Ton Bruynel – Looking Ears complete (2004)

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been posting a couple of sets containing electronic materials developed at the Philips Natlab. The composers involved were Dick Raaijmakers, Henk Badings and Tom Dissevelt.
I’ve saved the best for the last. I present to you “Looking Ears”, a 6cd set from Dutch composer Ton Bruynel.
Bruynel was only a marginal member of the boys club at the laboratory in Eindhoven. Too much of an individual, he soon went his own way. For him, the attraction of the Parisian school of electro-acoustic music prevailed. Never did he use tapes or computers in order to explore the new technology for its own sake; he applied modern electronics only to enhance, or embed, traditional sounds. In this way, he’s quite close to a composer like Jonathan Harvey - with whom he shares an interest for non-European music, by the way.
Bruynel’s sound world is a colourful fusion of hard-boiled European avant-garde, electronics, Asian classical, Eno-like ambient – and now I forget to mention a few others.

Strange. Full of wonders.
To put it bluntly, as for modern classical music, the aforelying set is certainly one of the most magnificent ever to emerge from Dutch soil. What’s more, I firmly believe it is one of highlights of electro-acoustic music in history.

Now that is some statement…but yes, running from riches to treasures, I hardly know where to rest and listen all the way through an entire compostion, there’s so much to marvel at. What to say about a track like “Ascolta” on cd5, for instance; it will completely blow you away.

And there is so much more! Who is Ton Bruynel? Find out…

Tracks

cd1

01. Serene (1978) [0:06:01.15]
for flute and soundtracks
02. Soft Song (1974) [0:08:21.15]
for oboe and soundtracks
03. Save the Whale (1989/91) [0:09:19.45]
Ton Bruynèl and Thorolfur Eiriksson
04. Toccare (1979) [0:10:26.20]
for piano and soundtracks
05. Denk mal das Denkmal (1984) [0:07:33.40]
for bass baritone and soundtracks
06. Chatarra (Schrootsonate, 1990) [0:07:04.55]
for harpsichord and soundtracks
07. Dust (1992) [0:07:59.60]
for organ and soundtracks
08. Reflexex (1961) [0:04:34.60]
for electronic soundtracks

cd2

01. Looking Ears [0:09:02.45]
02. From the Tripod [0:15:34.08]
03. Chicharras [0:12:37.57]
04. Translucent II [0:09:53.55]
05. Listening Landscape [0:15:50.10]

cd3

01. Brouillard [0:09:04.00]
02. Le Jardin [0:13:08.00]
03. Intra [0:10:30.00]
04. Elegy [0:10:32.13]
05. Continuation [0:10:32.62]
06. Relief [0:10:53.13]
07. Mobile [0:04:07.37]

cd4

01. Phases [0:18:35.45]
02. Collage Resonance II [0:16:58.23]
03. Rain [0:09:30.24]
04. Mobile II [0:06:41.27]
05. Non sono un uccello [0:07:25.73]
06. Reliëf [0:10:49.67]

cd5

01. Ascolta [0:10:59.58]
02. Introduction on Studie [0:01:13.66]
03. Studie [0:04:43.16]
04. Coda voor K [0:08:50.09]
05. Dialogue I [0:08:50.54]
06. Resonance I [0:14:09.64]
07. Arc [0:12:06.55]
08. Le temp tricheur [0:07:43.37]

cd6

01. Décor [0:08:39.26]
02. Imker I [0:08:49.08]
03. Signs [0:12:02.41]
04. Kolom [0:11:35.16]
05. Cours des nuages [0:18:29.32]

Performers

I hope you will excuse me – way too many to list here. Each track from this set knows an entirely different cast.