Concert of the 24 May 2019

Published on Apr 14, 2020 RADIOKLOW

You might remember previous posts featuring performances by Marc-Henri Arfeux, aka RADIOKLOW, and his students here on MATRIXSYNTH. Marc-Henri wrote in to share this last concert. A ninth was scheduled but unfortunately it will likely be canceled due to the current state of things.

"This concert was given Friday 24 May 2019 at Lycée Edouard Herriot of Lyon, France, by the Philosophy and Electronic Music Workshop I created in 2010.

During this eighth season, we worked around the question of memory.

The concert was performed by:

Victor Barbé: synthesisers, harmonica, voice
Candice Blache : Minimoog Voyager
Julie Breuil : Access Virus TI, voice
Athénaïs Franck : Voice,
Antoine Grimaud : Guitar, voice
Paul Saric : Minimoog Little Phatty, voice
Marc-Henri Arfeux : Minimoog Voyager, Access Virus TI
"Mauvais Garçon" : Introduction to the audience"

Concert of Containment, Sunday 12 April 2020, 16h

Published on Apr 13, 2020 RADIOKLOW

"This concert was given in a virtual room for an audience of Friends and Intimates, during the present containment against the covid 19 pandemic.

I wanted to gather some close Friends and Intimates for a moment of music performed on my favorite synthesiser and tibetan bowls, to share warmth and fraternity. Beyond this small group of persons, these improvisations are offered to everyone in this world, with the hope to bring all women and men peace and serenity. They are a travel to light.
A the beginning of them, I chant a mantra for healing : "Om Shree Dhanvantree Nahma".

With all my love and compassion for everyone

I dedicate this concert to my dear cousin Jean-Luc who has suffered from the bad virus and went to hospital but has now fully recovered. I will soon come back home and share again life with his wife !"

Répétition du concert du 15 Mai 2018

Published on May 18, 2018 RADIOKLOW

A new performance from MATRIXSYNTH reader RADIOKLOW, known for his compositions with the Access Virus TI. Side note: his music was actually the tipping point for me in finally picking up a Virus TI2. I have analog and VA covered. RADIOKLOW's experimental use of the Virus TI proved it was capable of much more. But, enough of me. The above is a rehearsal video with some interesting visuals. The below is the actual concert. The composition was done with RADIOKLOW's students.

Concert du 15 Mai 2018 : Raison, Rêves et autres délires

Published on May 18, 2018 RADIOKLOW

"This concert was given on Thuesday 15 May 2018 by the Philosophy and Electronic Music Workshop I created seven years ago. On this special occasion, we performed a show including music and a film.

Saturday 12th of may 2018, eight of the nine members of the Philosophy and Electronic Music Workshop I created seven years ago, gathered at my home to rehearse with me our concert of the 15th of may. This rehearsal appeared to us interesting enough to be presented to the public. Since the filming of it was only a work document consisting on a unique picture with nothing interested to be seen in it, we decided we would use here the film created to be shown during the concert.

Our theme was this year : 'Reason, Dreams and other deliriums'.

During the sessions of the seventh season every student worked on magic objects and created an original work. These objects and works are shown in the film. Various quotations of philosophers and poets about our notions give a written echo to the images and the music.

The music was performed on an Access Virus TI 1, Roland Fantom XR for the piano sound, acoustic instruments including : tibetan bowls, bells, indian cymbals, stones, marbles, various decoys, flutes and two electric guitars.

The musicians are :
Victor Chemla : Virus TI, various percussion instruments and decoys
Herménégilde Claux : Virus TI, various percussion instruments and decoys
Grégoire Lombard : Roland Fantom XR
Louisian Germain : Electric guitar, shaman drum, various percussion instruments
Valesca Goulmot : Various percussion instruments and decoys
Antoine Grimaud : Electric guitar
Clara Maeso : Various percussion instruments
Lucas Mollard : Virus TI, various percussion instruments
Foucauld Monteux : Flute, various percussion instruments and decoys
Marc-Henri Arfeux : Virus TI
As a bonus, you will find a composition I created and perform alone on a Little Phatty. This composition, exploring in the same field as the music for the concert, is called : Ritual of bowls."

Pour en finir avec le Jugement de Dieu

Published on May 20, 2017 RADIOKLOW

Music performed on the Access Virus TI. More RADIOKLOW.

"Pour en finir avec le Jugment de Dieu, ( To have done with the judgement of God) is a censored never-aired radio play written in 1947 by the french poet, artist and actor Antonin Artaud.

