HARRY BERTOIA : Complete Sonambient Collection

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Format: 11CD Box [IMPREC419CD]
Shipping Weight: 0.49lbs
Label: Important

12,390円

"Harry Bertoia's Complete Sonambient Collection features all 11 of Bertoia's original records newly restored from their master tapes and housed in replica jackets. A heavy duty box, printed with metallic inks, holds the 11 discs as well as a 100-page book containing a lengthy historical essay, an interview with Harry Bertoia from the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, exclusive Sonambient-era material from the Bertoia archive, modern and archival photos of the Bertoia barn, and reflections on Bertoia from David Sefton, Tom Welsh, David Harrington (Kronos Quartet), and all three of Bertoia's children. The Complete Sonambient Collection celebrates 100 years of Harry Bertoia in 2015, the centennial of his birth. In the late 1950s, Harry Bertoia (1915-1978), already a renowned American sculptor, began creating long-form, improvised pieces of music utilizing pure acoustic tones evoked from his sound sculptures. Around this time Bertoia came up with the term "Sonambient" to describe the music and environment created by his tonal sculptures and their lush harmonic overtones. In a renovated barn on his property deep in the Pennsylvania woods, Bertoia curated a harmonious selection of his sculptures and gongs, often recording his frequent, intuitive sound experiments using four overhead microphones and a ?" tape recorder. Bertoia dedicated the last 20 years of his life to his Sonambient work and in 1970 he released the first Sonambient LP. In 1978, in the final months of his life, he selected recordings from his archive and produced ten more Sonambient records. He would not live long enough to see or hear these records himself. Bertoia died in 1978, at age 63, and was buried beneath a giant gong behind his Sonambient barn. Bertoia's recordings are as much a celebration of sustained tones, slow decay, healing vibrations, and shimmering harmonics as Indian classical music, singing bowls, La Monte Young, or Benjamin Franklin's glass armonica. Through these rich harmonics, pulsing tones, and pure gongs Bertoia was able to more clearly articulate his inner spirit than he could with sculpture alone -- a point he made himself many times in interview. His single greatest piece of art is the totality of his life, which is nearly impossible to measure but easy to feel. Important Records hopes that somehow this box set evokes some of the same sacred, personal feeling that one has in Bertoia's barn. "I don't hold onto terms like music and sculpture anymore. Those old distinctions have lost all their meaning." --Harry Bertoia, 1976"

Tracklist
1-1 Space Voyage 15:11
1-2 Echoes Of Other Times 14:45
2-1 Swift Sounds 9:17
2-2 Phosphorescene 12:51
3-1 Unfolding 18:27
3-2 Sounds Beyond 14:53
4-1 Gong Gong 16:01
4-2 Elemental 17:46
5-1 All And More 17:48
5-2 Passage 14:13
6-1 Energyzing 22:05
6-2 Mellow Tops 21:19
7-1 Continuum 20:06
7-2 Near And Far 21:47
8-1 Swinging Bars 10:58
8-2 Vulcan's Play 14:06
9-1 Ocean Mysteries 23:40
9-2 Softly Played 18:44
10-1 Here And Now 20:53
10-2 Unknown 13:03
11-1 Bellissima Bellissima Bellissima 18:15
11-2 Nova 13:43

