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TAPE STUDIO SERIES 1: February 18, 1971

by Harry Bertoia's Sonambient Archive

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1.
Drawn Out 20:32
2.
No Note 15:01
3.
Overlapping 10:42

about

Three quarter inch analog recording tapes document the recordings of Harry Bertoia on Feb 18th, 1971; a Thursday, fifty years ago. 

By 1971 Bertoia was a master performer on sound sculputre of his own design although he had only been recording himself for two years. Since the late 1950's he had been developing his performance technique and he was equally as innovative with quarter inch recording tape. Bertoia often recorded himself composing with tapes playing back loudly on his monitors; at lower speeds, edited or backwards. 

On February 18th, 1971 Bertoia performed one of the earliest examples of what he would later describe as his "experimental" recordings. He slowed down his performance and later commented that it sounded "drawn out," but the results are hardly tedious. The resulting composition is among his slowest, droniest and most harmonically evocative long form early compositions. The note he left in the tape tells us that he felt it to be good but also not appropriate for reproduction. He regarded most of his experimental work in this way; he liked it but didn't feel like it was a final, finished piece. 

He made a 2nd recording on a smaller reel of tape and left a dated slip of paper with no noted observations. This piece sounds like a shorter version of the drawn out slow tempo tape with an incredible gong around the 8:20 mark. 

Thirdly, Bertoia makes a 13 minute recording which he labels as "A good one." which he often did when he was pleased with his results. This recording cascades like water, teeters on the brink and tumbles over the edge only to come crashing into a long, patient resolution. This piece has a kind of flow that the others don't.

LISTEN FOR the remaining decays of sounded sculpture and imagine Harry listening to them as he selects his next piece to play.

LISTEN FOR his hands as they rustle the attack on the next scultpure. Sometimes he's subtle, sometimes forceful but it's always related to, or a reaction to, vibrations already in the air. 

LISTEN BEHIND the loudest sounds for the layers of sculpture still sounding.

LISTEN ABOVE the sound and focus on the profoundly sublime overtones.

LISTEN BELOW the sounds for bass generated by sculpture and gongs.

THE MORE YOU LISTEN THE MORE YOU HEAR.

credits

released March 5, 2021

Harry Bertoia - Composition, recording engineer 1971
John Brien - Tape transfer 2021

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all rights reserved

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Harry Bertoia's Sonambient Archive

Harry Bertoia, already a renowned American sculptor, heard the resonant possibilities in the fine metals he used and began building sound sculpture in the 1950's. He dedicated the last 20 years of his life to his Sonambient work.

Bertoia's recordings are a celebration of sustained tones, long decay, drone, intervalic relationships, healing vibrations, deep listening and shimmering harmonics.
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