Léo Mouton, student a Lycée Edouard Herriot of Lyon asked me in june 2016 to collaborate with him in an attempt to give theatrical life to this mythic piece of meditation. I instantly said yes and we started to work during the following autumn. Léo chose a selection of the most important parts of Artaud's work and I had to choose with him the sounds we would use to enhance the text. I of course chose to work on my favorite Access Virus TI and the result of this long work was performed , thursday 18th of may, at Lycée Edouard Herriot."

Googlish:

"Pour en finir avec le Jugment de Dieu, ( To have done with the judgement of God) is a censored never-aired radio play written in 1947 by the french poet, artist and actor Antonin Artaud.

Léo Mouton, student a Lycée Edouard Herriot of Lyon asked me in june 2016 to collaborate with him in an attempt to give theatrical life to this mythic piece of meditation. I instantly said yes and we started to work during the following autumn. Léo chose a selection of the most important parts of Artaud's work and I had to choose with him the sounds we would use to enhance the text. I of course chose to work on my favorite Access Virus TI and the result of this long work was performed , thursday 18th of may, at Lycée Edouard Herriot."

Matière Noire - Spectacle du 17 Mai 2017

Published on May 19, 2017 RADIOKLOW

"Matière Noire - Spectacle du 17 Mai 2017 (Black Matter - Show of the 17th of May 2017), is a live concert performed by the Philosophy and Electronic Music Worshop of Lycée Edouard Herriot, Lyon, France.

Music by

Lauren Niculescu (Access Virus TI, Roland V Synth XT, and Moog Little Phatty)
Léo Mouton (Access Virus TI and Roland V Synth XT)
Herménégilde Claux, (A100 Doepfer and MiniMoog Voyager Electric Blue)
Marc-Henri Arfeux [RADIOKLOW] ( A100 Doepfer, Moog Little Phatty, MiniMoog Voyager Electric Blue and Access Virus TI).

Dance Performance by Julia Houdin

Film shown during the concert by Herménégilde Claux, Lucien Mouton and Marc-Henri Arfeux

Concert filmed by Jérémy Ferhadian at Lycée Edouard Herriot, Lyon, France

Final monting and titles : Marc-Henri Arfeux

Paintings and drawings of the film by Léo Mouton, Olivier Michel and Marc-Henri Arfeux

The object of this concert and its film was the exploration of unconsciousness in the perspective of the Psychology of Archetypes created and developed by Carl Gustav Jung."

More RADIOKLOW

Shaman

Published on Apr 28, 2017 RADIOKLOW

"Shaman is a video composition created by Marc-Henri Arfeux about the french artist Thierry Lambert and his work.
Music composed on Access Virus TI - all sounds designed by Marc-Henri Arfeux"

Promenade Improvisation

Published on Jun 17, 2016 RADIOKLOW

All Access Virus TI.

"Music, painted box of the generic and film by Marc-Henri Arfeux.

'Promenade Improvisation' ('Walk Improvisation'), is what was filmed of a mini concertI gave on the 4th of June. This performance of improvisation lasted 30 minutes but in the middle of it, the filming was interrupted by chance and reloaded so that only a part of this set was finally shot. Nevertheless, it gives a good idea of what I have done and of the circumstances of this mini concert.

I was invited by the association Arthésée to perform electronic improvisations in an exhibition of paintings by Erro, one of the most famous masters of the european creation influenced by many currents among which Fluxus, Cobra, the new figurative school of the sixties, comics, etc.

The principle of this action was that I would start to play while the visitors of the exhibition would walk among the paintings and watch them, during 30 minutes. They would have the choice to come and sit behind me, to remain in front of the paintings or to go out after their visit.

On the film you see some to the visitors finish to gather and sit behind me. At the opening, there is only one person, and during the performance, others come and sit to listen. The performance ends with the persons who decided to stay in the room.

I play on my favorite Virus TI. Of course, all sounds are my creation.

I thank Thésée, founder and president of Arthésée to have given me the opportunity to live this very singular and fascinating experience.

The mysterious painted box you see at the beginning of the film is a work I created between April and May of this year. It has no relationship with the painting exhibition, but I preferred to show it instead of works by Erro for rights reasons."

Hanami Sakura

Published on May 30, 2016 RADIOKLOW

"Hanami Sakura, ('Ceremony of Cherry trees blossom' in japanese) is a concert performance which was given Tuesday 17 May 2016, by the Philosophy and Electronic Music Workshop I created 5 years ago at Lycée Edouard Herriot of Lyon.