Credits
Design [Original Jacket Design] ? Harry Bertoia
Layout [CD Box Set], Design [CD Box Set], Realization [CD Box Set Production] ? John Brien
Liner Notes [Essay: Sounds Of Bertoia] ? Beverly H. Twitchell, Ph.D
Liner Notes [Introduction] ? John Brien
Liner Notes [Preface] ? Harry
Liner Notes [Smithsonian Interview] ? Paul Cummings
Liner Notes [Thoughts On Bertoia] ? Celia Bertoia, David Harrington, David Sefton, Lesta Bertoia, Peter Greene, Thomas M. Welsh, Val Bertoia
Photography By [Bertoia Barn 1970-1978] ? Beverly H. Twitchell, Ph.D
Photography By [Bertoia Barn Today 2012-2015] ? John Brien
Photography By [Cover Photo, CD11] ? Guy Tomme
Photography By [Sonambient Cover Photos, CD1 to CD10] ? Beverly Twitchell
Recorded By ? Harry Bertoia
Remastered By [Mastered For CD By] ? James Plotkin
Sleeve Notes [CD11] ? D'Otrange Mastai
Sounds [Sound], Other [Sculptures] ? Harry Bertoia
Technician [Sonambient LP's Prepared By] ? Peter Greene
Transferred By [LPS 10570 Transfer] ? John Brien, Ken Smith
Transferred By [Master Tape Transfers] ? Alix Bricault, John Brien

Notes
On Important Records sticker affixed to the shrinkwrap:
Included are all 11 of Bertoia's records newly restored from the master tapes and housed in replica jackets, a 100 page book includes an essay written by art historian Beverly Twitchell, Smithsonian interview with Bertoia, Sonambient era material from the Bertoia archive plus modern and archival photos of Bertoia's Bertoias [sic].
The book consists of 114 pages.

From the liner notes:
The first record (LPS 10570) had to be transferred from an LP and all possible effort was made to make it sound as accurate as possible.

Liner notes (Introduction): John Brien, September 30, 2015
Liner notes (Thoughts On Bertoia): David Sefton, Director/Adelaide Festival - Australia
Liner notes (Thoughts On Bertoia): Thomas M. Welsh, Director of Performing Arts, The Cleveland Museum of Art, August 2014
Liner notes (Thoughts On Bertoia): David Harrington, Kronos Quartet
Liner notes (Thoughts On Bertoia): Lesta Bertoia, 2015
Liner notes (Thoughts On Bertoia): Celia Bertoia, 2014
Smithsonian interview: Archives of American Art/Sonambient excerpt

Manufacturing dates:
F/W 1023 to F/W 1032: 1978
LPS 10570: 1970

Recording dates from Bertoia's log of selected recordings for the ten records pressed in 1978 (facsimile):
Record 1, Side 1, Swift Sounds: Aug. 12, 1973
Record 1, Side 2, Phosphorescene: Dec. 1971
Record 2, Side 1, Unfolding: Sept. 18, 1974
Record 2, Side 2, Sounds Beyond: Sept. 1974
Record 3, Side 1, Gong Gong: Nov. 9, 1974
Record 3, Side 2, Elemental: Oct. 20, 1974
Record 4, Side 1, All and More: Nov. 10, 1974
Record 4, Side 2, Passage: July 16, 1974
Record 5, Side 1, Energyzing: Oct. 20, 1974
Record 5, Side 2, Mellow Tops: Jan. 16, 1975
Record 6, Side 1, Continuum: Aug. 12, 1973
Record 6, Side 2, Near and Far: Aug. 17, 1973
Record 7, Side 1, Swinging Bars: Jan. 19, 1975
Record 7, Side 2, Vulcan's Play: Feb. 22, 1975
Record 8, Side 1, Ocean Mysteries: Dec. 11, 1971
Record 8, Side 2, Softly Played: July 17, 1974
Record 9, Side 1, Here and Now: Sept. 1, 1973
Record 9, Side 2, Unknown: Nov. 11, 1971
Record 10, Side 1, Space Voyage: Aug. 10, 1970
Record 10, Side 2, Echoes of Other Times: April 30, 1970

1-1 is named "Space Voyage" on the jacket and on disc and "Space Adventure" in the book.
8-2 is named "Vulcans Play" on the jacket and "Vulcan's Play" on disc and in the book.

Important Records catalog no. IMPREC419 only appears in the discs' matrices.
Barcode printed on label sticker.
Packaged in a heavy duty tip-on telescoping box, printed with metallic inks.