Denis Smalley
Denis Arthur Smalley (born 1946 in Nelson, New Zealand) is a composer of electroacoustic music, with a special interest in acousmatic music. He initially composed onto tape, but as early as the 1980s realised his works using computer software. Source sounds for his works may come from the environment – and are often the starting point for his pieces – but he may also develop highly sophisticated timbres from scratch using computer software. He describes his approach as "spectro-morphological"[1], featuring the development of sounds in time [2]. After graduating in New Zealand, further studies were in Paris with Olivier Messiaen and Musique concrète pioneer François Bayle.
Denis Arthur Smalley (born 1946 in Nelson, New Zealand) is a composer of electroacoustic music, with a special interest in acousmatic music. He initially composed onto tape, but as early as the 1980s realised his works using computer software. Source sounds for his works may come from the environment – and are often the starting point for his pieces – but he may also develop highly sophisticated timbres from scratch using computer software. He describes his approach as "spectro-morphological"[1], featuring the development of sounds in time [2]. After graduating in New Zealand, further studies were in Paris with Olivier Messiaen and Musique concrète pioneer François Bayle.
Tides
Long out of print, this CD is an awesome example of early 70's early 80's musique concrete - Pentes composed 1974 and realized at INA-GRM studios in Paris, France. Tides composed 1984 and Vortex composed 1982 realized at the electroacoustic studio in the University of East-Anglia, Norwich, England. The fairytale quality is bound to seep up like methane through the marshes, as so often in works by Jacques Lejeune or François Bayle – and the procedure functions in Smalley’s piece! Nature becomes …
Impacts Intérieurs
Five works by Denis Smalley from 1976 to 1992, including Wind Chimes, Valley Flow and the Golden Nica-winning Clarinet Threads with Roger Heaton, plus Piano Nets with Philip Mead, all remastered by the composer for this 2004 edition.
Sources / Scènes
Four acousmatic works by Denis Smalley from 1974 to 2000, each grown from one sound source: Derek Shiel's metal sculptures, air in Cretan garden pots, two water recordings, and the drone of Northumbrian pipes in the early GRM piece Pentes.
Vues Spectrales
Four works by Denis Smalley from 1981 to 2011, three six-channel pieces heard in stereo Ambisonic versions by Jonty Harrison and the Bourges prizewinner Vortex, from Danish church bells at dusk to the winds of Golden Bay in New Zealand.
Portail
Two recent eight-channel works by Denis Smalley, Fabrezan Preludes, built on chords from Debussy’s La Cathédrale engloutie, and Sommeil de Rameau, plus The Pulses of Time from 1978 for clavichord sounds and EMS Synthi 100.