To celebrate this fifth birthday, the students and I invited an french artist, Claire Deville, to join us on stage to improvise a performance by drawing with sewing threads in one of my paintings devoted to the cherry trees blossom. An abstract film I created was shown during the performance.

Our concert was divided into 14th parts, each one corresponding to a poetic meditation upon the blossom. From time to time, a haïku was said by one of the performers.

Lauren Niculescu, Edouard Klein, Arnaud Marthinet, Léo Mouton and Benjamin Tobalem played the Virus TI, Edouard playing also a Djembe. Victor Hunkler played a rain stick, the Djembe and a Little Phatty. Arnaud sometimes played also the Little Phatty. I played a Minimoog Voyager, Electric Blue. All sounds on each synthesizer are our creation.

The film was shot for the Philosophy and Electronic Music Workshopby Cassiopée Veyret"

L'Atelier du songe

Published on Jan 26, 2016 RADIOKLOW

"L'Atelier du songe (Workshop or Studio of dream), is a composition for Access Virus TI, Moog Little Phatty, various sounds and my voice, transformed with the Grm Tools.

I celebrates the mystery of creation, especially in the field of painting an visual arts, in connection with a series of 6 artists who accepted to appear by their works in this project and my own works as a painter. They are : Jean-Claude Terrier (Besançon, France), Abigail Stern, (New York), Patrick Rousseau, (Siem Reap, Cambodia), Thierry Lambert ( Saint Hilaire du Rosier, France), Caroline Dahyot, Ault, France), Robert Lobet (Nîmes France), and me (Lyon, France).

I also composed the written poems that appear on some paintings and the spoken poems included in the musical substance of this composition."

And what you are hearing:

00:00 - 00:45 : Virus TI alone
01:09 - 01:14 : Virus TI and sounds
01:25 - 02:12 : Virus TI and sounds
02:12 - 02:36 : Sounds alone
02:36 - 02:47 : Sounds and Virus TI
02:45 - 02:55 : Sounds alone
02:55 - 07:01 : Virus TI alone
07:01 - 08:25 : breath and Virus TI
09:50 - 10:45 : Marbles and Virus TI
11:00 - 12:04 : Birds and Virus TI
12:20 - 13:10 : Tongue and mouth noises and Virus TI
13:40 - 13:57 : Tongue and mouth noises and Virus TI
13:57 - 18:48 : Virus TI
18:48 - 19:25 : Little Phatty and Virus TI
19:37 - 20:10 : Voice and Virus TI
20:11 - 20:30 : Voice, Little Phatty and Virus TI
20:32 - 22:40 : Sounds, Little Phatty and Virus TI
23:16 - 23:51 : Sounds and Virus TI
23:51 - 24:15 : Voice, sounds, and Virus TI
24:15 - 25:06 : Sounds and Virus TI
25:07 - 25:36 : Little Phatty and Virus TI
25:41 - 26:25 : Little Phatty and Virus TI
26:34 - 26:49 : Little Phatty and Virus TI
26:58 - 27:03 : Little Phatty and Virus TI
28:20 - 28:46 : Voice, Little Phatty and Virus TI
28:46 till the end : Little Phatty and Virus TI

Selon Lumière

Published on Jan 14, 2016 RADIOKLOW

"Selon Lumière, (According to Light) is a piece composed for Virus TI. It celebrates the infinite journey of light in metamorphosis in universe, from the core of darkness to endless absolute.
In the realm of infinite distance, even the highest speed becomes a variation of slowness. Sometimes a sudden event of chromatic blossom happens, whereas light goes on gliding along its vector as an arrow of enigma, or a traveller creating his path according to his steps.
Music, and film by Marc-Henri Arfeux."

JBK

Published on Jan 11, 2016 RADIOKLOW

"JBK, Portrait of a friend and artist.
This piece of music was composed as a tribute to my friend, Jean-Baptiste Kempf. Visual artist in computer, Jean-Baptiste Kempf creates is own images and films by complex programming. We worked together a few years ago to produce a video composition called = Meditation : [posted here]

This composition was performed on Virus TI by Marc-Henri Arfeux. The video was also created by Marc-Henri Arfeux"

Arstechnika

Published on Jun 1, 2014 RADIOKLOW·94 videos

"Performance given by the members of the Philosophy and Electronic Music Workshop of Lycée Edouard Herriot I created three years ago.

This year, we worked on the theme : Art and Technics and decided instead of a demonstrative approach to express how various techniques of music, video, and performing arts can be a path towards beauty. I hope we succeeded but I am not the right person to have an opinion about this since I am involved in this performance.

