Pierre Schaeffer “Strette”
From Le Trièdre Fertile
(Recollection GRM)

It all began with the reissue of this piece. In 2011, Peter Rehberg of Editions Mego approached us with the idea of teaming up to reissue GRM classics on vinyl. The idea was appealing, but we were all moving a little into the unknown. As a trial, I proposed this piece by Pierre Schaeffer. It was natural to begin with Schaeffer, perhaps a little less so with his latest work, purely electronic and composed with the help of Bernard Durr. This reissue, with Stephen O'Malley's successful design taking up and elaborating on the classic elements of the original editions, was an unexpected success. Recollection GRM was born.

Bernard Parmegiani “Points Contre Champs”
From De Natura Sonorum
(Recollection GRM)

An absolute classic, one of the most emblematic works of musique concrète and electroacoustic music, a true masterpiece that has influenced countless generations of musicians. It's a generous, inspired work that explores a wide range of techniques, textures and forms. An essential entry point for those wishing to immerse themselves in the acousmatic repertoire, but also a piece to which one returns regularly when wanting to be reminded of the fundamental issues at stake in sound music.

Régis Renouard Larivière “Contrée”
From Contrée
(Recollection GRM)

Régis Renouard Larivière is one of the most talented and original electroacoustic composers of his generation. For me, Contrée is (and has so far been) his masterpiece. It's a demanding work, imbued with a wild beauty. It is at once extremely rigorous, formally irreproachable, but also terribly free and deeply moving. Régis Renouard Larivière's music is unmistakable, with a grammar that is all micro-fragmentation, but here it seems to be at the service of an issue that transcends it, overflows it and exalts it. For me, Contrée is truly one of the hidden gems of this record collection.

Michèle Bokanowski “Rhapsodia”
From Rhapsodia/Battements Solaires
(Recollection GRM)

“Rhapsodia” is pure beauty. Here we find the very special, almost magical talent of Michèle Bokanowski, who, with a simple protocol, but with refinement, attention to detail and an extremely acute musical sense, manages to take our listening on a fascinating journey, at once dark and luminous, lyrical and rough. From the minute I heard this work, I considered it an instant classic. It's a work that shows in a gaunt and hypersensitive way, the true stakes of music.

Peter Rehberg “At GRM (2009)”
From At GRM
(Portraits GRM)

Almost 10 years after the launch of Recollection GRM, we were keen to extend our editorial activity and offer recent works commissioned by INA grm and premiered during our various concerts and festivals. As with Recollection, Peter Rehberg supported us with his generosity, enthusiasm and professionalism. When Peter abruptly left us, we decided to continue the two series with our friends and collaborators at Shelter Press. We wanted to pay tribute to Peter through this record, two live recordings of Peter's solo concerts at the GRM. It's a tribute, but above all a reminder of Peter Rehberg's immense musical talent.

Lucy Railton “Forma”
From Forma/Metabolist Meter (Foster, Cottin, Caetani And A Fly)
(Portraits GRM)

For some years now, at GRM, we've been trying to develop our residency activities, enabling artists to come and work in our studios, in order to develop cross-disciplinary musical projects at the crossroads of instrumental and electroacoustic practices, not with a view to technologically extend the instrumental gesture, as may be done elsewhere, but with a desire to exchange and hybridise timbres, sound textures and compositional techniques between the instrumental and electroacoustic realms. I'm particularly fond of Lucy Railton's Forma, a marvellous illustration of this dialogue, developed with great inspiration and talent.

Eve Aboulkheir “22/12/2017 Guilin Synthetic Daydream”
From 22​/​12​/​2017 Guilin Synthetic Daydream
(Portraits GRM)

This piece comes from a very recent album, shared with Lasse Marhaug. It was important for us in this series to focus on musical pieces, rather than monographic albums. Moreover, all the pieces released on LPs are first performed in concert. Eve Aboulkheir's piece, premiered on the GRM Acousmonium, was a real shock to me when I first listened to it. There's something virtuosic and feverish about this music, something indeed akin to a daydream, extremely fluid yet compositionally clear. It's also a real pleasure to have this series so that we can introduce the artists we support to a wider audience, and all over the world.

Lars Petter Hagen “Transfiguration 4”
From Minos Circuit/Transfiguration 4
(Portraits GRM)

As I mentioned earlier, one of our main focuses, complementary to our historical and still principal activity in acousmatic, electroacoustic and concrete music, is to explore the hybridisation of writing with the instrumental approach, but not so much at the level of the parameters of writing as at the level of the sound phenomenon itself, through problematics linked to timbre, materials and sound shapes themselves. Lars Petter Hagen's piece may be extremely erudite in terms of its abstract compositional material, but for me it is first and foremost an immense musical achievement, thanks to the predominant place occupied by the listening phenomenon. Lars Petter Hagen engages in a veritable exercise in auscultation, a twofold listening, directed towards both sound and soul.

Read Peter Margasak's review of multiple GRM releases in The Wire 474. Wire subscribers can also read the article online via the digital archive.