"The ground breaking innovation of music history of the 20th century is neither electronics nor computers, much less the portable computer – the really ground breaking innovation is the possibility of working on a sound recordings like a painter on his painting or a sculptor on his sculpture." Günther Rabl
*) Idea
Michael Zelenka (director) has been responsible for Günther Rabl’s website www.canto-crudo.at for years and has enjoyed the pleasure of electroacoustic music piece by piece. Fascinated by the realization of the music, he delved into the topic. At concerts he time and again took photographs and eventually even collected footage. At the celebration of Günther Rabl’s 60th birthday the idea to produce a final portrait about his life and works was born.
Footage of concerts and workshops already existed – the only thing missing were interviews and an extensive research about electroacoustic music. At the beginning the topic seemed manageable, but the project later on turned out to be a gigantic juggernaut. The electroacoustical community is not as small as presumed even though the genre itself is rather young.
Despite the abundance of material the film about Günther Rabl and electroacoustic music will be produced in a comprehensive and manageable format. Nevertheless great stress will be put on the quality of the contents, to be able to use the film even in a scholarly setting.
*) Realization
For the realization of the film a small team has been put together, working on the production since September 2013. The majority of the movie will be composed of interviews and concert footage. However, a DVD with lots of extras will be put together. The DVD will contain audio samples, important pieces, unused scenes, a summary of the research as well as an easily understandable history of Günther Rabl and electroacoustic music.
*) Emphases
Focus will be put in the following stages of his life:
- Festival Absolute Musik `88, `89 and `96 at the former cinema in Allentsteig
- Festival Absolute Musik `92 at the „Offenes Kulturhaus Linz“
- World Exhibition in `92 in Seville (Expo)
Within the topic of electroacoustic music the focus will be on its history and development:
- pioneers of electroacoustic music (Bebe und Louis Barron, Pierre Henry und François Bayle)
- electroacoustic musicians in Austria and abroad
- realization of electroacoustic music (techniques, now and then)
*) Terms
Within the film project there will time and again be used terms that are known as well as unknown in the music.
~) Electroacoustic Music
is music that is produced electronically. Generally speaking nearly every piece of music (from the radio, TV, cinema, speakers at nightclubs) would be electroacoustic music. Electroacoustic music as such is an art form that knowingly and openly works in the electroacoustic medium and within this medium creates authentic music pieces.
~) Absolute Musik [absolute music]
Absolute Music is a part of electroacoustic music and Günther Rabl’s own genre, being closely related to acousmatic, computer music, electronic music and Musique Concrète.
~) Synthesizer
A synthesizer is a musical instrument, which generates sounds electronically. There are analogue and digital synthesizers. Even though the classical synthesizer is rarely seen in this film, it does play a vital part in electroacoustic music. Single modules of which a synthesizer is constructed, such as a ring or frequency modulator, will regularly appear in the film.
A famous synthesizer is the Minimoog, which Günther Rabl’s late friend Dieter Feichtner used for his music.
~) ELAK - Department of Composition and Electroacoustic
University of Music and Performing Arts – Course for computer music and electronic media, www.elakwien.at
~) VASP, AMP, FFTBOX, NMS4
Günther Rabl’s self-programmed software for audio editing and composition (in the coding language FORTRAN).
~) Canto Crudo
Günther Rabl’s label founded in 2000. www.canto-crudo.at
~) Electric Orpheus Academy
Association for the promotion of electroacoustic music headed by Günther Rabl. The annual master classes also headed by Günther Rabl take place under the same name.