Igor Wakhévitch – Donc...
Label:Fractal Records (2) – FRACTAL 002
Format:6xCD, Album, Reissue Box Set, Compilation, Limited Edition
Country:France
Released:1998
Genre:Electronic, Rock
Style:Modern Classical, Psychedelic Rock, Avantgarde, Minimal, Experimental
CD 1 - Logos (Rituel Sonore) (1970)
1-1 Ergon 3:59
1-2 Mineral - Vegetal - Animal 4:40
1-3 Homo-Sapiens Ignorabimus 4:43
1-4 Initiation (1ère Partie) 2:43
1-5 Initiation (2ème Partie) 6:28
1-6 Delirium 2:23
1-7 Danse Sacrale 6:08
1-8 Point Omega (Mort Ou Résurrection) 2:03
CD 2 - Docteur Faust (1971)
2-1 Aimantation 0:25
Materia Prima (10:12)
2-2.a Gnomides
2-2.b Faust
2-2.c Vulcain
2-3 Eau Ardente 4:24
2-4 Ténèbres (Walpurgis) 4:52
2-5 Matines 3:53
2-6 Licornes 2:33
2-7 Sang Pourpre 3:55
CD 3 - Hathor (Liturgie Du Souffle Pour La Résurrection Des Morts) (1973)
3-1 Hymne A Sathanael (Aimantation Des Forces) 4:38
3-2 Grand Sabbat Luciférien (Régime Des Arches) 4:11
3-3 Rituel De Guerre Des Esprits De La Terre 5:37
3-4 Cris Pour Les Sabbats Infernaux Et Invocations Des Daimons 1:54
3-5 Office De La Levée Du Corps (De Profundis) 5:26
3-6 Amenthi (Attente De La Seconde Mort) 9:46
3-7 Aurore 2:37
CD 4 - Les Fous D'or (1975)
« Cornerstone »
4-1 Twilight And Call Of The Ascending Spirit 8:41
4-2 Arrival Of The Magic Doll 5:02
4-3 Rites Of The Doll 8:41
« Les Fous D'or »
4-4 Henry The Fool Of The Doll 3:00
4-5 Eve Speaks 1:56
4-6 Ritual Of The Master Of The Doll 13:11
CD 5 - Nagual (Les Ailes De La Perception) (1977)
5-1 Nagual (Les Ailes De La Perception) 5:20
5-2 In The Nagual's Time (Flash I) 0:32
5-3 Spenta Aramati (Ritual Of The Zelator) 3:48
5-4 Hunahpuguch 2:37
5-5 Beginning Of Peter's Journey 3:17
5-6 Sets (Transition) 1:26
5-7 The Smile Of Wolf On The Bench (For Jorma) 4:43
5-8 Never Poem For The Other 5:12
5-9 In The Nagual's Time (Flash II) 1:45
5-10 Stop The World (Rituel Of Si-Wang-Mou) 5:45
5-11 Cinderella 1:28
5-12 Chirakan-Ixmucane 8:11
CD 6 - Let's Start (1979)
6-1 Let's Start 21:33
6-2 Taddy's Fruit Garden 4:02
6-3 Eriador 12:04
6-4 Monks In The Snow 3:48
6-5 Taddy's Dream: Ramallah's Road 8:16
AllMusic Review by Dominique Leone [-]
The music of French composer Igor Wakhevitch
is as difficult to summarize as any modern classical or avant-garde
performer you care to name. He never stayed put in one particular idiom
or another for long, exhibiting as much affinity for psychedelic rock as
he did for opera, modern dance, and minimalist synthesizer pieces.
Given his apprenticeship under Terry Riley, and having studied with Olivier Messiaen and Pierre Schaeffer, Wakhevitch's eclectic mix of styles and timbres isn't surprising. What is surprising is that his work remained obscure for so long. Donc... is a box set containing all six studio albums he made during the 1970s, omitting only his music for Salvador Dali's
1974 opera, Etre Dieu. His music certainly wasn't "accessible" in
popular music terms, but should be immediately striking for people
interested in avant-garde composition and various strains of
experimental rock and electronic music. Wakhevitch's
first two albums were Logos from 1970 and Docteur Faust, released the
following year. Both are strange brews of massed choral clamor, beaming
analog synthesizer tampering, and some heavily psychedelic production.
