Ernest Berk
Ernest Berk (1909-1993) was a German dancer, choreographer and composer of electronic music, born in Cologne. He left Nazi Germany in the mid-1930s and spent most of his working life in London, where he made ballets for theatres and festivals. From 1955 he made tape music in a home studio in Camden and went on to write a large body of electronic work, much of it for dance, very little of which was released in his lifetime. Berk married the dancer Lotte Heymansohn (Lotte Berk) in 1933.
Electronic Music 1955-1984
Anthology of the German-born dancer and choreographer's electronic music for dance, made in his three North London studios: tape loops, kettle-lid percussion, radio interference and generator pulses, in Sub Rosa's Early Electronic series.
Electronic Music For Two Ballets
Extraordinary unreleased homemade electronics from the late 1960s made by a pioneering ballet dancer and musician. There are very few Ernest Berk recordings. As a pioneering ballet dancer, instructor and electronic music artist he was surprisingly prolific. He made music for all sorts of uses -- he even made library music -- and of course this very album of his music for two of his ballets. Towards the end of his life Ernest Berk gifted his entire collection of works, tapes, documents, and all t…