"On Friday, April 27, three movements from Lost Atlantis will be presented in their original quadraphonic (4-channel) format as part of the 2007 Los Angeles Sonic Odyssey. The concert will take place at 8:00 P.M. at the The Neighborhood Unitarian Church at 301 N. Orange Grove Blvd. in Pasadena, CA. 91103. For more information, you can click here, or phone 877-358-5813. The sections of Lost Atlantis presented on this program will be: Introduction: The Pillars of Hercules - The Great Harbor; The Temple of Poseidon - The Dance of the Gods; The Destruction of Atlantis - Epilogue: "...and Atlantis Shall Rise." This concert will present a rare opportunity to hear this music as originally composed and with excellent multichannel sound projection."Lost Atlantis was originally composed with the Buchla Electric Music Box, the Buchla 200. I've listened to it and it is an amazing sonic journey into electro-acoustical sonic landscapes. It is available off of Barry Schrader's Website and I have a permanent link on the right side of this site under the Synth CDs section. You can find reviews for the album at the bottom of Barry's site.
What's not clear regarding the event above is how this will be presented. Will it be an orchestra, a playing of the original recordings or the actual Buchla 200. I can't imagine trying to recreate this live on an original Buchla. If anyone knows, please comment.
I can say with 100% certainty that it will played from tape. The interesting thing is this performance will include the original narration by Nick England which was omitted from the CD release. The narriation has to do with Plato's text on Atlantis, and adds to the experience.
ReplyDelete- P
Peter is correct. What is meant by "original format" is the original quadraphonic version played from a computer with digital transfers made from the half-inch 4-track master. While these tapes are still quite playable, I haven't played them since we did the transfers for the "Lost Atlantis" CD a few years ago. Gary Chang did an amazing job of cleaning up the sound of the stereo mix for that CD, but, for this concert, we'll be using the transfers of tracks in the same audio state that they were when I composed the piece; they're not bad, considering the only noise reduction I had at the time was Dolby B. And, yes, as far as I now know, the narration for the selected movements will also be presented at this concert.
ReplyDeleteWhile I consider the stereo mix on the "Lost Atlantis" CD to be excellent, there's no question that the original 4-channel version is somewhat more impressive. This is because it was originally composed for that medium, and my approach to working in quad was to make the spatial distribution of the material an integral part of the composition.
Interestingly, a critic, Dan Wharburton of the "Paris Transatlantic", once mused over the possibilities of transcribing "Lost Atlantis" for an orchestra, but decided that it would be impossible. It's certainly not a job I would want to undertake.
Barry Schrader
A sonic psy-space odyssey through the melificent oceans of dolphin-space disco-ball dancing with 1980's technocratic grid lines and phong shaded polygons.
ReplyDeleteIt's a party for the whole family, and everyone can bring their roller-skates.
The real yarn is the narrative from Plato's text -- for Plato had a low opinion of the arts.
plato is an overrated windbag
ReplyDeleteyou guys get to see some great stuff Mort and now Barry...shame I live in Australia
ReplyDelete