The former album sticks closer to a classical blueprint, using timpanis,
strings, and female sopranos as raw materials with which Wakhevitch
orchestrates what sounds like the end of the world. In fact, his
production work is quite advanced for the era, but is also at least as
dated. Docteur Faust features more of a rock feel (doubtlessly
influenced by Wakhevitch's love of Soft Machine),
but otherwise is similar to the previous album in terms of its bizarre
synthesis of psychedelia and modern classical music.
Hathor (1973) replaced most of the symphonic bombast for a teaming of radically mutated synthesizer programming and ominous spoken word declarations. Here, industrial atmospheres and doom-filled electronic textures lend Wakhevitch's minimalist etudes a nightmarish quality that must have been his own personal soundtrack for tripping. The overall effect is stunning, even as Wakhevitch's near total lack of subtlety will be too much for many listeners. Contrast this with 1975's Les Fous d'Or, which seems a much more ambient work, similar to concurrent efforts by Tangerine Dream and Wakhevitch's former teacher, Riley. Rather than scare his audience to death, Wakhevitch opts for calmer electronic soundscapes, interspersed with often nonsensical improvised vocal outbursts. Released in 1977, Nagual takes the textures of Les Fous d'Or but distorts and elongates them in a manner typical for someone enamored of hallucinogenic drugs. However, in the middle of the record, Wakhevitch changes modes into a relatively restrained piano and keyboard-based programmatic piece, with titles referencing both Peter and the Wolf and Cinderella. His final album, Let's Start from 1979, features both his most refined synthesizer work and strange use of the human voice. The lengthy title piece ends with a group of reverberated voices stating "Let's start" over and over, eventually morphing into a larger group chanting "Let's get high" and then back to "I say let's start." It's not exactly the most profound sentiment ever expressed by a composer, but along with the rest of Wakhevitch's work, it's far from the least interesting.
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Hathor (1973) replaced most of the symphonic bombast for a teaming of radically mutated synthesizer programming and ominous spoken word declarations. Here, industrial atmospheres and doom-filled electronic textures lend Wakhevitch's minimalist etudes a nightmarish quality that must have been his own personal soundtrack for tripping. The overall effect is stunning, even as Wakhevitch's near total lack of subtlety will be too much for many listeners. Contrast this with 1975's Les Fous d'Or, which seems a much more ambient work, similar to concurrent efforts by Tangerine Dream and Wakhevitch's former teacher, Riley. Rather than scare his audience to death, Wakhevitch opts for calmer electronic soundscapes, interspersed with often nonsensical improvised vocal outbursts. Released in 1977, Nagual takes the textures of Les Fous d'Or but distorts and elongates them in a manner typical for someone enamored of hallucinogenic drugs. However, in the middle of the record, Wakhevitch changes modes into a relatively restrained piano and keyboard-based programmatic piece, with titles referencing both Peter and the Wolf and Cinderella. His final album, Let's Start from 1979, features both his most refined synthesizer work and strange use of the human voice. The lengthy title piece ends with a group of reverberated voices stating "Let's start" over and over, eventually morphing into a larger group chanting "Let's get high" and then back to "I say let's start." It's not exactly the most profound sentiment ever expressed by a composer, but along with the rest of Wakhevitch's work, it's far from the least interesting.
Letter from Michael GIRA (Swans) - November 10, 1998
The most astonishing music I have heard in some years
is the new Box Set of Igor Wakhévitch - 6 CDs, from 1970-79. Amazing
approach to sound, from classical to experimental, psychadelia to film
music. Ominous and beautiful, then clamorous and Wagnerian. At some points
it sounds like contemporary electronic music, then shifts seemlessly into
a full classical orchestra. You must buy this.
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