The Pre-Sampling

The Pre-Sampling

In 1948 Pierre Schaeffer, an engineer at Radio France, began to compose sounds and noises recorded several subsequently processed. In this new art I call "Concrete Music" because, unlike abstract instrumental music based on sounds of reality. The music was not made ​​with notes but with "sound objects" that came from recordings manipulated or not, and those who stood at the time of a new, cutting and splicing tape.
This distortion of reality to that music was a rather surreal air. One of his early works, for example, the "Etude aux Chemins de Fer" was based on train sounds. A classic of the genre is the "Symphonie pour un homme seul" (1949-50), performed on speech sounds, by Schaeffer and his student P. Henry. The plastic impact of these works was great, Maurice Bejart created choreography for many of them.

Pierre Henry, grown in literary style, his piece "Le well Tampere microphone" (1950-51) is another classic of the genre. Later use electronic sounds as well as the concrete, renamed electro-acoustic music. Achieved great virtuosity in the handling of audio material, in works like "Mass Times" which is also in the repertoire of Béjart. Henry's music is more sensitive than Schaeffer, preferring the sound manipulation intuitive theoretical formulation of it.