Music Group 2025-10 Earliest Electronic Music

This week's playlist was provided by Scott and Lewis. It features the earliest electronic music, through the 1950's. Sorry Myndall, some of it is what a fellow graduate student once deemed "eastern academic bloop-bleep crapola". I disagree about 'crapola' :)

       John Cage — Imaginary Landscape I (1939)

Pre-war! Sufficient to listen to a couple of minutes. However, the entire piece (about eight minutes) is mesmerizing.

       Pierre Schaeffer — Five Studies of Noises — Trains

Earliest musique concerte (1948). Duration 2:53.

       Pierre Schaeffer — Ambience II

It is sufficient to listen from beginning to 01:35.

       Early electronic synthesizer from 1950

"This is music with a strictly electronic beat." Duration 00:58.

       Theremin example: Mars Attack Theme

Duration 03:25.

       Edgard Varese — Ecuatorial

Listen to two segments: beginning to 1:56 and 3:00 to 3:33. The Ondes Martenot is a theremin-like instrument played with a ribbon.

       Pierre Boulez — Etudes — Sur un son (1951)

Somehow serial. Sufficient to listen to 01:40. Full duration 02:46.

       Vladimir Ussachevsky — Piece for Tape Recorder (1956)

Sufficient to listen for about three minutes. Full duration is 05:37.

       Gyorgy Ligeti — Artikulation (1958)

Two minutes is sufficient. This video also has a wonderful visual score.

       Edgard Varese — Poeme Electronique (1958)

Played in the Philips Pavilion of the Brussels Exposition. Duration 08:08. We begin the video at 01:45, but feel free to back it up to the beginning.

       Karlheinz Stockhausen — Gesang der Jungliche (1956)

This is part I. Duration 04:06. This video is with a visual score.