritikk.no that Skagen and Winther …“has created some of the most powerful I've experienced in an art museum ever… The sound is murky and dark. I hear trees falling, the roar of waterfalls, creepy creatures, or the roaring emptiness of space...”

Prisma Records is proud to present this powerful, dynamic and extreme, yet delicately intricate composition for the first time.

Ingar Zach & Andreas Meland: Music For Tinguely CD

2009-10-12T22:38:00.001-07:00

Available November 2009. Distributed by Musikkoperatorene.

Ingar Zach (b.1971) is one of Norway`s leading percussionists and founder of the record label SOFA. He has recorded for the ECM and Rune Grammofon labels together with his bands Dans Les Arbres and Huntsville and has released several solo and duo records.

Andreas Meland is a Norwegian sound artist and musician. He has recorded with the projects Røyskatt, Norwegian Noize orchestra, düplo and Forell pluss several solo projects. He is also the founder of the experimental music festival Safe as Milk and the Melektronikk record label.

Music for Tinguely consists of two pieces commissioned for the Jean Tinguely exhibition - The Future As We Know It - presented at the Henie Onstad Art Centre in 2009. Zach`s piece Tinguely Solo was created for the opening ceremony of the exhibiton on April 16th 2009 by using a Gran Cassa, percussion, sruti box and drone commander mixed together with sounds from the Meta sculpture by Jean Tinguely. Andreas Meland`s piece The future as we remember it was performed at the centre on April 19th as part of a concert day together with the bands In the Country and Golden Serenades. All the source material for Meland`s piece was recorded on site in the Jean Tinguely exhibition.

Kåre Kolberg: Nova CD

2009-10-12T22:35:00.001-07:00

Available November 2009. Distributed by Musikkoperatorene.

Kåre Kolberg (b.1936) is one of Norway`s foremost contemporary composers and is regarded as one of the pioneers of early electronic music and cross-artistic art in the Scandinavia. He has composed music for film, theatre and chamber orchestras to jazz acts such as Svein Finnerud Trio and Jan Garbarek.

The electronic tape composition presented on this CD was composed for the multi-media work NOVA created together with the artist Anders Kjær, presented at the Henie Onstad Art Centre from the 2nd to the 22th August 1972. NOVA was one of Norway`s first sound installations. It included a specially designed light show and music played from tape - blended together with a huge 13 x 19 meter installation consisting of glass, rubber tires and piles of paper that the audience could walk through. The composition made for this piece was found on a tape in the centre`s archives and Prisma Records is proud to release an hitherto unknown gem in Norwegian early electronic music history.

Keith Fullerton Whitman/Mimaroglu Music Sales wrote:

one of the finds-of-the-year in regards to unheard early electronic music ...

in 1972 composer kåre kolberg composed this 25-minute piece as an “accompaniment” to anders kjær’s titular “sound-environment” (detailed below) installed at the henie onstad art center in oslo ; the master-tape was summarily buried in the center’s archives, until lasse marhaug (in charge of rejuvenating the center’s in-house record label prisma) turned it up, some 37 years later ...

comprised of chopped-up trumpet, lid-slam grand piano, vocal phonèmes (ala amirkhanian’s “lexical music”) arranged into a heavily-filtered, explosion-heavy array, this piece ranks up there with dark concrète masterpieces from the likes of andré almuro, bent lorentzen, and the like ... highly recommended !!!

Prisma Records!

2009-10-08T08:02:00.000-07:00

Prisma Records is a new record label dedicated to releasing music performed and recorded at the Henie Onstad Art Centre located at Høvikodden, Norway. The label focuses on new recordings from the centre`s concert and performance program, entitled Høvikodden Live. It will also release older recordings from the centre's extensive music archive, consisting of 600 concerts from 1968 until 1990. The label is run by the centre`s two music-coordinators Lars Mørch Finborud and Lasse Marhaug - with kind permission by the centre.

On the November 16th Prisma Records will release 3 albums as digipak CDs and digital versions on Itunes and Spotify. The two first CDs in this batch presents the soundtracks made for two multi-media installations presented at the art centre, with 36 years in between the two works (!!). One is the pioneering electronic tape composition NOVA by Kåre Kolberg from 1972 and the other one is the noise composition The Inward Rising by Stian Skagen made in 2008. The third release presents two commissioned music pieces made for the Jean Tinguely exhibition shown at the art centre in 2009, composed by percussionist Ingar Zach and electronic composer Andreas Meland.