pierre schaeffer: le triedre fertile

Recollection GRM is one more label within the Editions Mego family of labels. Its aim is to make available on vinyl the vast archives of Groupe De Recherches Musicales (GRM). Being released in batches of two every three months, it will present both known and lesser-known works. All releases will be re-cut at Dubplates & Mastering and packaged in new artwork by Stephen O'Malley, featuring bi-lingual (French/English) texts. Some of these pioneering works have been out-of-print in this format for over 30 years, and would be a valuable addition to any serious collection of electronic music. It is worth pointing out that this series is neither a re-run of the original Collection INA-GRM series or the Phillips Prospective 21e Siècle series, but something new altogether. This is Pierre Schaeffer's Le Trièdre Fertile, full version 1975-1976, with the participation of Bernard Dürr. This trihedron, Schaeffer's last piece, echoes the physicists "reference trihedron," linked to the three fundamental measurements of sound: frequency, duration and intensity. The basic signs of traditional sol-fa that enable the transcribing of pitches, rhythms and nuances also correspond to these three measurements. However, it is precisely outside or beyond these parameters that, all through his life, Schaeffer researched music. Hence, qualifying this trihedron as "fertile" is the confession "of a late repentance." On the other hand, and against all odds, this piece was only composed from synthetic sounds, developed by Bernard Dürr. It is Pierre Schaeffer's only purely electronic music work. Here, the synthesizer is rather monitored by sensitivity than by computation principles, thus letting uncanny structures emerge. Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, March 2012. Layout: Stephen O'Malley.