Unaltered acoustic instruments + electronic experiments?

[Fire]

Today, out of the blue, I began thinking about pieces with acoustic instruments, I especially thought about strings, playing without interference of electronic effects, alterations and so on; paired with electronic experimentalism. The only thing I could come up with was some stuff by Avram & Dumitrescu and Nono.

Just out of curiosity, any recommendations when it comes to that specific approach?

[MRS]

Can't recall if Veliotis' cello isn't manipulated but Texturizer's Antifrost from '03, timeless.

[jon abbey]

not a string instrument, but the first thing I thought of was Malfatti/Filip-imaoto, trombone/sine waves, recorded pristinely by the great Christoph Amann.

[Adrian]

and number one on my fave Ersts list, fwiw...

[J.F.]

1 hour ago I listened to Milton Babbitt's "Correspondences" for string orchestra & synthesized tape. Not sure in how far that one is "experimental" though. Written in 1967, it combines serialised orchestral textures with serialised electronic sounds and textures.

I'm sure in the repertoire for string quartets, there's a few which combine "natural" instruments with tape (Saariaho maybe?)

[J.F.]

This is the kinda stuff I have my data base for.

Norma Beecroft: Amplified String Quartet with Tape
Michael von Biel: Cellokonzert
Chaya Czernowin: Anea Crystal
Orm Finnendahl: Kommen und Gehen
Armando Gentilucci: Come qualcosa palpita nel fondo - II
York Höller: Antiphon
Wilfried Jentzsch: Paysage V
Georg Katzer: Dialog imaginär Nr.7
Leon Kirchner: Quartett No. 3
Francois-Bernard Mâche: Moires
Paul Mefano: A Bruno Maderna
Ilhan Mimaroglu: Still Life
Gerhard Pape: Le Fleuve du Désir
Penderecki: Kanon *
Horatiu Radulescu: Streichquartett Nr. 4 *
Steve Reich: Violin Phase *
Steve Reich: Different Trains *
Nicola Sani: Sonore image de mon absence
Alfred Schnittke: Prelude in Memory of Schostakovitsch *
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Helikopter Streichquartett (non-scenic version) *
Karlheinz Stockhausen: probably a few sections in "Orchesterfinalisten" *
Iannis Xenakis: Analogie A+B
Walter Zimmermann: Dit

(no Saariaho though, as mentioned in my previous post)

All these are listed for strings-only with tape (as opposed to string(s) with electronics). I have no idea in all cases what is on the tape. The titles with a little * have - I believe - either concrete sounds, or simply double an instrument or an ensemble. So that's not really "electronic music" coming from the tape in those cases. Maybe that's also the case for other titles listed above - I don't remember each and every of those compositions.

I can say that the Babbitt-number mentioned above certainly is my favorite in this department. I already listened to it a few times over the years, and was just again surprised how much I fucking loved it!

[Hayao Yamaneko]

Nakamura - Egrets (several tracks anyway)
Xenakis - Kraanerg
Lucier - In Memoriam John Higgins
(and lots of other Lucier pieces for which I don't have names to hand)
Lepenik - Postepeno

The last is perhaps not exactly what you're asking for since, If I remember rightly, there is some electronic detuning of the piano. Though no real timbral deformations etc. so maybe quite close in feel to what you want if not conforming exactly to the spec. Nice piece(s).

[bryan]

with acoustic "instruments":

The New Blockaders - Changez les Blockeurs

[Moon]

For strings in particular you could go through Kronos Quartet's backlog and single out performances of works by electroacoustic composers you like. Sometimes it's helpful to have an entry point when you're discovering, even if you don't like Kronos that much.

I immediately thought of David Behrman's 'on the other ocean', that music really made an impression on me because I was so sure it was from the early nineties when I first heard it. It's not particularly interesting musically, really very sweet sounding and a bit much, but man, those are late seventies machines playing together with live pitches. That's proto autotune you guys, we should put some 808's on it and rerelease it as trap

[cdeupree]

Celllist Frances-Marie Uitti's improvised duets with Jonathan Harvey on synthesizer on the album Imaginings seems like a close fit. Japanese violinist Mari Kimura has an album Polytopia which has several pieces for violin and signal processing or "interactive computer".

[This is PRE]

For compositions with massed strings (and many other unaltered acoustic instruments) of great density, I can think of no better than Paul Dolden. No electronics though, so may not fit the requirement, but unusual miking, alternative temperaments (Just Intonation and many other microtonal approaches), and hundreds of layered tracks produce very interesting acoustic effects and a pretty unique soundworld. I highly suggest the Seuil De Silences album, if you can handle the maximalism.

[This is PRE]

Forgot to mention: similar to Dolden in density is another Canadian composer's work, MC Maguire. His pieces follow a basic template: virtuosic acoustic soloist navigates a tricky score over a bed of samples, electronics and various other heavily layered interjections. Lasting about half an hour each, it's heady stuff and at two of these constructions per CD (he's got three out), you'll need some rest after his recordings. I recommend his latest, Nothing Left To Destroy; one piece has violin as the featured instrument/soloist, the other has flute.

[Fire]

Thanks for all the recommendations, will have a good listen!

[patois]

A couple things I've done myself seem to fit the description of what you're looking for (that is, untreated strings and electronics).. the most recent being Having Never Been To Beirut in tandem with Johnny Chang on viola. The other is from 2011 and is a split LP containing two compositions; the first 'white & red' with Phil Brownlee on violin, the second half a piece entitled LUX with Jérôme Poirier on untreated electric cello.

I personally have found it quite rewarding trying to find common ground, or at least a working relationship between such disparate elements as acoustic strings and feedback electronics... how successful we were is up to others, of course..