With :

Lara Mondelin, Oprhys Pirmpied, Emilano Germain : Composition and performance

Adrien Pain : Composition and improvisations on various acoustic little instruments

Jérémie Vaudet : Composition and improvisations on Mini Moog Voyager Electric Blue

Marc-Henri Arfeux : Videos, composition, improvisations on Virus TI

Compositions on Virus TI and various little acoustic instruments

Performance filmed by Colin Chastel

Light : Marceau Levin

We dedicate this film to the memory of David Balmas, a young student who passed away soon after having joined the workshop.
His soul remains in our hearts."

"Poetry at the core of arts" with a Dedication to Pierre Henry by Marc-Henri Arfeux & the Access Virus

Many of you will be familiar with the Access Virus compositions by Marc-Henri from previous RADIOKLOW posts. Marc-Henri bridges the gap between electronic music and other forms of art. His most recent work is a poem in tribute to Pierre Henry accompanied by the Access Virus. The tribute is hosted on La poésie au cœur des arts : le Blogart which translates to "Poetry at the core of arts". Click through and click on the Access Virus image to get to the piece.

via Marc-Henri:

"This site called 'Poetry at the core of arts' is the net the extension of a book of the same title, an anthology of poetry published by the french publisher : Editions Bruno Doucey. The book contains a poem I wrote about electronic music. The site was conceived to developp an exploration for some of the poets and artists of the book. I am one of them for, poetry , music and painting.

You will find the poem I wrote for the book, three pieces of music composed in january 2014, four poems by other authors of the anthology, three improvisations performed in early february 2014, a former composition called De Haute Vallée you have seen in the form a video in late 2012, an interview in french and some photographs taken at my flat when I was interviewed."

The following is Marc-Henri's poem translated into English:

"Orpheus veil"

Fly down into Orpheus ear,
Where roll clockworks
Of the forbidden stars
And voices shreds seeking vision.

Listen at the well of walls
Echoes of illuminated faces
In their bronze palaces.

Pavings, folds of roses,
The naked heels
Playing the freshness game
With embers
And the childhood kisses.

Travelling back to horizon,
In the limestone of nights,
Is now the prophecy of the spices,
With its tissue gifted with red
And the sobbings of an initiation.

Marc-Henri Arfeux - 2013

----------

Update: the following an English translation of the interview with Marc-Henri Arfeux on "Poetry at the core of arts". It is a fascinating read and reminds me of why I initially got into synths. My first synth was a brand new Oberheim Matrix-6 back in 1986. When I first started exploring the Matrix-6 I had no idea what the parameters did, so I just dived in. For me it was an exploration of sound for the sake of sound and a fascination in creating musical instruments never heard before. The focus was on that exploration rather than the attempt to mimic real world instruments. Much of this spirit is covered in the world of musique concrete and is captured in the interview below. Do not miss the part on the short wave radio. Truly fascinating and an inspiration for sonic exploration.

CLICK FOR MORE »

In Memoriam Bernard Parmegiani

Published on Nov 29, 2013 RADIOKLOW·96 videos

"In Memoriam Bernard Parmegiani is a tribute to the french composer who died on the 21th of november 2013, about a week ago. Written ofr Virus TI, it consists in a funeral ritual in seven stations, each one being the enter of a kind of broken mantra which reveals its substance at the end of the composition.
Bernard Parmegiani was the second composer of electroacoustic music I discovered in my youth. At the gage of 15, I read a book by Michel Chion and Guy Reibel in which he was mentioned with many details about his most famous masterpieces. The description was so suggesting I bought a record of Dedans/Dehors and I perfectly remember how deeply impressed and fascinated I was when listening to it for the first time. Since I have always admired and listened to Bernard Parmegiani's music with the same passion and was very sad when I got the news he had passed away, last friday. This is why I decided to pay him this tribute as a means to express my gratitude to him.
I dedicate this music to Bernard Parmegiani's family, friends and fellow musicians."

RIP Bernard Parmegiani - Electronic & Acoustic Composer

Marc-Henri (aka RADIOKLOW) wrote in to let me know electronic acoustic composer Bernard Parmegiani has passed away at the age of 86.  He was mentioned here on MATRIXSYNTH a few times in the past.

The above image is from conceptoradio where you'll find a feature on him in Spanish. The following is some of the text translated to Googlish:

"Editions Mego is refocusing on the work of Bernard Parmegiani under his Recollection GRM series. reissued it "De Natura Sonorum" album first published in 1975 and probably one of the most important works of the French composer. This work consists of twelve movements, constituted in two series of six, combining analogue sounds with electronics, and is a true reflection of his studies at the Research Group Concrete Music (GRM) of Pierre Schaeffer. This work was also inspired by artists such as Aphex Twin or Autechre, since, as well quote the press release, 'has indelibly marked the classical period of electroacoustic music.'"

