Musique concrète (French; literally, "concrete music"), is the name given to a class of electronic music produced from editing together fragments of natural and industrial sounds. It is the opposite of traditional composing (known to some as Musique Abstraite, literally, Abstract Music) as the sounds are recorded first then built into a tune as opposed to a tune being written then given to players to turn into sound. Concrète was pioneered in the late 1940s and 1950s, spurred by developments in technology, most prominently microphones, and the commercial availability of the magnetic tape recorder (created in 1939), utilized as tape loops.

Pierre Schaeffer, a Paris radio broadcaster, experimented in a studio starting in 1948-1949. He created the "Research Group on Concrete Music" (Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète - GRMC) in 1951 when he established himself at the R.T.F., the ancestor of the ORTF public radiobroadcaster. Pierre Schaeffer began to use the classing of sounds to create what he called musical objects. Several compositors, among whom Pierre Boulez, Luc Ferrari, Karlheinz Stockhausen or Jean Barraqué would pass by the GRMC for a few concrete studies. The "Group on Musical Research" (Groupe des Recherche Musicales - GRM) is then created in 1958 by Pierre Schaeffer, along with Luc Ferrari and François-Bernard Mâche. The GRM is integrated in 1975 in the Audiovisual National Institute (Institut national de l'audiovisuel - INA) and, as of 2006, is still in activity.

Concrète was combined with other, synthesized forms of electronic music to create Edgard Varèse's "Poème électronique". "Poème" was played at the 1958 Brussels, Belgium World's Fair through 425 carefully-placed loudspeakers in a special pavilion designed by Iannis Xenakis.

The fictitious 'twelve-tone composeress' Dame Hilda Tablet, created by Henry Reed, spoke of her creation of 'Musique concrète renforcée'.

After the 1950s, Concrète was somewhat displaced by other forms of electronic composition, although its influence can be seen in popular music by many bands, including The Beatles, in their song Revolution 9, and Pink Floyd (notably the finale of the song "Bike"). Around 1967 and 1968 Frank Zappa made several musique concrete pieces with the help of the "Apostolic Vlorch Injector" at Apostolic Studios in New York City. The resulting sound, as heard on "The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny" from We're Only In It For The Money and "Dwarf Nebula Processional March & Dwarf Nebula" from Weasels Ripped My Flesh, is a series of bizarre, swirling buzzes, beeps and whooshes.

Traditional and non-traditional Concrète experienced a revival in the 1980s and 1990s. Artists like Ray Buttigieg with his experimental series "Earth Noise" and "Sound Science Series" and John Oswald's Plunderphonics use found and intended sounds in old and cutting edge techniques, although modern sampling technology is now often used in place of magnetic tape.

Recently, the growing popularity in all forms of electronica has led to a re-birth of Musique concrète. Artists such as Squarepusher, Christian Fennesz, Francisco Lopez, Ernesto Rodrigues and Scanner use many Concrète techniques in their music while often being classified under more common electronica genres such as IDM or downtempo. Music magazines such as The Wire regularly feature articles and reviews of musique concrète.

Bibliography

• Pierre Schaeffer, A la recherche d'une musique concrète ("The Search for a Concrete Music" - 1952)

External links

• Essay

See also

Electronic music genres | Sampling

Musique concrète | Música concreta | Musique concrète | Musique Concrète | ミュジーク・コンクレート | Muzyka konkretna | Musique concrète | Konkreettinen musiikki | Konkret musik | 具体音乐