Showing posts with label ANS Synthesizer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ANS Synthesizer. Show all posts

Saturday, 20 October 2007

Various Artists - Electroacoustic Music Volume IV. Archive Tapes Synthesiser ANS 1964-1971

The Soviets did not only invest in sophisticated rocket technology & space stations...no, they also invented three incredibly unique synthesizers: (a) The Theremin (which has become pretty popular by now), (b) the Polivoks (sorry, don't know any recording of it, but it can perhaps be described as the Minimoog's wild brother) and (c) the ANS. You wouldn't recognise it as a synth even if you stood right in front of it. It looks like a baroque drawer/cupboard.

The ANS beast is probably one of the most unique synths ever made. Sound-synthesis is made with photosensitive sensors, and it sounds somewhat like a liquid cosmic nebular. Strange stuff. What's equally strange is that the ANS has attracted renowned classical composers like Alfred Schnittke & Sofia Gubaidulina. There's just a handful of known ANS recordings: Edward Artemiev's original Solaris & Stalker soundtracks (Solaris can be found here), Coil's three CD/one DVD set CoilANS, and Stanislav Kreichi's Anisana. For a better description check Wikipedia.

This recording featured here is probably the most essential, as (unlike the others) it is quite diverse in sound and includes some extremely rare electronic excursions by Schnittke & Gubaidulina. It's now impossible to get (even if you'd sell your mother's soul).
  1. Oleg Buloshkin - Sacrament [3:34]
  2. Sofia Gubaidulina - Vivente-Non Vivente ("Alive & Dead") [10:44]
  3. Edward Artemiev - Mosaic [4:00]
  4. Edward Artemiev - 12 looks at the world of sound [12:52]
  5. Edison Denisov - Birds singing [5:05]
  6. Alfred Schnittke - Steam [5:50]
  7. Alexander Nemtin - Tears [4:41]
  8. Alexander Nemtin - I.S. Bach: Choral Prelude C-Dur [2:30]
  9. Schandor Kallosh - Northern Tale [5:38]
  10. Stanislav Kreitchi - Voices of the west [2:00]
  11. Edward Artemiev & Stanislav Kreitchi - Music from the motion picture "Cosmos" [12:15]
  12. Stanislav Kreitchi - Intermezzo [2:00]
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Friday, 11 May 2007

Edward Artemiev - Solaris [Toei Music]


The second edition of Orpheus Records features some of the most beautiful music ever: Edward Artemiev's original electronic soundrack of Tarkovsky's legendary Science Ficion movie SOLARIS (1972). The music is composed entirely on the ancient Russian ANS Synthesizer and simply gorgeous. Its rough beauty is a perfect match of Tarkovsky's sparse, intense images. Despite the relative success and fame of the movie the soundtrack is - officially - still unavailable. What you get here is the CD bootleg release on the Japanese Toei Music label, which sometimes pops up on Ebay. Unless you're into painfully mellow new age easy listening, avoid the re-recorded release on Electroshock, labelled Solaris-The Mirror-Stalker.
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