Bernard Parmegiani: De Natura Sonorum (1975)

Published on Jun 3, 2012 TheWelleszTheatre·1,789 videos

"Bernard Parmegiani (*1927): De Natura Sonorum (1975).
Création 3 Juin 1975, Paris.
Dédié a Michel Descombey et au Ballet Indépendiente de Mexico."

You can find a bio on Wikipedia here.

via Marc-Henri: "By a strange mystery of time, the INA-GRM has just released a few days ago a new version of his most important works in CD. Bernard Parmegiani was not so famous as Pierre Henry (still living and now around 85 years) but of the same artistic level in a very different style."

Parmegiani: "La Création du Monde" (Complete)

Published on Aug 29, 2012 NewMusicXX·836 videos

"Bernard Parmegiani: 'La Création du Monde' (1982-84) (Complete)
Lumière Noire (Black Light), Métamorphose du vide (Metamorphosis of the Void), Signe de vie (Sign of Life)

I have received many requests to post this work in its complete form, so here it is."

Hadikat Raja XXIII

Published on Nov 2, 2013 RADIOKLOW·94 videos

"Twenty third visit to the garden. Composed for Virus TI and Little Phatty.
Music, land art and film by Marc-Henri Arfeux."

"Virus Ti, except a small part with the Little Phatty from 6:47 to 8:15; it gradually appears under the Virus TI waves, and develops into a solo until 13:27 where the Virus TI comes back alone."

Toshi Ichiyanagi - Parallel Music.

Uploaded on Dec 15, 2010 Hombre Alterado·43 videos

For electronic tape
1962

You can find more of Toshi Ichiyanagi's music here: http://www.youtube.com/channel/HCGJnvELQW5fM

This one in via RADIOKLOW

Monochromies

Published on Oct 27, 2013 RADIOKLOW·93 videos

"Monochromies is a musical and visual meditation on the notion of color, composed for Virus TI. The idea of monochrome is very often associated to a single color considered in itself as the substance of a painting, since Yves Klein invented his famous blue and used it constantly in reference to cosmos and alchemy. But this conception is not aware that a genuine monochrome is far more than a unique tone and Yves Klein who was initiated to the secrets of color as well as alchemy perfectly knew it. Behind the visible radiance of a his symbolical atmospheric blue, all the dimensions of the spectrum are gathered in a composition of their different values, forming the specific vibration of the cosmic substance this artist invented. Such a strange phenomenon is not only poetry or the sign of an ancient belief conveyed into a kind of painter's mysticism, but also a physical reality. Every color radiates through the others and produces the specific aura of each of them. As an alchemist wrote about the philosophical stone " It has every color, white, red, yellow, blue sky, green", is also true in the filed of music since colors and sounds are two expressions of the same basic reality. In this piece, I try to explore it by a combination of music and visual events, divided into four moments, each one corresponding to an element, but also according to a process in three dimensions plus one (space and time, sides of the triangle and their blossom in a final fourth absolute form in which the distinct lines and angles finally unite. These different moments are also successive enters into the core of the universe mystery through musical and visual doors (this is why I used the noise of a genuine door in the third enter, in association with the sounds of the Virus TI, from 6:27 to 7:52). Each door leads to a deeper vision until the piece reaches its end in the suspension of the enigma, close to its revelation, but a few steps before it since we can just go on the border but never cross it. The only knowledge we are allowed to reach being the intuition of the other side through our journey of impossible discovery.
Film and music by Marc-Henri Arfeux"

Etude de Matière Blanche

Published on Oct 19, 2013 RADIOKLOW·92 videos

"Etude de Matière Blanche, (Study on White Matter) is the third and last element of the trilogy of matter and light I composed since last september (Study on Black Matter and Chromata being the previous elements of this meditation). The topic of this last study is the essence of light and of its principle the white which contains all the variations of the prism as a secret drop of infinite visibility. My approach of it is both poetic and metaphysical since I believe the field of physics is the most essential region of science, may be the most close to the mystery of being, on the immaterial border of ontology.
Film and composition by Marc-Henri Arfeux, the music having been created once again on a keyboard Virus TI."

Chromata

Published on Oct 18, 2013 RADIOKLOW·91 videos

"Chromata, for keyboard Virus TI celebrates the mystery of the color's birth out of light, in the depth of the universe. Composition and film by Marc-Henri Arfeux"