Two new discs of old Eliane Radigue compositions arrived here today, along with a deluge of other stuff as the local postal strike seems to have ended for the time being with a bang. The two releases are issued on the Important Records label. One is a single disc that presents a suite of synthesiser works named Triptych, the other a double disc set named Vice Versa etc… So far I have only listened to the former of the two releases, but the packaging of both discs caught my eye when they arrived today. To begin with, they are jewel cases, never a good way to win me over, and predictably, the two-disc set’s case fell apart when I opened it. It took a while to open it though, because both cases came sealed with that extremely annoying tape wrapped over the top of it for some idiotic reason. Even though there is a little arrow indicating where to peel back the tape of course it just falls apart in your hands and leaves a sticky residue all over both your fingers and the jewel case. I’m not sure what I think about the actual sleeve designs either to be honest. They are made up of moody monochrome photos of Radigue as a young woman, a very beautiful young woman it must be said, but this is the problem, the sleeves resemble a Vogue photoshoot as much as experimental CD releases.

Anyway, yeah I’m in a grumpy mood

The three pieces that make up Triptych were the first music made by Radigue after three years study of Tibetan Buddhism saw her output slow to a halt. Triptych, a set of works for ARP synthesiser supposedly draw on the fundamental elements of fire, water, air and earth. I’m not really one to pay much attention to spiritual daftness, but some of the results here are rather lovely. The opening piece, lasting just under eighteen minutes actually does begin sounding very much like the wind, deliberately so I would assume. Radigue seems to be adjusting dials manually to increase and decrease the intensity of an almost noteless whooshing sound, which is later joined by a higher pitched sound of a similar nature. It is very cleverly done, and if I had not already read that the piece was performed on a synth I would have immediately thought that the music was a tape piece incorporating field recordings. As the “gusts” continue in a simple rhythmic manner so a very low, continuous tone becomes apparent behind them, and this gradually, very gradually increases in volume until it becomes as big a part of the music as the wind effects, and then for the last six minutes or so of the piece it takes over, the other sounds seemingly dissolved gradually into this tone, which itself changes slowly from a continuous sound into a rising and falling pulse mimicking the form that the wind noises had previously taken. Despite the relative cheesiness of this first piece’s structure I rather liked it. The beauty of Radigue’s work for me is mostly in its slow pacing. Her music is always changing, always morphing into something else, similar but different, but the shift is always so gradual that you barely notice it. This piece, albeit quite short by her standards still shows this patient approach off nicely.

At 24 and a bit minutes, the second piece is a little longer, and quite different from the first track, resembling her more familiar shimmering tones rather than any natural element mimickery. A solid, rich and constantly, but slowly changing tone takes the main part in this piece, while pulsing soft chimes ring out in metronomic fashion in the distance. As the piece progresses the central tone thickens, thins, slowly alters pitch and shifts from one dramatic intensity to another. The pulses sat behind also alter in urgency, tone and pitch, sometimes multiplying into small sounds. Its really hard to describe this music otherwise. Like all of Radigue’s better work the music hangs in the room, seemingly static, apparently not changing until you realise that it sounds very different. I am the only one home here tonight so I can play it quite loud, which is how it works best.

The third piece is similar to the second, but uses higher, faster oscillating tones that really get into your head and made the notes I wrote for this review hard to write. If you listen closely and try and follow the elements n the music, the shifting tones, the beating patterns, its like being hypnotised, as the intensity of the music can be really overpowering. Let it just sit in the background and it becomes something else, a thick atmosphere that seeks out every corner of the room, always there, but each time you pay attention to it it seems to have changed slightly. If somehow you are new to Radigue’s music then I would recommend the longer Adnos pieces before this disc, but if you already know her work, as I suspect the majority of readers here will, then Triptych is well worth picking up, a decent addition to her catalogue. I do find myself wondering how many more old archive recordings of Radigue’s work are there out there to be reissued like this, and surely at some point we must get down to the real dregs, but Triptych is still good quality stuff that certainly warrants this reissue. Now to put the CD and booklet into a nice cardboard sleeve and throw the sticky jewel box out the window…

Have you heard this one yet Graham?