Else Marie Pade
"Et Glasperlesil" CD Dacapo
Records, Copenhagen
Much of the music
on this CD could be mistaken for work produced this year, it's sound
is fresh and complex. Of course, since it was made between 1958
and 1964, there are some tell signs of its age. But moments of equipment
limitation and funny mastering such as these only increase my wonder
at the years in which it was made.
The liner notes
describe Pade as gathering artistic momentum in Copenhagen, Paris,
and Cologne, but soon dismissed by music critics and academics in
Denmark. Between her gender, the type of music, and her geographical
position on the outside of electronic music circles, she really
had the odds stacked against her. What a terrible shame, because
this music showed an incredible balance between form and content
rivaling the best of the electronic pioneers. Denmark should be
ashamed of itself for not having supported her properly.
Her soundtrack
to the radio play of Faust is striking in its formal play of sinewaves,
and conceptually deft by its assignment of electronic sound forms
with characters in a manner similar to Peter and the Wolf. (Oboe
is wolf, flute is Peter...) Her play of sinewaves puts a 50 year
jump on the work of the Japanese Onkyo musicians, and avoids the
deathlock of formal drudgery.
When faced with
the task of scoring for fairy tales, she found the electronic tonal
palette well suited for imagination:
Lauridsen switched
on a tone generator, turned a few knobs and the room was filled
with the sound of mermaids just as enticing as they should be.
Her Graesstraet
or "Blade of Grass" composition describes a ridiculous
yet romantic story of a blade of grass dancing in a wedding gown
waiting for her groom the moon, while mosquitoes become drunk and
butterflies play. This image is accompanied by the concret recording
of instruments later enhanced by electronics to create a cartoon
atmosphere well ahead of Bugs Bunny.
Sure there are
some early electronic music cliché moments of plunking and
blooping, but give me one early OR late work of Stockhausen that
does not contain huge chunks of stinky cheese movements and over
serious lounging in sad comedy. Although her work was the first
Danish electronic music broadcast in Denmark, the responsibility
to nurture should not have ended there. This CD at least is an attempt
to rectify this situation, but since she is alive and well today,
perhaps someone in Denmark should buy her a G4 and a few programs?
This is a pretty
great CD, and I would like to hear more.