Werder, Felix - The Tempest: Electronic Music
SKU
POGUS21044
"Felix Werder was born in Berlin in 1922. Possessed of an omnivorous musical curiosity, over the course of his career, he has explored many of the issues of concern in contemporary music, from serialism and aleatoric techniques, through opera, improvisation, graphic notation and electronics, always through the lens of his intense expressionist aesthetic. Werder was introduced to the use of electronics in the late 1960s by his friend Bruce Clarke, whose Jingle Workshop was the first commercial electronic music studio in Australia. He shortly thereafter acquired an EMS VCS3 analog synthesizer, and incorporated electronics into his performances. His group gave some of the earliest live electronic performances in Australia, two of which, 'Banker' and 'Oscussion,' are recorded on this CD. In 1974, he worked with the EMS Synthi 100, a large digitally-controlled analog synthesizer in the studio at the University of Melbourne, where he produced his electronic masterpiece, 'The Tempest' -- After Giorgione's 'Tempesta.' By the late 1970s, however, he had largely stopped working with electronics, as he devoted himself more and more to composing chamber works for his ensemble (and others) to perform. In the early '90s, with my urging and assistance, he made one foray into the world of computer music, with the contrapuntal fantasy 'V/Line.' He has not returned to the medium since then. His electronic work, then, forms a small but unique part of his output."-Warren Burt