{"product_id":"ernest-berk-electronic-music-1955-1984","title":"Ernest Berk - Electronic Music 1955-1984","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eErnest Berk\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e fled Nazi Germany for London and spent three decades pioneering electronic music from a home-built studio - producing over 280 tape and musique concrète works, often to score his own radical expressionist dance. A true outsider-visionary, he shared the stage with \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDelia Derbyshire\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDaphne Oram\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e at the landmark 1968 Queen Elizabeth Hall electronic music concert, yet died in obscurity. This release restores Berk's place among Britain's most daring and most overlooked early sonic pioneers.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eComposing across three North London studios - Camden Road, Dorset Street, and the Diorama in Peto Place - Ernest Berk spent almost thirty years fusing electronic composition with contemporary dance in a way Britain had never seen and rarely has since. His closest counterpart wasn't British at all: the American composer-choreographer \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAlwin Nikolais\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, working an ocean away with the same radical instinct that sound and movement were one discipline, not two.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBerk's musical language evolved from early tape manipulation, microphone recordings and radio interference towards electronically generated sounds produced with tone and white-noise generators. Yet through every technological shift, he stuck to a strict economy of means, using often just a handful of carefully chosen sound sources, pushed as far as they would go. Rhythm, pulse, and percussive tape loops sat at the centre of everything, a direct line back to his years as a dancer and percussionist. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGemini (Les Amies), Op. 52\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is the clearest proof: a kettle lid, grinding and spinning across different surfaces, locked into a bed of percussion loops.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHe was also a compulsive editor of his own past, often returning to finished works, cutting them apart, and reusing recognisable motifs into new pieces. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn Your Image, Op. 43\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNo Fish (or Oh Mr. Bard), Op. 29\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e show this self-quotation at its most vivid. The latter appears here in an eleven-minute version that was one of a batch of tapes that disappeared from Berk's collection after his death and were presumed lost, until his friend and colleague \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAndreas Wirth\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, who had carefully looked after them for many years without knowing how best to secure their future, brought them to the attention of archivists in 2023.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDance was never incidental to Berk's music - it was the reason the music existed. He composed fourteen works for dancer and choreographer Rebecca Wilson across a collaboration that ran until 1976, and in 1971 co-founded the Dance Theatre Commune with his third wife, Ailsa Berk. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNocturne (While I was asleep), Op. 163\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, with its looped, breath-like pulses, also existed in an hour-long version made for the DTC's semi-dark, all-night 'Liberation' sessions.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDecades later, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOsterglocken, Op. 221\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (1980 shows the same restless economy still at work with its subtle shifts of timbre, gesture, and pulse, distilled to their essence. For decades, Berk's place as a genuine pathfinder went unrecognised, and a body of work now known to total more than 280 compositions lay dormant and forgotten. This anthology is part of the ongoing work of bringing it back.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"SUB ROSA","offers":[{"title":"Vinyl 2LP","offer_id":60326745211225,"sku":"SDZ-55911","price":32.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"2CD","offer_id":60326745243993,"sku":"SDZ-55912","price":17.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0588\/3455\/0945\/files\/CAR_20261102_1201_123825_701_p_pdf_link_20261102120202_dup1_033.jpg?v=1793627910","url":"https:\/\/spindizzyrecords.com\/products\/ernest-berk-electronic-music-1955-1984","provider":"Spindizzy Dublin","version":"1.0","type":"link"}